Executions resumed in the U.S. on May 6 fol­low­ing the Supreme Court’s deci­sion on lethal injec­tions on April 16. There have been 20 exe­cu­tions in 4 months, with 4 months of the year remain­ing. Pertinent sta­tis­tics fol­low:

Geography
100% in the South
40% in Texas

Race of those exe­cut­ed
White 40%
Black 45%
Hispanic 15%

Race of vic­tims in under­ly­ing mur­der
White 57%
Black 32%
Hispanic 7%
Asian 4%

Method of exe­cu­tion
19 by lethal injec­tion
1 by elec­tro­cu­ton

Commutations
4 in 2008, includ­ing 3 since exe­cu­tions resumed.

(Posted Aug. 27, 2008). See Executions and Arbitrariness.

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