The lat­est edi­tion of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund​’s Death Row USA shows a decrease of 31 inmates between January 1 and July 1, 2011. Over the last decade, the total pop­u­la­tion of state and fed­er­al death rows has decreased sig­nif­i­cant­ly, from 3,682 inmates in 2000 to 3,220 inmates in 2011. The per­cent­age of Latino inmates fac­ing exe­cu­tion, how­ev­er, has steadi­ly increased over the years. In 1991, Latinos made up 6% of the nation’s death row. In 2011, Latinos or Latinas com­prised 12% of death row inmates. The states with the largest num­ber of Hispanic death row inmates are California (167), Texas (95) and Florida (37). The report also con­tains infor­ma­tion on the race and gen­der of the vic­tims in the under­ly­ing mur­ders for those exe­cut­ed. In cas­es where an exe­cu­tion has occurred since 1976, 77% of the vic­tims in the under­ly­ing mur­ders were white, even though gen­er­al­ly whites con­sti­tute slight­ly less than 50% of all murders.

California con­tin­ues to have the largest death row pop­u­la­tion (719), fol­lowed by Florida (405), Texas (322), Pennsylvania (216), and Alabama (205). Neither California nor Pennsylvania have car­ried out an exe­cu­tion in the past six years.

(NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ​“Death Row USA,” July 1, 2011, post­ed February 8, 2012). See also Death Row and Studies.

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