2019 Death Sentences by Name, Race, and County

34 new death sen­tences were imposed in the United States in 2019, the sec­ond-fewest in any year in the mod­ern his­to­ry of U.S. cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, which dates back to the Supreme Court’s 1972 deci­sion in Furman v. Georgia strik­ing down all exist­ing death-penal­ty laws then in effect in the country. 

The new death sen­tences imposed in 2019 declined by 20.9% from the already low 43 new death sen­tences that had been imposed in 2018. The year’s num­bers also rep­re­sent­ed a more than 89% decline from the peak of 310 or more new death sen­tences imposed each year from 1994 through 1996. The only time in the past 47 years in which few­er defen­dants were sen­tenced to death was 2016, when 31 new death sen­tences were imposed.

The cas­es result­ing in new death sen­tences in 2019 con­tin­ued to reflect major defi­cien­cies in the tri­al process. They includ­ed two defen­dants whose juries did not unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend the death penal­ty; a brain-dam­aged defen­dant who was deemed com­pe­tent to rep­re­sent her­self and then pre­sent­ed no defense at either the guilt of penal­ty phas­es of her tri­al; a for­eign nation­al who waived his right to con­sular assis­tance and then refused the assis­tance of coun­sel; and oth­ers who waived their right to coun­sel, waived their right to a jury tri­al, and/​or pled guilty and pre­sent­ed no case for life.

Because of the volatil­i­ty of sen­tenc­ing from year to year, sin­gle-year fluc­tu­a­tions in the num­ber of new death sen­tences should be viewed with cau­tion. The mul­ti-year trends in 2019, how­ev­er, point­ed to a con­tin­u­ing long-term decline in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the U.S.

• Continued near-record low death sen­tences: 2019 was the fifth con­sec­u­tive year in which there were few­er than 50 new death sen­tences imposed in the United States. 1973 is the only oth­er year in the mod­ern era of U.S. cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in which few­er than 50 new death sen­tences were imposed nation­wide. At least 100 new death sen­tences were imposed in the U.S. every year from 1974 through 2010, a span of 37 years.

• 3‑Year Trend: There were 116 new death sen­tences imposed in the United States in the three-year peri­od from 2017 – 2019, for an aver­age of 38.7 per year. That marked a decline of 24.2% from the pri­or three-year peri­od from 2014 – 2016, in which 153 new death sen­tences were imposed, or an aver­age of 51.0 per year.

• 5‑Year Trend: There were 196 new death sen­tences imposed in the United States in the five-year peri­od from 2015 – 2019, for an aver­age of 39.2 new death sen­tences per year. By com­par­i­son, 437 new death sen­tences were imposed from 2010 – 2014, an aver­age of 87.4 per year. There were 241 few­er new death sen­tences imposed in the sec­ond half of the decade than in the first, a decline of 48.2 death sen­tences per year. That amount­ed to a 55.1% decline (more than half) in the final five years of the decade com­pared to the years 2010 – 2014.

• 10-Year Trend: There were 633 new death sen­tences imposed in the United States in the decade of the 2010s, for an aver­age of 63.3 per year. By com­par­i­son, 1,458 new death sen­tences were imposed in the decade of the 2000s, an aver­age of 145.8 per year. There were 825 few­er new death sen­tences imposed in the decade of the 2010s than in the first decade of the 21^st cen­tu­ry, a decline of 82.5 death sen­tences per year. That amount­ed to a 56.6% decline (again, more than half) in the decade of the 2010s com­pared to the decade of the 2000s.

Defendants Sentenced to Death in 2019

2019 Death Sentences by Race of Defendant and Victim

2019 Death Sentences by County

2019 Death Sentences by State

Related Links

• DPIC’s 2019 Year End Report
• Download 2019 Sentencing Data as a Microsoft Excel file.