Death Row

Death Row

Around 2,400 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

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 January 1, 2023: 2,331**

StateNumber of Prisoners
California665
Florida313
Texas192
Alabama167
North Carolina140
Ohio129
Pennsylvania123
Arizona114
Louisiana63
Nevada62
Tennessee47
U.S. Fed. Gov't.44
Oklahoma40
Georgia41
Mississippi36
South Carolina36
Arkansas28
Kentucky26
Missouri18
Nebraska11
Kansas9
Idaho8
Indiana8
Utah7
U.S. Military4
Montana2
New Hampshire1
South Dakota1
Oregon0
Wyoming0

Source: Death Row Population Figures from NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. “DEATH ROW USA” (As of January 1, 2023).

* 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


News

May 22, 2023

Death Row USA Summer 2022 Report: Death-Row Population Continues Long-Term Decline

The num­ber of peo­ple sen­tenced to death or fac­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a death sen­tence in pend­ing cap­i­tal retri­al or resen­tenc­ing pro­ceed­ings con­tin­ued its more than two-decade decline in the third quar­ter of last year, accord­ing to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) Summer 2022 quar­ter­ly cen­sus of death rows across the United States. 

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News

Feb 09, 2022

Death Row USA Fall 2021 Report: Death-Row Population Continues Long-Term Decline

The num­ber of peo­ple sen­tenced to death or fac­ing con­tin­u­ing jeop­ardy of exe­cu­tion in pend­ing cap­i­tal retri­al or resen­tenc­ing pro­ceed­ings con­tin­ued its more than two-decade decline in the third quar­ter of 2021, accord­ing to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) Fall 2021 quar­ter­ly cen­sus of death rows across the United States.

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News

Dec 29, 2021

Death Row USA Summer 2021 Report: Fewest Death-Sentenced Prisoners in Three Decades Face Continuing Jeopardy of Execution

Fewer peo­ple were on death rows across the United States as of July 1, 2021 or faced con­tin­u­ing jeop­ardy of exe­cu­tion in pend­ing cap­i­tal retri­al or resen­tenc­ing pro­ceed­ings than at any oth­er time in more than three decades, accord­ing to data com­piled by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) and ana­lyzed by the Death Penalty Information Center.

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News

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 USA (DRUSA), released August 10, reports that 2,603 peo­ple were on death row or fac­ing resen­tenc­ing as of April 1, 2020. That marked a decline of 17 since the January 1, 2020 report and a 2.6% drop from the 2,673 LDF report­ed for April 12019.

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