Executions and death sentences in the United States remained near 50-year lows in 2022, but “an astonishing 35%” of execution attempts were “visibly problematic,” according to a report released Friday.
The year-end report by Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit focusing on capital punishment issues, found that 18 executions were carried out in the U.S. since January — the fewest in any prepandemic year since 1991.
The report also noted a decline in the handing out of death sentences. To date, 20 death sentences have been issued, with two more sentencing decisions scheduled to be announced in San Bernardino County, California, later on Friday. With the exception of the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, the number of sentences will be the lowest imposed in the U.S. in the past half-century.
