That's too bad. I was hoping for a 30 year high.
Yeah, or an all-time high. Last number I saw in 2004 was 16,000 murders, but only about 130 death sentences....less than 1%, I think, of those who are gone are given justice by taking the life that took theirs.
Me too. Having huge backlogs doesn't help anybody. Texas was doing very well with its backlog in the late 90s, with Tuesdays and Thursdays being execution nights. W had the line moving smoothly. But I would have prefered AM and PM executions Mon-Fri, and only AM execution on Saturdays. That way you can award the DP to many more without fear of overcrowding.