While the death penalty is legal in most of the US, executions are increasingly taking place only in the South, according to the end-of-the-year report from the Death Penalty Information Center. In 2002, 86 percent of the nation’s 71 executions took place in the South. Texas led the way as usual with 33 killings, and thereby “accounted for three times as many as the total in the West, Midwest and Northeast states combined, “the group said. See The Nation‘s Death Penalty Talking Points for numerous ways you can help register your voice against capital punishment in this country, including Death Row Roll Call , which makes it easy to blast off informed letters of protest on behalf of inmates scheduled to be executed each month.
