Sixty-six percent of Americans support the death penalty in theory. However, public support for the death penalty drops to around 50 percent when voters are offered the alternative of life without parole. The number of executions in the United States in 1999 (98) was the highest for any year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. At the same time, the number of innocent people freed from death row also grew, with eight more people released. A total of 84 inmates have been exonerated since 1973. Such mistakes in application of the death penalty have resulted in proposals from State legislators, judges, and religious and international leaders to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. The article discusses proposed State and Federal legislation to reform or abolish the death penalty, the politics of the death penalty debate, leading execution States, research into the issue, and racial and geographic biases. References