Gissendaner execution stokes death penalty debate

The recent execution of Kelly Gissendaner has again brought to the forefront America's ongoing argument over the death penalty.

Gissendaner was convicted of orchestrating her husband’s murder in 1997. Last week, her children implored the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to spare their mother’s life, as did candle-holding crowds outside the prison walls. Even Pope Francis weighed in, forwarding a plea to the board to not give Gissendaner the needle.

The board remained unmoved, and so Gissendaner became the first woman executed in Georgia since 1945. Americans may still favor the death penalty, but support for it has fallen in recent years. And some experts predict executions may become a thing of the past within the next decade.