On December 19, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released its annu­al sta­tis­ti­cal report on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the United States, with infor­ma­tion for 2013. It not­ed a con­tin­u­ing decline in the death row pop­u­la­tion and the num­ber of exe­cu­tions. Highlights of the report include:

  • The death row pop­u­la­tion dropped to 2,979 inmates as of 12/​31/​13, with 60% held in just 5 states (California, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Alabama).
  • 2013 was the 13th con­sec­u­tive year in which the pop­u­la­tion of death row decreased.
  • Only 52.2% of death row inmates com­plet­ed high school. 13.1% have less than an 8th grade edu­ca­tion, and 24.8% have a 9th-11th grade education.
  • 14.4% of death row inmates are Hispanic.
  • The aver­age time from sen­tenc­ing to exe­cu­tion of those exe­cut­ed in 2013 was 186 months, or 15.5 years.
  • 16% of peo­ple sen­tenced to death since 1973 have been exe­cut­ed. 6% died by caus­es oth­er than exe­cu­tion. 38% were removed from death row because a court over­turned their con­vic­tion, sen­tence, or the cap­i­tal statute under which they were sen­tenced. 4.6% had their sentences commuted. 

For infor­ma­tion about the death penal­ty in 2014, see DPIC’s Year End Report.

(Bureau of Justice Statistics, ​“Capital Punishment 2013 — Statistical Tables,” December 19, 2014.) See Studies and Death Row.

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