In the first half of 2013, six states carried out 18 executions. In the same period last year, there were 23 executions in 8 states. The annual number of executions has declined significantly from its peak in 1999, when 98 people were put to death. There were 43 executions in 2011 and 2012. Sixteen of this year’s executions (89%) have been in the South, with nearly half in Texas (8). Eight of the defendants executed so far this year were black, and ten were white. Seventy-three percent (73%) of the victims in cases resulting in executions this year were white, even though generally whites are victims of murder in less than 50% of the cases. All of the executions in 2013 but one have been by lethal injection. (Robert Gleason chose to be executed by electrocution in Virginia in January.) All of the lethal injections were carried out using pentobarbital, either in a single or multiple-drug protocol.
(DPIC, posted July 10, 2013). For more information about lethal injection drugs and procedures, visit Lethal Injection. Visit our 2013 Execution List for information about each execution, or see generally Executions.
