More on the decline of death

I have just enough time before I head out to Dayton to spotlight quickly a number of notable death penalty developments.

First, the Death Penalty Information Center now has available on-line its year-end on the death penalty.  This report received a good deal of press earlier this week, as detailed here, because it documents for 2004 drops in death sentences, executions, death row population, and public support for capital punishment. 

Second, this New York Times article reports on the remarkable New York legislative hearing concerning whether the state should reinstate the death penalty.  (As detailed here, these hearings are necessary because six month ago, the New York Court of Appeals in People v. LaValle (discussed here) invalidated the “deadlock instruction” provision of New York’s death penalty law.) 

According to the Times article, famed Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau spoke out forcefully against the death penalty:

“The death penalty exacts a terrible price in dollars, lives and human decency,” Mr. Morgenthau said. “Rather than tamping down the flames of violence, it fuels them.”