The low national rate belies the fact that two U.S. states have much higher rates of following through on capital punishment sentences. In Virginia, 110 out of 152 people put on death row were executed, or 72%.
Baumgartner attributed Virginia’s high rate to the fact that it limits the time one can appeal a death penalty sentence to one year.
The state with the second highest rate is Texas, which executed nearly half of its prisoners to receive the death penalty, 508 out of 1,075, or 47%.
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