Read a Nov. 4, 2007, New York Times story, “Capital Cases Stall as Costs Grow Daunting,” about the growing costs of defending death penalty cases and how that is affecting the rate of executions.

A Dec. 26, 2007, New York Times story, “At 60% of Total, Texas is Bucking Execution Trend,” shows how the decline in executions in most states has made Texas the modern-day capital of capital punishment. As the story notes, “For the first time in the modern history of the death penalty, more than 60 percent of all American executions […]

Read the June 26, 2008, Washington Post story “High Court Rejects Death For Child Rape.”

See state-by-state reports on statistics and action on death penalty issues from the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has a policy page on death penalty resources.

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.