WASHINGTON — The number of executions in the United States hit a 13-year low in 2007, mostly because of a moratorium on the death penalty prompted by challenges to the use of lethal injection, according to a report by a group that opposes capital punishment.
There were 42 executions in 2007, down from 53 last year and the lowest number since 31 people were put to death in 1994, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The most immediate reason is numerous court challenges that focus on the constitutionality of the chemical combination used in lethal injections by nearly all the states that have the death penalty.
Lethal injection is used in Washington state unless the inmate under sentence of death chooses hanging, according to the state Department of Corrections’ Web site.
There have been no executions in the U.S. since Sept. 25, the day the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge from two Kentucky death row inmates that the procedure is cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case Jan. 7.
Twenty-six of the 42 executions this year were carried out in Texas.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
