Inch by inch, row by row…

…we're becoming civilized. The better, if not good, news from the Death Penalty Information Center, via Jeralyn...

Executions dropped by 12% compared with 2009, and by more than 50% since 1999. The number of new death sentences was about the same as in 2009, the lowest number in 34 years.

In a recent national poll conducted by Lake Research Partners, 61% of U.S. voters chose various alternative sentences over the death penalty as the proper punishment for murder. Only 33% chose the death penalty.

Good for us. Most of us, anyway.