Executions in 2006 Continue Uneven Trends

With the exe­cu­tion of Jesus Aguilar in Texas on May 24, there have now been 20 exe­cu­tions in 2006:

• 50% of the exe­cu­tions have been in Texas 
• 75% have been in the South
• 75% of those exe­cut­ed were of minority race
• 62% of the vic­tims in the under­ly­ing mur­ders were white.

At the cur­rent pace, there would be 48 exe­cu­tions in 2006, a decline from the 60 exe­cu­tions in 2005, though many exe­cu­tions have been stayed while courts con­sid­er the lethal injec­tion process.
(source: DPIC sta­tis­tics, May 25, 2006). See Executions and DPIC’s Execution Database.