The Death Penalty Lives on in the South Meg Mickeslen

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/05/the_death_penalty_is_disappearing_in_america_except_in_the_south.html

In much of the country the death penalty is a thing of the past but this practice still endures in the American South.  After the horrifying mis-execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma, one would hope that this be the end, but it is not.  The death penalty is still legal in 32 states, but it is only carried out in a few and those states are all in one region, the South.  The United States reinstated the death penalty in 1976.  Since that time, the South has accounted for 1,126 executions, the Midwest for 165, the West for 84, and the Northeast for four.  In the last two years only nine states have carried out the death penalty. They are Texas (23), Florida (12), Oklahoma (nine), Missouri (six), Ohio (four), Arizona (two), and one apiece in Virginia, Alabama, and Georgia.  All of the states that have imposed a moratorium on the death penalty are outside of the South.  Overall in the United States, there have been drops in executions.  Interestingly, in the South there have also been a great number of drops.  So even though these states are still considered “red” they are potentially turning purple.  It appears that even though a majority of those polled in Southern states are still for the death penalty, it is not a campaign issue.  People are not casting votes based on the death penalty.  Lawyers have found that handing down a sentence of life without parole is often more comforting to families that are victims of violent crimes.  Having the ability to choose life without parole over the death penalty is making a difference.  Death penalty cases remain underfunded and often a states least experienced lawyers are handling these cases and injustice is occurring on a regular basis.  The United States must eventually address the big underlying issues of injustice with the

death penalty as it stands.   Racial bias, uneven application, and the haunting but real prospect of accidentally executing the innocent are problems that are not likely to go away.  Slowly but surely the death penalty is falling out of favor because of its own internal flaws and the gross risk of injustice.