Report: 11 executions in 2021 mark three-decade low

By MICHAEL TARM
AP Legal Affairs Writer

CHICAGO (AP) — States and the federal government carried out 11 executions this year. That’s the fewest since 1988. Pandemic-related disruptions partly accounted for the low number of executions this year, but 2021 marked the seventh consecutive year when there were fewer than 30 executions and fewer than 50 new death sentences. That’s according to an annual report on the death penalty released Thursday. Three of the death sentences were carried out in January during an unprecedented run of federal executions that ended days before President Donald Trump left office. Annual executions have steadily declined since peaking at 98 in 1999.