The num­ber of fed­er­al death sen­tences has increased in the past sev­en years, while the num­ber of state death sen­tences has declined. The size of the fed­er­al death row has tripled since 2000, while the num­ber of peo­ple on state death rows has dropped. There has also been a marked increase in the num­ber of peo­ple on the fed­er­al death row from states that do not have their own death penalty laws.

From 1994 to 2000, there were 17 fed­er­al death sen­tences. From 2001 to 2007, there were 36 fed­er­al death sen­tences, while the annu­al num­ber of state death sen­tences declined about 60% dur­ing this time. There were 19 inmates on the fed­er­al death row in 2000; today there are 57 inmates. The lat­est per­son to receive a fed­er­al death sen­tence is Rejon Taylor. A fed­er­al jury in Tennessee vot­ed to impose a death sen­tence on Oct. 21, 2008. The judge is required to fol­low the jury’s ver­dict, but has not for­mal­ly imposed the sen­tence. About 58% of the inmates on the fed­er­al death row are (like Taylor) mem­bers of minorities.

In 2000, all of the inmates on the fed­er­al death row were from states that had their own death penal­ty statutes. Today, there are 8 fed­er­al death row inmates from states that do not have the death penal­ty, includ­ing inmates from West Virginia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Vermont, and North Dakota. (There is also one inmate from New York, which no longer has the death penal­ty but did at the time of the fed­er­al sentencing there.)

(From DPIC Statistics, Oct. 31, 2008). See Federal Death Penalty and Sentencing.

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