The lat­est edi­tion of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Death Row USA shows a decrease of 19 inmates between January 1 and April 1, 2012. Over the last decade, the total pop­u­la­tion of state and fed­er­al death rows has decreased sig­nif­i­cant­ly, from 3,682 inmates in 2000 to 3,170 inmates as of April 2012. California con­tin­ues to have the largest death row pop­u­la­tion (724), fol­lowed by Florida (407), Texas (308), Pennsylvania (204), and Alabama (200). Neither California nor Pennsylvania have car­ried out an exe­cu­tion in the past six years. The report includes infor­ma­tion on the race of death row inmates. Although the over­all pop­u­la­tion of death row has decreased since 2000, the per­cent­age of Latino inmates fac­ing exe­cu­tion has been steadi­ly increas­ing. In 1991, Latinos made up 6% of the nation’s death row. In 2012, Latinos or Latinas com­prised 12.4% of death row inmates. In juris­dic­tions hav­ing 10 or more inmates on death row, the states with the high­est per­cent of Latino/​Latina death row inmates are Nebraska (45%), Texas (29%) and California (23%). The report also con­tains sta­tis­tics on exe­cu­tions and an overview of recent legal devel­op­ments relat­ed to capital punishment.

(NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ​“Death Row USA,” April 1, 2012, post­ed June 18, 2012). See also Death Row and Studies. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast on death row.

Citation Guide