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Death sentences remain at three-decade low in US

Other News Materials 21 December 2010 17:19 (UTC +04:00)
Courts in the United States served 114 death sentences in 2010, two more than last year but still almost the lowest in over three decades, death penalty opponents said Tuesday.
Death sentences remain at three-decade low in US

Courts in the United States served 114 death sentences in 2010, two more than last year but still almost the lowest in over three decades, death penalty opponents said Tuesday, DPA reported.

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) in Washington reported that the figure was the second-lowest since 1976, when the death penalty was reintroduced in the United States.

The year 1994 saw the highest number of death sentences served, at 328, the DPIC, a group opposed to capital punishment, said in its annual report.

There was also a decline this year, to 46, in the number of executions, from the 2009 figure of 52.

The southern state of Texas remained the leader in executions, with 17 this year, DPIC said.

At the moment, more than 3,200 inmates are awaiting execution in America's prisons. Most of these are in California.

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