Known for being the state with the most active execution chamber, Texas will put the death the least number of inmates in 20 years during 2016.
Texas accounts for 538 of the 1,438 people executed nationwide since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976. Seven men were put to death this year in Texas, and one more is scheduled for 2016.
This decline in the enforcement of death-penalty sentences is part of a national trend. There have been 16 executions in the U.S. this year, the lowest number in 25 years, and public support is also waning. For the first time in four decades, Americans in favor of the death penalty has fallen below 50 percent.
What factors have contributed to the decreasing number of executions? Is America changing the way it views capital punishment for people convicted of murder?
Guests:
Robert Dunham, executive director for the Death Penalty Information Center
Dudley Sharp, independent expert and death-penalty advocate