The Bureau of Justice Statistics typ­i­cal­ly releas­es an annu­al report enti­tled ​“Capital Punishment” con­tain­ing tables and infor­ma­tion on the death penal­ty for the pre­vi­ous year. Although BJS, which is part of the Department of Justice, did not pub­lish a sep­a­rate report for 2006, it did release infor­ma­tion in tab­u­lar form that quan­ti­fies death penal­ty prac­tice in the U.S. Information drawn from BJS’s recent tables includes:

  • The num­ber of peo­ple on death row declined from 3,245 in 2005 to 3,228 in 2006.
  • The num­ber of peo­ple received under sen­tence of death in 2006 was 115, of whom 72 were white and 42 were black. The 115 death sen­tences was the low­est num­ber since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1976.
  • The South had the great­est num­ber of death sen­tences: 71 (62% of the U.S. total), fol­lowed by the West with 25, the Midwest with 10, and the Northeast with 4 (all in Pennsylvania). There were 5 fed­er­al death sentences.
  • There were 53 exe­cu­tions in the U.S. in 2006, includ­ing 44 (83%) in the South.
  • 11% of those on death row in 2006 were of Hispanic origin.
  • 51% of those on death row had not grad­u­at­ed from high school; only 9% had any college education.
  • 91.6% of those on death row had no pri­or homi­cide conviction.
  • The aver­age time between sen­tenc­ing and exe­cu­tion for all those exe­cut­ed since 1976 was 10.5 years.
  • The aver­age time between sen­tenc­ing and exe­cu­tion for all those exe­cut­ed in 2006 was 12.1 years.

(See Bureau of Justice Statistics, Capital Punishment, 2006 — Statistical Tables, released Dec. 17, 2007). See also DPIC’s 2007 Year End Report.

Citation Guide