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Article: Long pause in executions amid U.S. Supreme Court examination of lethal injections
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- January 6, 2008
- Author:
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A quarter-century has elapsed since the U.S. experienced as long a pause in executions as the one the Supreme Court has occasioned with its current examination of lethal injections.
No one has been put to death since Sept. 25 and the earliest that executions are likely to resume is in the summer. In 2007, 42 people were executed, the lowest total in 13 years. Last month, New Jersey became the first state in four decades to abolish the death penalty.
But when the justices return from their holiday break and hear arguments Monday in a lethal injection case from Kentucky, their questions are unlikely to focus on whether capital punishment or even the method of lethal injection is ...