Facts & Research
Sentencing Data
More than 8,500 people have been sentenced to death in the United States since the 1970s. New death sentences have remained near record lows since 2015 after having peaked at more than 300 per year in the mid 1990s.
DPIC Report: The 2% Death Penalty
How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All
DPIC Page: Ring v. Arizona
Supreme Court Declares Defendants Have a Right to Jury Determination of Eligibility for Death Sentence
Overview
The number of annual executions in the U.S. does not necessarily reflect the current public mood about the death penalty because executions typically occur fifteen or more years after a death sentence has been handed down. The number of executions is also affected by reversals on appeal and clemencies granted. Death sentences, on the other hand, are a timely measure of prosecutors’ decisions to seek death and juries’ unanimous votes to impose it.
However, it is also difficult to discern public sentiment on the death penalty from the number of death sentences. These sentences vary greatly among the states, even when measured on a per capita basis. Moreover, the sentences are often clustered in particular counties within a state. Counties with the highest number of murders do not always produce the most death sentences. Nevertheless, it is relevant that the national annual number of death sentences has declined by over 80 percent during the past 25 years.
At Issue
One might expect that the number of death sentences would be directly proportional to the number of murders committed in a jurisdiction, but that is not often the case. For example, the number of death sentences in the U.S. has plummeted since 2000 while the country’s murder rate has remained fairly stable. The local use of the death penalty is strongly affected by the views of the county’s district attorney, by racial factors, and by the financial resources available in particular jurisdictions.
What DPIC Offers
Statistics are available on the number of death sentences by jurisdiction and year. Recent data include racial information on sentences. Death sentences can be easily compared to the murder rates for various jurisdictions and time periods.
For more information about state-by-state sentencing procedures, see DPIC’s pages on Ring v. Arizona and Sentencing Alternatives.
News & Developments
Sentencing Data
Mar 22, 2023
Federal Government Announces Withdrawal of Intent to Seek Death in North Dakota Case
On March 14, 2023, at the direction of Attorney General Merrick Garland (pictured), the U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota withdrew the notice of intent to seek a death sentence for Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr., who had been convicted in 200…
Sentencing Data
Mar 15, 2023
From The Marshall Project: “The Mercy Workers” —The Unique Role of Mitigation Specialists in Death Penalty Cases
During the sentencing phase of capital cases, sympathetic evidence about the life of the defendant is typically presented to jurors, who then must decide whether such mitigating factors merit sparing his or her life. Mitigation specialists play a …
Race
Mar 01, 2023
RESEARCH: History of Lynchings Linked to Increased Death Sentencing for Black Defendants
Researchers based at the University of North Carolina found a strong statistical relationship between the level of racial resentment in a state and the number of death sentences handed down on Black people. In particular, racial resentment was a s…
Juveniles
Feb 10, 2023
STUDIES: Raising the Age of Those Eligible for the Death Penalty Would Likely Reduce Racial Disparities
Professor Craig Haney (pictured) of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Professor Frank Baumgartner of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Karen Steele, a criminal defense attorney in Oregon, examined age and race data from …
DPIC Reports
Dec 16, 2022
DPIC 2022 Year End Report: Commutation of Oregon Death Row Headlines U.S. Death-Penalty Decline in a Year Marred by Botched Executions
The death penalty continued its long-term decline in the U.S. in 2022, as Oregon commuted its death row and new death sentences and public support for the death penalty remained near 50-year lows. But perhaps more dramatically than anything else, …
Sentencing Data
Sep 14, 2022
BOOKS: “Geometrical Justice: The Death Penalty in America”
The outcome of a capital prosecution can be predicted based upon the relative social status of the victim, the defendant, and the jurors, applying a sociology concept known as the geometrical theory of law, according to the authors of a new book, …
Race
Sep 12, 2022
As the Lone Star State Conducts 400th White-Victim Execution, Study Shows Black Lives Matter Less in Texas Capital Cases
A new study of the Texas death penalty, released as the state was conducting its 400th modern-era execution in a case involving a white victim, has documented overwhelming racial disparities in the Lone Star state’s capital punish…
Costs
Sep 08, 2022
Commentary: Indiana Death Penalty — Expensive, Unreliable, and Withering on the Vine
With no executions in more than a decade and no new death sentences since 2014, Indiana’s costly death penalty has reached a “de facto moratorium,” says Indiana Capital Chronicle editor-in-chief Niki Kelly
Juveniles
Aug 29, 2022
Report: Racial Disparities in Death Sentences Imposed on Late Adolescent Offenders Have Grown Since Supreme Court Ruling Banning Juvenile Death Penalty
Racial disparities in U.S. death sentences imposed on late adolescent offenders have grown substantially since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the use of capital punishment against juvenile offenders in 2005, according to a new report by
Innocence
Jul 01, 2022
2022 DPIC Mid-Year Review: Geographic Isolation of Death Penalty Continues Amidst Eight-Year Trend of Minimal Use
At the halfway point of 2022, the United States is on pace to mark the eighth consecutive year with fewer than 30 execution and fewer than 50 new death sentences. But even as the death penalty declines, a few states have attempted to ramp up execu…
