Although Florida only executed two people this year (down from eight in 2014), the nonprofit research organization Death Penalty Information Center found the state to have “outlier practices” when it comes to administering the death penalty.
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There were 26 executions in six states this year, the fewest since 1991.
Texas, which has executed more prisoners than any state since capital punishment resumed, sentenced three men to death in 2015 while juries that had the option rejected the death penalty in four other capital murder trials this year, according to the study from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP), which opposes capital punishment.
The most noticeable declines in executions and death sentences have occurred in some of the states that have been the most frequent users of the death penalty.
The modern peak of executions actually came a few years after the height of concern over crime and the surge in death sentences in the mid-1990s.
Capital punishment remained the practice of a fading number of states, as just a handful carried out executions.
One reason for repealing capital punishment considered by Nebraska lawmakers was the number of innocent people sentenced to death.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court upheld Oklahoma’s use of a controversial sedative in lethal-injection executions, but two justices said for the first time they think it’s “highly likely” the death penalty itself is unconstitutional.
The death penalty has been losing favor with juries and the public, with more “life without parole” sentences dealt instead of capital punishment.
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Since 1973, 156 inmates have been exonerated and freed from death row.
