WASHINGTON — Though the number of death-row inmates executed in 2012 remained unchanged from 2011, death penalty opponents said the year still showed capital punishment is on the wane.
Connecticut this year upped the number of states to repeal the death penalty to 17. Some states that have had relatively high numbers of executions in the past executed no one this year, or issued no new death sentences.
“In 2012 fewer states have the death penalty, fewer carried out executions, and death sentences and executions were clustered in a small number of states. It is very likely that more states will take up the question of death penalty repeal in the years ahead,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
Last year, 13 states used the death penalty.
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