The United States has had 19 executions so far this year, which is close to one-third over. Extrapolated over the entire year -- which seems fair to do with this much of the year completed -- that would mean 57 executions in 2014. That would be the highest number in the last eight years, and the tenth highest in more than half a century.
The resurgence of the death penalty has taken place notwithstanding the latest fad in obstructionism, to wit, demands that states disclose the pharmacies from which they're obtaining the drugs used for lethal injections. Earlier in the year, it appeared that this might be a fertile field for additional delay, but it hasn't worked out that way. The Supreme Court has turned away the last three requests for last-minute stays arguing the point, and just yesterday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously rejected a similar challenge (after temporarily giving itself two days to consider the merits). [Editor's Note: Opinion text is here. - KS]
With the death penalty moving forward overseas as well, it would seem that reports of its demise were, as they say, greatly exaggerated. But, while the death penalty is nowhere near the morgue, I heard a rumor that abolitionism just checked into the ER.
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