Data Source: Created from data compiled by Justice Breyer in Glossip v. Gross, 576 U. S. ____, No.14-7955 slip op., dissenting opinion of Breyer, J. at 44, Appendix C (June 29, 2015). (Graph: Rachel Gandy, 2015)

This graph originally appeared in Justice Breyer puts a new spin to the decades-old death penalty debate.

The death penalty is on its way out. The portion of the country that lives in a state where the death penalty was recently used has been in consistent decline for 15 years. In 1999, 70% of the U.S. population lived in a state that used the death penalty within the last three years, but by 2014, only 33% of the U.S. population lived in such a state.