By The Editors of the Washington Post (December 26, 2010)
There is a reason for hope when no new death sentences are imposed in death penalty states, as happened in Virginia and Georgia in 2010. Also heartening are drops in the number of executions in places such as Texas, which has long been the nation’s leader in capital punishment but put to death seven fewer inmates this year than in 2009. The downward trend is welcome. We hope that it is heading toward abolition. Only then will there be certainty that the state has not put innocents to death.