The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s “Death Row USA” shows that the number of people on the death row in the United States is continuing to slowly decline, falling to 3,260 as of April 1, 2010. In 2000, there were 3,682 inmates on death row. Nationally, the racial composition of those on death row is 44% white, 41% black, and 12% Latino/Latina. California continues to have the largest death row population (702), followed by Florida (398) and Texas (333). Pennsylvania (222) and Alabama (204) complete the list of the states with the five largest death rows in the country. Of those jurisdictions with more than 10 inmates on death row, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas have the largest percentage of minorities on death row—each has 69%.
Death Row USA is published quarterly by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The report contains the latest death row population figures, execution statistics, and an overview of recent legal developments related to capital punishment.
(NAACP Legal Defense Fund, “Death Row USA,” April 1, 2010, posted April 28, 2011). See also Death Row and Race. Almost 78% of those executed since the death penalty was reinstated were guilty of killing a white person, even though whites are victims in only about 49% of the murders.
