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THE DEATH PENALTY IN 2013: YEAR END REPORT by The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) - With 39 executions in 2013, this year marks only the second time in nearly two decades that the United States executed less than 40 people.

A majority of Americans -- 60 percent -- still favor putting convicted murderers to death. In the past 20 years, the level of support has dropped gradually, from a high of 80 percent in 1994, and 69 percent as recently as 2007.

Now that the Oregon Supreme Court upheld his reprieve of Gary Haugen’s death sentence, Gov. John Kitzhaber and others say they can proceed with a broader but politically difficult effort to abolish Oregon’s death penalty.

Gov. John Hickenlooper signed an Executive Order today that grants Nathan J. Dunlap, also known as Offender No. 89148, a temporary reprieve from his death sentence.

It is time to let Gary Haugen die. His death-penalty case has turned into a political circus that neither serves justice nor compels Oregonians to confront the barbarianism of capital punishment. The Oregon Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in the bizarre, long-running case in which Haugen wants his execution to proceed but Gov. John Kitzhaber has stopped it.