Mercury News

Jan. 2, 2002

EDITORIAL

The opinion of the Mercury News

Juries backing away from death penalty

THERE'S a welcome sign that America's acceptance of the death penalty might be subsiding. Jurors in the year 2000 condemned fewer prisoners to death than in any year since 1980.

The federal government and 25 states sentenced 214 people to death row in 2000, according to the U.S. Justice Department. That's a nearly 30 percent decline in such sentences from two years ago.

 A single state-sponsored execution is one too many. But at least the new figures suggest that juries may be joining the chorus of people uncomfortable with capital punishment.

 Racial disparities mar the legal system as it doles out death. Fears also continue to mount that innocent people may be sentenced to die. At least 98 prisoners on death row have been exonerated since the states reinstated capital punishment in the 1970s. DNA evidence proved the innocence of 11 of them.

 Even Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has noted: ``If statistics are any indication, the system may well be allowing some innocent defendants to be executed.''

 One solution would be for another moratorium on executions. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily halted capital punishment in this country. The justices determined that the states were executing people in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Within five years, though, the executions were back after state legislatures revised statutes.

 A Washington Post/ABC poll in May showed that 51 percent of Americans supported a national moratorium. Illinois last year imposed a ban because of concerns about botched cases. More states should follow that lead.

 Until then, it's at least encouraging to note that jurors may be hearing the cries against death.