DPIC has two new resources for com­par­ing the use of the death penal­ty in the var­i­ous states. The first is a chart list­ing the states in order of their total death sen­tences as a frac­tion of their pop­u­la­tion. The sec­ond mea­sures the total exe­cu­tions in each state as com­pared to the total num­ber of death sen­tences. Even though Texas leads the coun­try with the most exe­cu­tions since the rein­state­ment of the death penal­ty in 1976, it is eleventh in the U.S. in terms of death sen­tences per capi­ta through the end of 2007. The five lead­ing death-sen­tenc­ing states on a per capi­ta basis are Alabama, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Nevada, and Delaware. The full rank­ing of death sen­tences per capi­ta by state may be found here. There has been a marked decline in death sen­tences in the U.S. since 2000. The Bureau of Justice Statistic’s most recent count of death sen­tences for 2007 showed it to be at the low­est num­ber since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1976.

The sec­ond chart com­pares states on the basis of exe­cu­tions per death sen­tence, and it offers a way of exam­in­ing what hap­pens to death sen­tences as they work their way through the state appel­late process. In some states, like Virginia, a high exe­cu­tion ratio indi­cates that cas­es are rarely over­turned and move rel­a­tive­ly quick­ly toward exe­cu­tion. Virginia is the only state that has exe­cut­ed more than half of the peo­ple it has sen­tenced to death. In states with a low­er ratio, either more sen­tences are being reversed with inmates being tak­en off death row pri­or to exe­cu­tion, or the state is rel­a­tive­ly slow­er in com­plet­ing the appeals process. The chart of exe­cu­tions per death sen­tence can be found here.

(Posted May 1, 2009). See Sentencing and Arbritrariness. See also DPIC’s chart on exe­cu­tions per capi­ta. Listen to DPIC’s Podcast on Arbitrariness.

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