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New Death Sentences In Texas Drop To 40-Year Low

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Texas juries imposed only two new death sentences in 2015, the fewest since the death penalty was reinstated nationwide almost 40 years ago, according to a national report released Wednesday.

Just 49 death sentences were handed down across the country this year, a 33 percent drop from last year's 73 — which was already a 40-year low, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Executions declined to a 24-year low, with 28 conducted in six states – Texas, Missouri, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma and Virginia.

The numbers reflect a decline in support for capital punishment nationwide, according to the center's annual report.

The report cites a Pew Research Center poll that shows a 20-percent decline in support of capital punishment since the 1980s and 1990s. A majority of those polled, however, still supported the death penalty. But in the 2015 American Values Survey, 52 percent of Americans polled said they prefer a sentence of life without parole.

The Texas Tribune provided this story.