The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) has released its lat­est Death Row USA report. Data from this and pre­vi­ous reports for 2003 show that there were 143 new death sen­tences in the United States in 2003, the fewest num­ber since 1977 and about 50% few­er than the annu­al new sen­tences in the late 1990s, which aver­aged about 300 per year. According to LDF, 3,503 peo­ple were on death row in the United States as of January 1, 2004, a decrease from the 3,697 report­ed on October 1, 2002. Of those 1.4% are women and 2.28% are juve­niles. The juris­dic­tions with the most juve­nile offend­ers on death row include Texas (28), Alabama (15), Louisiana (7), Arizona (6), and Mississippi and North Carolina (5 each). Jurisdictions with the high­est per­cent­age of minori­ties on death row include Colorado (100%), U.S. Military (86%), U.S. Government (75%), Louisiana (72%), and Pennsylvania (70%). In addi­tion to infor­ma­tion about those who are cur­rent­ly on death row in the United States, Death Row USA con­tains data about those who have been exe­cut­ed and an update on cas­es before the U.S. Supreme Court. (NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, ​“Death Row USA Winter 2004,” January 1, 2004). See Death Row USA. See DPIC’s 2003 Year End Report.

Citation Guide