AMERICANS' support for the death penalty is waning, one state at a time. States have had jurisdiction over the issue since 1976 and so differences abound. Texas has executed most people; California has most death-row inmates but has executed only a small number. Since 2000, 12 states have suspended the death penalty, including New Jersey, which is moving towards formal abolition. Three have reversed the suspension this year. Last year two-thirds of states executed no one. Public opinion is also changing: a slim plurality of people said they would prefer to see prisoners locked up for life rather than executed, according to a recent poll.

AFP