Read a September 2011 summary by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life about American public opinion on the death penalty during the last 50 years. The analysis shows large differences in opinions, with blacks and Latinos expressing greater opposition than other Americans.

Pollingreport.com posts opinion polls about the death penalty among other topics like crime and violence.

For more detailed information on legal developments in the death penalty in America, see a timeline by the Clark County, Ind., prosecuting attorney’s office.

In December 2012, the Death Penalty Information Center, a leading advocacy group against capital punishment, released its annual study, which showed that the number of executions stayed the same between 2011 and 2012 — 43 each year.

The number of judges dissenting — often strongly — from death penalty rulings is increasing, according to this Aug. 13, 2009, story in The New York Times.

In 2009, New Mexico joined the list of states no longer using capital punishment. Gov. Bill Richardson signed legislation in March repealing the state’s death penalty and replacing it with a maximum sentence of life without parole. This March 18, 2009, CNN story gives the details.

The case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed by Texas in 2004 for setting a fire that killed his three daughters, was re-examined in light of assertions that Willingham may have been innocent and that evidence was overlooked by the authorities. A 2009 investigation by the Texas Forensic Science Commission found the claims that […]

Gallup publishes an annual survey each October on attitudes toward the death penalty. The January 2013 survey shows the consistency of general support for capital punishment: 63 percent in favor of the death penalty. The poll also shows Republicans and Independents are much more likely to support the death penalty than Democrats. But when given the choice […]

Read a March 28, 1999, Time magazine article on forgiveness research.