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| U.S. to execute eight inmates by Christmas |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 12/04/2003 |
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Eight U.S. prison inmates face execution in the weeks before Christmas despite a flurry of anti-death penalty activity in some states, an advocacy group said on Wednesday. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty said eight prisoners are scheduled to die in Texas, Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina in the next 15 days. "We do often see the execution rate speed up in November and early December. People don't like to carry out executions over the holidays," said coalition spokesman David Elliot. Still, he added, "It is unusual to have so many executions in such a short period of time." Last year, 71 inmates were put to death in the United States, according to Death Penalty Information Center figures. If all eight pending executions are carried out in December, a total 70 U.S. prisoners will have been executed in 2003. The United States is alone among Western democracies in still sentencing prisoners to death. The death penalty retains broad support among Americans, particularly in its application to high-profile murder cases such as that of John Muhammad, the Washington sniper suspect convicted last month. However, concerns over racial bias in the death penalty system and fears of putting an innocent person to death, have also weighed on U.S. opinion polls and public policies over the past year. When investigations found 13 innocent prisoners awaiting execution in Illinois in early 2003, then-Gov. George Ryan imposed a moratorium on executions, emptying out the state's death row and sparking debates in states including Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina. The latest Gallup Poll for October 2003 suggested U.S. support for the death penalty for convicted murderers dropped to 64 percent, its lowest level since 1978. The 32 percent of Americans opposed to the death penalty was the highest level since 1972. |
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