Report: 4 states conducted bulk of executions in 2012

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Just four states carried out more than three-fourths of the executions in the United States this year, while 23 other states have not put an inmate to death in 10 years, an anti-capital punishment group reports.

The Death Penalty Information Center says in its annual report that Texas led the nation, as it does every year, with 15 executions. Arizona, Mississippi and Oklahoma had six each. Together, the four states accounted for 33 of the 43 executions in the United States in 2012.

The report also says that a handful of states were responsible for nearly two-thirds of death sentences imposed in 2012.

Both executions and new death sentences are far below their peaks since executions resumed in 1977 after a halt imposed by the Supreme Court. Texas’ 492 executions since 1977 are the most, by far. No more executions are scheduled before the end of the year, the group says.

“By every count, the death penalty is declining and becoming less relevant. It’s not turned to even in states that have been strong proponents of the death penalty. I’d even include Texas, which is sentencing many fewer people to death,” said Richard Dieter, the center’s executive director and author of the report.