According to the lat­est fig­ures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Hispanics rep­re­sent a larg­er pro­por­tion of those on death row than in the past. Hispanics con­sti­tut­ed almost 20% of the new admis­sions to death row in 2009 (18 new inmates). Half of the new Hispanic death row inmates were from California, bring­ing their total to 157 Hispanic inmates, the most in the coun­try. Hispanics now rep­re­sent 13.5% of the U.S. death row pop­u­la­tion. In 2000, they made up 11% of death row. Of the exe­cu­tions car­ried out in 2009, 13% (7 out of 52, cor­rect­ing ear­li­er num­ber) were of Hispanic inmates. All of the exe­cu­tions of Hispanics occurred in the South. In fed­er­al sta­tis­tics, Hispanics are count­ed as an eth­nic group, rather than as a racial group.

(Bureau of Justice Statistics, ​“Capital Punishment 2009,” U.S. Department of Justice, 2010). See Race and Studies.

Citation Guide