Death Row

Around 2,500 prisoners currently face execution in the United States. The national death-row population has declined for 20 consecutive years, as sentence reversals, executions, and deaths by other causes are outpacing new death sentences.

DPIC Page: Conditions on Death Row

DPIC Page: Conditions on Death Row

Includes information such as the length of time prisoners spend on death row

DPIC Page: Racial Demographics

DPIC Page: Racial Demographics

Racial demographics of death-row prisoners

DPIC Report: The 2% Death Penalty

DPIC Report: The 2% Death Penalty

How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All

DPIC Page: Sentencing Data

DPIC Page: Sentencing Data

Information on new death sentences

Death Row Prisoners by State

Total Number of Death-Row Prisoners* as of April 1, 2022: 2,414**

StateNumber of Prisoners

California

690

Florida

323

Texas

199

Alabama

166

North Carolina

138

Ohio

134

Pennsylvania

128

Arizona

116

Louisiana

62

Nevada

65

Tennessee

47

Oklahoma42

U.S. Fed. Gov't.

44

Georgia41

Mississippi

37

South Carolina

37

Arkansas

29

Kentucky

27

Oregon

21

Missouri

20

Nebraska

12

Kansas

9

Indiana

8

Idaho

8

Utah

7

U.S. Military

4

Montana

2

New Hampshire

1

South Dakota

1

Wyoming

0

Source: Death Row Population Figures from NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. “DEATH ROW USA” (As of April 1, 2022).

* Figures include persons whose death sentences have been overturned but who still face the possibility of being re-sentenced to death after a new trial or new sentencing hearing. The number of prisoners in the U.S. facing active death sentences is lower.

** The state-by-state total of individuals on death row is greater than the national total because four prisoners are sentenced to death in two different states.

I miss the stars. You know, I haven’t seen the stars in years and years and years. I miss the rain. I miss food. I miss all these things. But what it comes down to the most — and this is the thing that will scar me the most and that I’ll car­ry with me as a scar the longest — the thing I miss the most is being treat­ed like a human being.”

CNN inter­view with Damien Echols on Arkansas death row since 1993
(Jan. 13, 2011) (released August 2011).

News & Developments