According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the amount of overturned sentences vs the total amount of sentences for capital punishment represented around 17% in 1973. This percentage gradually grew as it came closer to the end of the century, reaching around 45% in the year 2000. However, from there on, the amount of overturned punishments has surpassed the admitted punishments, with the latter representing around 37% of the total punishments. It is also important to mention that there has been a gradual decrease in the number of capital punishment cases during the period from 1973 to 2011.