NEW RESOURCES: Death Row USA Fall 2012 Report Now Available

The lat­est edi­tion of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund​’s Death Row USA showed a decrease of 43 inmates under sen­tence of death from January 1 to October 1, 2012. Over the last decade, the total pop­u­la­tion of state and fed­er­al death rows has decreased sig­nif­i­cant­ly, from 3,703 inmates in 2000 to 3,146 inmates as of October 2012. California con­tin­ues to have the largest death row pop­u­la­tion (724), fol­lowed by Florida (411), Texas (304), Pennsylvania (204), and Alabama (202). Neither California nor Pennsylvania has car­ried out an exe­cu­tion in the past sev­en years. The report also con­tains infor­ma­tion on exe­cu­tions. Nearly 77% of the mur­der vic­tims in cas­es result­ing in an exe­cu­tion since 1976 were white. However, nation­al­ly, about 50% of mur­der vic­tims are black. The report also con­tains an overview of recent legal devel­op­ments relat­ed to capital punishment.

(NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ​“Death Row USA,” October 1, 2012, post­ed December 28, 2012). See also Death Row and Studies. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast about death row.