THE DEATH PENALTY; U.S. "AMERICA LOSES ITS URGE TO KILL" REPORTS SIMON MANN OF "THE AGE. (AUSTRALIA);"

"But the real ''game changer'' has been DNA, featuring in 17 of 90 death-row exonerations since the early 1990s and fuelling concerns about innocence in the minds of the public.

Even in Texas, the ''perennial leader in executions'', DNA evidence and other investigation errors are giving authorities pause. DNA tests have recently shown that a single strand of hair that placed Claude Jones at the scene of a murder did not belong to him. But Jones was executed in 2000. And last October, Anthony Graves was released after 16 years on death row when a review ''found not one piece of credible evidence'' linking him to the murder of a woman and her children.

Texas, responsible for nearly four out of every 10 executions since 1976, is now supporting a state-wide DNA case review through the Innocence Project of Texas."

REPORTER SIMON MANN; THE AGE;

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"Last year, 46 people were executed in America, less than half the number in 1999, the peak year since the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976," the Age story by reporter Simon Mann published on Fenruary 12, 2011 begins, under the heading, "America losing the urge to kill."

''The death penalty is putting millions [of dollars] into getting one execution per state per year, if that,'' says Richard Dieter, of the Death Penalty Information Centre. ''It's just totally symbolic, totally political and that's an expensive thing to keep operating just because it plays well in sound bites,'' the story continues.

"Five people have been put to death in 2011, including Wednesday's execution of a Missouri man who raped and killed an 11-year-old girl in 1991. Another six cases have been stayed, some because of challenges to lethal injection protocols, while the sentence of a second Missouri man was commuted after supporters produced evidence of his possible innocence.

Plenty of wary politicians are citing mounting opposition to the death penalty, but increasingly they are advocating a pragmatic response to yawning state deficits, too.

A Maryland study suggested that a death sentence - with all the trials, appeals and incarceration it entailed - cost the state $US3 million, and more if the courts ultimately spared the prisoner, whereas a life sentence cost $US1 million.

An Indiana study put the cost differential as high as 10 times, while an investigation by New Jersey, which abolished the death penalty in 2007, found death sentences had cost taxpayers an extra $US253 million since 1983.

''That's not the end of the story,'' Mr Dieter tells The Saturday Age, ''but it is, in a time of financial crises, a foot in the door in terms of raising this issue. If you say 'I have a proposal to save the state millions of dollars', then you're going to get a hearing, at the very least.''

Cost was clearly a factor in New Mexico's decision two years ago to ditch the death penalty, as in Illinois, where legislators recently voted it out for new cases. (The Illinois governor is mulling whether to sign the bill.)

A similar move in Connecticut in 2009 was vetoed, but incoming governor Dan Malloy has said he will sign the bill.

Meanwhile, Maryland's governor has proposed an end to capital punishment in his state, where just five people have been executed since 1976.

Should all three states follow through, it would take to 18 those that have dropped capital punishment. Of the 32 remaining states, 20 have executed a total of just 10 people in the past two years. Several have not had an execution in more than five years.

A recent decision by some foreign-owned drug companies to withdraw sodium thiopental for use in executions has cast additional doubt over the system, although some states are considering locally made alternatives.

''In a nation where the prison system is so overused that the currency of imprisonment is largely devalued, the death penalty allows juries to make an emphatically punitive statement,'' says David Garland, a professor of law and sociology at New York University.

''Politicians give voters what they want by enacting capital punishment statutes, even when they will never be enforced [and] prosecutors use the threat of a death penalty as leverage to elicit plea bargains and co-operation.''

Increasingly at play, too, is the reluctance of victims' families to clamour for an eye for an eye, fearing lengthy appeals will anchor their hurt for years to come. As a result, prosecutors increasingly are urging life sentences ahead of the death penalty.

But the real ''game changer'' has been DNA, featuring in 17 of 90 death-row exonerations since the early 1990s and fuelling concerns about innocence in the minds of the public.

Even in Texas, the ''perennial leader in executions'', DNA evidence and other investigation errors are giving authorities pause. DNA tests have recently shown that a single strand of hair that placed Claude Jones at the scene of a murder did not belong to him. But Jones was executed in 2000. And last October, Anthony Graves was released after 16 years on death row when a review ''found not one piece of credible evidence'' linking him to the murder of a woman and her children.

Texas, responsible for nearly four out of every 10 executions since 1976, is now supporting a state-wide DNA case review through the Innocence Project of Texas.

Should more and more states opt out of the death penalty, some opponents contemplate that the Supreme Court could rule that it violates the Eighth Amendment, which bans ''cruel and unusual punishments''.

That may be many years down the road, but impartial observers such as Richard Dieter are adamant that the trends are ''not a blip''. ''They're a constant,'' he says. ''They're a change in the popular view of the death penalty. It's not opposition, but it is scepticism, a frustration with it, a disbelief that it can really be fixed.''

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The story can be found at:

http://www.theage.com.au/world/america-losing-the-urge-to-kill-20110211-1aql8.html

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;