5 Things You Didn't Know About the Death Penalty

"Unwise and unjustified" -- that's what recently retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens says about the country's continued use of capital punishment. "The finality of an execution always ends that possibility" that inmates could repent and become positive forces in society, he wrote recently in the New York Review of Books. "That finality also includes the risk that the state may put an actually innocent person to death."

Indeed, far too often individuals have been put on death row only to be exonerated after being proven innocent -- that's happened 138 times since 1973 -- or, worse, put to death with their guilt still in doubt.

This week, there was at least one piece of good news to report about the death penalty: nationwide, both the number of executions and the number of people being put on death row is declining. According to a report from the Death Penalty Information Center, 46 executions were carried out in the U.S. this year, representing a 12% drop from the previous year and a nearly 50% drop since 2000, while 114 people were added to death row -- a decline of more than 50% since a decade ago.

While this is a positive trend that will hopefully continue, the fight to end capital punishment entirely is still an uphill battle. The conservative colleagues of former Justice Stevens, currently in the majority, have consistently pushed lower courts to let death penalties be carried out without "unnecessary delay." And misinformation about capital punishment remains rampant among the American public.

As an AlterNet reader, you probably know some of the basic facts about capital punishment -- for instance, that it's ineffective at deterring crime, that it's a deeply racist institution, and that it's costing taxpayers millions upon millions of unnecessary dollars. But here are some of the more surprising, and unknown, facts about the death penalty that shed light on the country's shifting attitudes toward capital punishment.

1. Texas, of all places, could see the death penalty ruled unconstitutional. The Lone Star State has earned a reputation over the years for being unapologetically execution-happy, but, believe it or not, a hearing was started earlier this month to examine the constitutionality of the death penalty in the state. Amid recent revelations of faulty evidence in two Texas death penalty cases, a team of lawyers went before a judge to argue that the risk of wrongful execution is great enough to render the practice unconstitutional. The hearing, which was expected to last two weeks, was brought to a halt indefinitely after just one day at the request of the prosecutors. But defense attorneys are working hard to revive the hearing, so all hope is not yet lost. In the words of the vice president, the defense's success would be a big f***ing deal.

2. Executions are actually declining in Texas, while in California they're on the rise. Again, Texas surprises by issuing just 8 death sentences in 2010 -- 70% less than in 2003 and the lowest number since the death penalty was legalized in the 1970s. That number is still too high, of course, but it's a remarkably progressive trend for the state, especially when you compare it to California, a supposedly liberal state that nonetheless sentenced 29 people to death this year. In Texas, the number of death penalties handed out has been on the decline since a life sentence with absolutely no possibility of parole became an option in 2005.

3. The American public is increasingly ambivalent about the death penalty. Americans have a reputation for being pro-capital punishment, but there's mounting evidence that the tide is turning. Recent polls show that U.S. support for the death penalty remains high, with as much as 83% of the public professing to be in favor of the practice. But at the same time, Americans are becoming far more open to alternatives to capital punishment -- especially life without the possibility of parole. When presented with that alternative, one poll found that support for the death penalty fell from 64% to 49%. It's a start.