Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 83.0

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

33 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

that simple fact, demonstrated convincingly over the past
40 years, strongly supports the  claim that  the death pen­
alty  violates  the  Eighth  Amendment.    A  death  penalty 
system  that  is  unreliable  or  procedurally  unfair  would 
violate  the  Eighth  Amendment.  Woodson,  428  U. S.,  at 
305 (plurality opinion); Hall, 572 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 
22); Roper, 543 U. S., at 568.  And so would a system that, 
if reliable and fair in its application of the death penalty,
would  serve  no  legitimate  penological  purpose.  Furman, 
408 U. S., at 312 (White, J., concurring); Gregg, supra, at 
183  (joint  opinion  of  Stewart,  Powell,  and  Stevens,  JJ.); 
Atkins, supra, at 319. 

IV 
“Unusual”—Decline in Use of the Death Penalty 
The  Eighth  Amendment  forbids  punishments  that  are
cruel and unusual.  Last year, in  2014, only seven States
carried  out  an  execution.    Perhaps  more  importantly,  in
the  last  two  decades,  the  imposition  and  implementation
of the death penalty have increasingly become unusual.  I
can  illustrate  the  significant  decline  in  the  use  of  the 
death penalty in several ways.

An appropriate starting point concerns the trajectory of
the  number  of  annual  death  sentences  nationwide,  from 
the  1970’s  to  present  day.  In  1977—just  after  the  Su­
preme  Court  made  clear  that,  by  modifying  their  legisla­
tion, States could reinstate the death penalty—137 people
were sentenced to death.  BJS 2013 Stats, at 19 (Table 16).  
Many  States  having  revised  their  death  penalty  laws  to 
meet  Furman’s  requirements,  the  number  of  death  sen­
tences  then  increased.  Between  1986  and  1999,  286  per­
sons on average were sentenced to death each year.   BJS 
2013  Stats,  at  14,  19  (Tables  11  and  16).    But,  approxi­
mately  15  years  ago,  the  numbers  began  to  decline,  and 
they  have  declined  rapidly  ever  since.  See  Appendix  A, 
infra  (showing  sentences  from  1977–2014).  In  1999,  279