Death penalty grows rarer

Although the number of executions in 2012 remained unchanged from 2011 at 43, death penalty opponents said the year still showed capital punishment is on the wane. Connecticut upped the number of states to repeal the death penalty to 17. Some states that have had relatively high numbers of executions in the past executed no one in 2012 or issued no new death sentences. "Capital punishment is becoming marginalized and meaningless in most of the country," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which released a study on the issue in December.