Supreme Court decisions, new DNA technology, and perhaps a growing public concern about the fairness of the death penalty have resulted in a dramatic drop in the number of death sentences—from 98 in 1999 to 23 in 2017. Texas led the nation in executions, representing 30 percent of the national total in 2017. Texas prosecutors and juries are no more apt to seek and impose death sentences than those in other states that have the death penalty. However, once a death sentence is imposed there, prosecutors, the courts, the pardon board, and the governor are united in moving the process along.