‘Fewer people were executed in 2020 than in any year for nearly three decades, and fewer people were sentenced to die than at any point since the Supreme Court created the modern legal framework governing the death penalty in 1976. Those are two of the striking findings in the Death Penalty Information Center’s (DPIC) annual report, which was released on December 16.

One significant reason so few people were executed in 2020 is the Covid-19 pandemic — which has slowed court proceedings and turned gathering prison officials and witnesses for an execution into a dangerous event for everyone involved. But even if 2020 is an outlier year due to the pandemic, DPIC’s data shows a sharp and consistent trend away from the death penalty since the number of capital sentences peaked in the 1990s.

…The trend away from new death sentences and executions has continued despite two recent significant pro-death penalty opinions from the Supreme Court.

…Why has the number of death sentences and executions declined so sharply?…’

— Via Vox

‘Botanists discover a new species of flower on a remote slope in Hawaii.
The new plant is called Cyanea heluensis and features white, curved flowers.
The plant is so rare, there is only one of its kind found so far….’

— Via Big Think

‘“We’re now approaching the technological threshold where the little guys can do it to the big guys,” one researcher said….’

— Via The New York Times