Texas Sends Fewer To Death Row As Capital Punishment Wanes
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HOUSTON (AP)-- Texas sent far fewer prisoners to death row in 2015, marking the lowest number of new condemned inmates since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld capital punishment nearly four decades ago.
The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty said Wednesday three convicted killers were sent to death row this year, the first year since 1976 that jurors in Texas' three most populous counties -- Harris, Dallas and Tarrant -- condemned no inmates.
Nationwide, the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based group opposed to capital punishment, counted 49 death sentences, down from 73 last year. It lists two in Texas, because it's not counting a San Antonio case in which a judge hasn't formalized the jury verdict.
Lower murder rates and changes in sentencing laws are factors in the decline.
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