Death Row
Around 2,500 prisoners currently face execution in the United States. The national death-row population has declined for 18 consecutive years, as sentence reversals, executions, and deaths by other causes are outpacing new death sentences.
DPIC Page: Conditions on Death Row
Includes information such as the length of time prisoners spend on death row
DPIC Page: Racial Demographics
Racial demographics of death-row prisoners
DPIC Report: The 2% Death Penalty
How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All
DPIC Page: Sentencing Data
Information on new death sentences
Death Row Prisoners by State
Total Number of Death-Row Prisoners* as of April 1, 2021: 2,508
| State | Number of Prisoners |
|---|---|
California | 704 |
Florida | 343 |
Texas | 205 |
Alabama | 170 |
North Carolina | 141 |
Ohio | 137 |
Pennsylvania | 133 |
Arizona | 118 |
Nevada | 68 |
Louisiana | 65 |
Tennessee | 50 |
U.S. Fed. Gov't. | 46 |
| Georgia | 45 |
Oklahoma | 44 |
Mississippi | 41 |
South Carolina | 39 |
Arkansas | 31 |
Kentucky | 27 |
Oregon | 24 |
Missouri | 21 |
Nebraska | 12 |
Kansas | 10 |
Indiana | 8 |
Idaho | 8 |
Utah | 7 |
U.S. Military | 4 |
Virginia | 2 |
Montana | 2 |
New Hampshire | 1 |
South Dakota | 1 |
Wyoming | 1 |
Source: Death Row Population Figures from NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. “Death Row USA” (April, 2021).
* 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. Four prisoners on on death row 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).
Sep 12, 2021
Report: After 20 Years of Decline, Spring 2021 Death-Row Population Matches Level in 1991
The number of people on death row or facing possible capital resentencing across the United States now matches a three-decade low, according to data compiled by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) and analyzed by th…
Read MoreNews & Developments
Death Row Overview
Sep 01, 2021
NAACP Legal Defense Fund: U.S. Death Row Falls to Lowest Level in Nearly Three Decades
The number of people on death row or facing possible capital resentencing in the United States has fallen to its lowest level in nearly three decades, according to a DPIC analysis of the latest death-row data compiled by the NAACP Legal De…
Death Row Overview
Jun 25, 2021
Bureau of Justice Statistics Reports Number on Death Row Down, Average Time on Death Row Approaches 19 Years
The number of prisoners on death row across the United States continues to decline while the average amount of time they have been on death row approaches 19 years, according to a new report from the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice…
Death Row Overview
Oct 05, 2020
Bureau of Justice Statistics, NAACP Legal Defense Fund Reports Document Ongoing Decline of U.S. Death-Row Population
The Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) have issued new reports documenting the continuing historic decline of the death penalty ac…
Death Row Overview
Aug 11, 2020
Spring 2020 Death Row Report Documents Continuing Erosion of Death Row
The slow but steady erosion of U.S. death row continued in the first quarter of 2020, data from the latest quarterly death-row census by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) has revealed. The Spring 2020 edition of
Death Row Overview
Apr 21, 2020
Case of 79-Year-Old Ohio Death-Row Prisoner With Dementia Highlights Legal Issues Exacerbated by the Aging of Death Row
Seventy-nine-year-old James Frazier (pictured) is Ohio’s oldest death-row prisoner. He has dementia, he cannot walk, and he requires the assistance of aides to complete daily tasks. Because of his special medical …
Death Row Overview
Mar 12, 2020
Winter 2020 Death Row USA: U.S. Death Row Shrinks 20% During the 2010s
The number of people on death row across the United States or facing potential capital resentencings declined by nearly 20% in the 2010s, according to a Death Penalty Information Center analysis of data from the latest quarterly death-row census b…
Death Row Overview
Feb 19, 2020
California Announces Pilot Program to Move Some Death-Row Prisoners Out of San Quentin
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has announced plans to allow some of the state’s death-sentenced prisoners to move from San Quentin’s death row to other state prisons that offer work and other re…
Death Row Overview
Jan 28, 2020
Fall 2019 “Death Row USA” Shows Continuing Death-Row Decline
Death row and the number of prisoners facing active death sentences in the U.S. continue to decline, according to the latest quarterly survey of death row by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). The Fall 2019…
Death Row Overview
Jan 09, 2020
Nebraska Supreme Court: Death-Penalty Repeal Bill Overturned by Voters Didn’t Invalidate Prisoners’ Death Sentences
The Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled that the 2015 legislative repeal of the state’s death-penalty statute did not invalidate the death sentences of the prisoners on the state’s death row because the repeal bill never became law b…
Death Row Overview
Nov 22, 2019
Summer 2019 “Death Row USA” Shows Smallest U.S. Death-Row Population in 27 Years
The number of people on death row or facing capital resentencing in the United States is at a 27-year low, according to a DPIC analysis of data from a new death-row census by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). Th…