The lat­est edi­tion of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Death Row USA showed a con­tin­u­ing decline in the num­ber of peo­ple on death rows across the coun­try. As of January 1, 2014, there were 3,070 inmates on death row, a decrease of 55 from one year ear­li­er. California con­tin­ued to have the largest death row, with 742 inmates. Since 2000, the nation­al death row pop­u­la­tion has decreased by 16%. Texas, which had the sec­ond largest death row in 2000, has seen a 39% drop, from 455 to 278. California has had an increase of 29%, from 576 to 742, mak­ing it an out­lier as the over­all death row num­bers have dropped. Over 76% of the mur­der vic­tims in cas­es result­ing in an exe­cu­tion since 1976 were white, even though nation­al­ly, about 50% of mur­der vic­tims are black. Since 1976, 273 black defen­dants have been exe­cut­ed for the mur­der of a white vic­tim, while only 20 white defen­dants have been exe­cut­ed for the mur­der of a black victim.

(NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ​“Death Row USA,” January 1, 2014, post­ed July 3, 2014). See also Death Row and Studies. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast about death row.

Citation Guide