Death row populations in the United States have declined to historic lows.
The Death Penalty Policy Project reviewed 50 years of data and found that U.S. death rows shrank more last year than any other period in decades.
Read more: Death row inmate Joseph Corcoran executed for quadruple murder
Two mass clemency decisions contributed, including former President Biden’s commutations of most of federal death row, which is in Terre Haute.
But the analysis finds that more prisoners leave death row after courts overturn their sentences or convictions. As a result, new death sentences no longer replenish death-row populations. Executions, too, are happening less often.
Indiana’s death row population is dwindling in line with national trends. The number of annual Indiana death sentences peaked in the 1980s. It’s been on the decline ever since, now down to zero for several years running.
Read more: Indiana resumes death penalty after 15-year pause
" One of the reasons for that is that nobody is being sentenced to death in the state," according to Robert Dunham, who authored the analysis. "Juries are rejecting the death penalty in the few instances in which prosecutors are pursuing it."
There are now seven men on Indiana’s death row in Michigan City. That’s down from eight after state officials carried out an execution last year — the first since 2009.
