Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, said in the group’s press release that it was “encouraging that we saw most states growing more and more reluctant to engage with the death penalty this year.”
“It’s not lost on the American public that capital punishment is too flawed and risky, too arbitrary and unfair, too cruel and dehumanizing to justify pursuing executions,” she said.
In its report, the DPIC said that 2023 was the ninth consecutive year with fewer than 30 people executed and fewer than 50 people sentenced to death.
The group also noted that this year, for the first time, Gallup found more Americans (50%) believe the death penalty is applied unfairly than believe it is applied fairly (47%).
Several U.S. states carried out executions this year despite pleas from activists. In October, Texas executed Jedidiah Murphy, who had been sentenced to death for the shooting of 80-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham in October 2000.
CMN argued prior to Murphy’s execution that capital punishment is “rooted in revenge rather than repair.”