Death Row No More? Executions in U.S. Hit 20-Year Low

The numbers of people sentenced to death, and of death row inmates actually put to death, hit their lowest levels in decades this year amid lethal-injection drug shortages and legal battles over botched executions. Seven states killed a total of 35 inmates in 2014, the lowest number since 1994, while the number of people sentenced to death dropped to 72, a 40-year low, according to a group that opposes the death penalty. The declines came as botched executions highlighted the untested drug cocktails some states were turning to amid a shortage of the drugs they had earlier relied upon — but the head of the anti-death penalty group also says they're part of a decades-long trend.

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