SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - According to opinion polls, the death penalty is in a long, slow decline nationally.
Robert Dunham with the Death Penalty Information Center says there is also an “innocence revolution”- death row inmates proven innocent.
Death penalty supporters argue harsh justice is a deterrent to crime.
Dunham says juries are also told that a life sentence really means life behind bars. Some juries were under the misguided notion that a if a capital convict was not executed they could eventually released on parol.
Dunham says F-B-I figures show the death penalty doesn’t deter crime in any measurable way.
In South Dakota, three men are on death row.
(Thanks Greater Dakota News Service)