More on what a de facto execution moratorium might entail

This new AP article explores whether the emerging de facto execution moratorium could mean even bigger things for death penalty policy and politics.  Here is how the piece starts:

Stop executions for a while and perhaps they can be stopped forever.  That calculation has been part of the strategy of capital punishment opponents for decades.  The Supreme Court-inspired slowdown in executions offers the first nationwide opportunity in 20-plus years to test whether the absence of regularly scheduled executions will lead some states to abandon the death penalty and change public attitudes about capital punishment.

Some recent related posts:

• NY Times coverage of moratorium head-scratching
• Mitt Romney, a foolproof death penalty system, and tinkering with the machinery of death
• Is the de facto moratorium on executions going to impact capital indictments and death sentences?
• Is the developing moratorium on executions risking innocent lives?