35% of US executions ‘botched’ in 2022 as use of capital punishment remains near 50-year lows, report says

Executions and death sentences in the United States remained near 50-year lows in 2022, but “an astonishing 35%” of execution attempts were “visibly problematic,” according to a report released Friday. The year-end report by Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based nonprofit focusing on capital punishment issues, found that 18 executions were carried out in the U.S. since January — the fewest in any prepandemic year since 1991. The report also noted a decline in the handing out of death sentences. To date, 20 death sentences have been issued, with two more sentencing decisions sche...