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  3. California is having problems with its death penalty. It hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, when a federal court ruled that its

California is having problems with its death penalty. It hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, when a federal court ruled that its

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问题     California is having problems with its death penalty. It hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, when a federal court ruled that its method of lethal injection was improper and could cause excessive pain. The state spent five years coming up with a better method — and last month, a judge threw that one out too. One indication of just how encumbered California’s capital-punishment system is: the prisoner who brought the latest lethal-injection challenge has been on death row for 24 years.
    It isn’t just California. The Death Penalty Information Center reported last month that the number of new death sentences nationally was down sharply in 2011, dropping below 100 for the first time in decades. It also reported that executions were plummeting — down 56% since 1999.
    There has long been an idea about how the death penalty would end in the U. S. : the Supreme Court would hand down a sweeping ruling saying it is unconstitutional in all cases. But that is not what is happening. Instead of top-down abolition, we seem to be getting it from the bottom up — governors, state legislatures, judges and juries quietly deciding not to support capital punishment. New Jersey abolished its death penalty in 2007. New Mexico abolished its death penalty in 2009. There are now 16 states — or about one-third of the country — that have abolished capital punishment.
    There are several reasons we seem to be moving toward de facto abolition of the death penalty. A major one has been the growing number of prisoners on death row who have been exonerated — 139 and counting since 1973, according to a list maintained by the Death Penalty Information Center. Even many people who support capital punishment in theory balk when they are confronted with clear evidence that innocent people are being sentenced to death.
    Another factor is cost. Money is tight these days, and more attention is being paid to just how expensive death-penalty cases are. A 2008 study found that California was spending $ 137 million on capital cases — a sizable outlay, particularly since it was not putting anyone to death.
    According to the polls, a majority of the country has not yet turned against the death penalty — but support is slipping. In 1994, 80% of respondents in a Gallup poll said they supported the death penalty for someone convicted of murder. In 2001, just 61% did. In polls where respondents are given a choice between the death penalty or life without parole and restitution, a majority has gone with the non-death option.
    Many opponents of the death penalty are still hoping for a sweeping Supreme Court ruling, and there is no denying that it would have unique force. Five Justices, with a stroke of their pens, could end capital punishment nationwide. But bottom-up, gradual abolition has other advantages. What we are seeing is not a small group of judges setting policy. It is a large number of Americans gradually losing their enthusiasm for putting people to death.
In the eyes of supporters for capital punishment, it is ______that there are innocent people sentenced to death because of erroneous judgment.
选项 A、unacceptable
B、inevitable
C、rare
D、undeniable
答案A
解析 文章第四段中作者介绍了各州不再热衷于判处死刑的第一个原因，那就是冤假错案的增多。自1973年起，先前被判死刑后又被无罪赦免的事件共有139例之多。作者指出，即使是那些支持死刑的人(people who support capital punishment)在听到无辜的人被误判死刑的确凿证据的时候，也不免踌躇(balk)。本题题干问的正是这些人对于无辜的人被判死刑的感想，正确答案应该选[A]。他们虽然支持死刑，但是也认为这样的误判是无法容忍、不能接受的。
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