The American society has slowly but surely been moving away from capital punishment in the modern era. Unfortunately, the upsurge of federal prosecutions during the pandemic threatens to put an end to that progress.
The Federal Government Revitalizes Federal Executions Amongst COVID-19 Global Pandemic
According to DPIC, Daniel Lewis Lee was the first execution to be conducted by the federal government in seventeen years. Executed on the morning of 14th of July 2020, he was closely followed by other death row inmates Wesley Ira Purkey (executed on July 16) and Dustin Lee Honken (executed on July 17).
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There are a variety of variables that are important to consider when reflecting on this federal debacle. However, most likely reason would be largely political.
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All research and evidence in previous pages points to the fact that if it was an issue of expense or priority, there was over a decade of time to do so. Taking advantage of a time of social and political turmoil, the Trump administration enforced the death penalty with 'tough-on-crime' justifications.
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Frequency of US Executions over Time by State
The highlighted aspects of the plot show the small concentration of executions that occurred in 2020.
Robert Dunham, DCIP's executive director and lead author of "The Death Penalty in 2020: Year End Report” concludes that "At the end of the year, more states and counties had moved to end or reduce death-penalty usage, fewer new death sentences were imposed than in any prior year since capital punishment resumed in the U.S. in 1970s, and states carried out fewer executions than at any time in the past 37 years.”
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“What was happening in the rest of the country showed that the administration’s policies were not just out of step with the historical practices of previous presidents, they were also completely out of step with today’s state practices.” This is the first time in U.S. history that the federal government carried out more civilian deaths than the individual states.
Frequency of US Executions over Time
Despite federal outbreak in capital punishment, executions are the lowest they've been since 1991
Ending the year 2020 with a total of 17 execution, the number of death sentences has reached an all time low. Public sentiment, pandemic complications, and President Biden's proposal to abolish the death penalty all seem to point to the continuation of this decreasing trend.
Even though Texas is renowned for being the biggest enforcer of death penalty, it's increasing reluctance also reflects the national sentiment
There's little question that Texas has no parallel in the country when it comes to the number and speed of capital executions. Nonetheless, "the DPIC found that 60% of all executions that were carried out this year were by the federal government, and Texas which has traditionally been a place where executions are carried out regularly only saw three in 2020."
Frequency of US Executions over Time in Texas
Of the 1,532 people that were executed in the US, 570 where in Texas. However, the plot below illustrates that the number and frequency of executions has been diminishing greatly over time.
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The highlighted aspects of the plot show that there is no concentration of deaths during the year 2020 and only 3 executions total.