Year-End Reports

The year 2000 was per­haps the most sig­nif­i­cant sin­gle year affect­ing death penal­ty opin­ion in United States his­to­ry. A broad change in the way the American pub­lic views cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was pre­cip­i­tat­ed by a steady sequence of eye-open­ing events, includ­ing releas­es from death row, reports on the unfair­ness of the process, and gov­ern­men­tal action to lim­it or halt the…

The num­ber of exe­cu­tions in the U.S. in 1999 was the high­est for any year since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1976. There were 98 exe­cu­tions, one-third of them in Texas. This 44% increase in exe­cu­tions from last year is part­ly the result of a large num­ber of old­er cas­es fac­ing an expe­dit­ed fed­er­al and state…

The num­ber of exe­cu­tions in 1998 declined slight­ly from the record num­ber in 1997. As of December 18, there were 68 exe­cu­tions in the U.S., down from 74 peo­ple exe­cut­ed last year (no more are sched­uled this year). About half of the exe­cu­tions occurred in two states: Texas and Virginia. The total num­ber of exe­cu­tions in the U.S. since 1976 reached 500. The num­ber of peo­ple on death row again moved to a record high and now stands at 3,517, though the Bureau of Justice…

The num­ber of exe­cu­tions in 1997 eas­i­ly sur­passed the high­est fig­ure for any year since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1976. As of December 15, 1997, there were 74 exe­cu­tions in the coun­try this year, 18 more than in 1995, the pre­vi­ous record year. The last time more peo­ple were exe­cut­ed in a sin­gle year in the United States was 1955, when 76 peo­ple were exe­cut­ed. The exe­cu­tions this year brought the over­all total since the rein­state­ment of capital…

The over­all pace of exe­cu­tions in the United States remained high in 1996 and the prospects for the future are for even greater num­bers of peo­ple put to death each year. As of December 17, there were 45 exe­cu­tions, most­ly by lethal injec­tion. This rep­re­sents a slight drop from last year when 56 exe­cu­tions rep­re­sent­ed the high­est num­ber since cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was rein­stat­ed in 1976. The 20% decrease in exe­cu­tions this year was prob­a­bly due to the passage of…