The execution today in Ohio was a horror show.

[MADem]

30. If they were executing at our rate, they would have executed 117, then, not 2,000.

Or more--2,000 is a conservative estimate.

The point I made before and I'll make again is that we, as a nation, are not united on the utility or efficacy of this practice. They don't kill people in my state for crimes against persons. 18 states prohibit the practice absolutely. Most states don't kill people. It's TX and Ohio that do the bulk of the killing (see the links in my other post). OK and FL go at it with vigor every now and again, too. The 39 executions that took place last year happened in just nine states, and 16 were in (yee haw) TX.

A lot of states hang on to the option 'just in case'-- to get rid of particularly heinous criminals, of the type that torture babies, for example. Many of the states that have retained their DP laws on the books haven't used the option in years.

The USG kills the odd person here and there, but that's a rarity, too.

Right now there are twenty three or so people scheduled for executions in 2014. Some have received stays, others are likely to get them. All of this data is in the links I provided elsewhere.

The trend is away from DP, not towards it--and that's a good thing. It's likely to "fall away" gradually (e.g. New Mexico, CT, and MD have recently dumped the DP). TX and OH and OK and FL will probably be harder sells, but as they turn blue they'll probably diminish the number of executions and eventually get rid of the practice.