“Public attention to the death penalty often focuses on the method of execution and questions about innocence and guilt. But the use of capital punishment has waned in the United States since the late 1990s, giving rise to an increasingly widespread uncertainty: What does a death sentence mean when it may never be carried out?” So begins “Between Life and Death,” the Washington Post’s in-depth examination of the death penalty in America today with a look at the 2,100 people on this country’s death rows and interviews with some of their victim’s loved ones, by Post reporters Mark Berman, Steven Rich and Dylan Moriarty. The Post analysis found that, with executions far less common nationwide, the average amount of time death row inmates spend awaiting their fate has more than tripled. Nearly half of all death sentences were handed down at least a quarter-century ago. Death row populations have declined since then, with many prisoners dying of other causes or having their sentences commuted or overturned.
The death penalty is on the books in 27 states, though it is not actively used in all of those places. In some cases, officials say they have no plans for executions or cannot obtain drugs for lethal injections. In other places, executions have been paused for years because of court orders, moratoriums or other official edicts. Oregon had an execution moratorium in place when, in 2022, the outgoing governor commuted all 17 death sentences there. In most jurisdictions where executions have been paused, though, death row populations remain in place. Some officials are unwilling — or unable — to commute numerous death sentences at once. Others hope to resume carrying them out. Executions happen steadily in some states, including in Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma, and could resume in other places if top officials decide to push forward. That is expected to happen in the federal prison system following Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election this month.
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