Only one person was added to North Carolina's death row in 2008.

That's the lowest number of death sentences in the state in any year since 1977, when a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed capital punishment to be reinstated. 

It's not an anomaly. Over the past decade, death sentences in North Carolina have steadily declined as a result of new laws and a broader reconsideration of the issue.

"Juries are increasingly returning fewer and fewer death sentences," said Jeremy Collins, the director of the N.C. Coalition for a Moratorium. "If you make a mistake in a life case, you do have the opportunity to right the wrong. And we do have a history of making mistakes here in North Carolina, specifically related to the death penalty." 

Executions are on hold in the state due to legal challenges, while three people who were on death row have been exonerated in the past two years. 

During the mid 1990s, more than 20 people a year were sentenced to death row. (WS-J)