Race

Race and the Death Penalty by the Numbers

More than 75% of death row defen­dants who have been exe­cut­ed were sen­tenced to death for killing white vic­tims, even though in soci­ety as a whole about half* of all homi­cide vic­tims are African American.

NOTES: 
 

The fed­er­al gov­ern­ment counts some cat­e­gories, such as Hispanics, as an eth­nic group rather than a race. DPIC refers to all groups as races because the sources for much of our infor­ma­tion use these cat­e­gories.
 

Persons Executed for Black/​White Interracial Murders in the U.S. Since 1976 (as of September 24, 2020)

The cas­es rep­re­sent­ed here are cas­es of one defen­dant exe­cut­ed for the mur­der of one or more vic­tims of one race. Cases involv­ing mul­ti­ple vic­tims of sev­er­al dif­fer­ent races are not included here.

  • White Defendant /​Black Victim (21)
  • Black Defendant /​White Victim (296)

Current U.S. Death Row Population by Race

as of January 1, 2023