Florida firing squads? What has death penalty supporters all riled up?

What is real, meanwhile, is that there are plenty of reasons for supporters of the death penalty to feel insecure. Even with the death penalty on the books in 34 states, the number of executions carried out each year has dropped 56 percent between 2000 and 2010, while the number of new death sentences meted out has fallen 50 percent in that same period.

Similarly, fewer states are carrying out executions despite having crowded death rows, suggesting that the political will is fading due to a combination of public opposition, heightened DNA testing, and costly legal challenges. For example, 45 percent of all executions in 2010 took place in one state: Texas. Only one other state came close, Ohio, with 22 percent.

Those numbers are reinforcing the belief among capital punishment supporters that they may be losing the overall battle with death penalty abolitionists.

“The anti-death penalty crowd is committed in a kind of single-issue way, which is why supporters of the death penalty know they always have to be in some kind of battle mode. They genuinely believe the abolitionist community is never going to give up until they get the success they seek, which is getting the death penalty eliminated nationwide,” Berman says.

As for public opinion, support is showing some signs of eroding. According to the Gallup polling organization, 61 percent of Americans – a 39-year low – approve of using the death penalty for murder convictions, down from 64 percent in 2010.

Abolitionists like Greg Mitchell, author of “Dead Reckoning,” which tracks the history of the death penalty, say it is mistake to assume, based on polling data, that the majority of Americans support the death penalty, because the question does not offer life without parole as an alternative punishment. When asked in other polls, he says, Americans tend to be more evenly divided.

For example, when Gallup gave the choice between death penalty and life imprisonment without parole, 49 percent choose the former and 46 the latter. (Gallup did not ask the question this year.)

“There are far fewer executions [than] there used to be because of the reluctance of prosecutors, because they know the [legal] roadblocks and they know jurors, when it comes down to it, don’t want to convict,” Mr. Mitchell says. “Public vengeance is satisfied with life without parole.”

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