As of October 2023, the number of people in the United States sentenced to death or facing the possibility of a death sentence continued its more than two-decade decline, according to the latest report issued by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF).
In its Fall 2023 edition of Death Row USA (DRUSA), LDF reports that the number of people on state, federal, and military death rows or facing pending capital trials or resentencing proceedings has fallen to 2,262. Of that total, LDF reports that 804 prisoners or 35.5% are in states with moratoria on executions, meaning there is no immediate threat of execution, and another 125 prisoners are awaiting new sentencing proceedings. The total population is now at its lowest number since 1989.
LDF also released its Spring and Summer 2023 reports, which include information regarding individuals who are on death row as the result of non-unanimous jury sentences or judicial override of jury determinations for life. According to the Spring 2023 report, Alabama, and Florida account for 474 people on death rows, despite 324 people (68.4%) of them receiving the death penalty from non-unanimous juries or judicial override. In Alabama, 129 of 167 (77.2%) death row prisoners were sentenced non-unanimously or faced judicial override, and in Florida, 193 of 307 (62.8%) people on death row were sentenced non-unanimously or by judicial override.
Sources
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Death Row USA, Fall 2023.