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 death penalty. Former supporters of the death penalty joined long-time critics in raising concerns about the accuracy and…

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 appeals process. At the same time, the number of innocent people freed from death row also grew in 1999, with 8 more people released. The number of inmates exonerated since 1973 has…

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 Statistics reported a 19%…

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 punishment to 432. The national death row…

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 numerous federal and state laws…