Race of Death Row Inmates Executed Since 1976
National Statistics on the Death Penalty and Race
National Statistics on the Death Penalty and Race
Race of Defendants Executed in the U.S. Since 1976 |
NOTE: 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. |
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Race of Victims Since 1976 |
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"In 82% of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, i.e., those who murdered whites were found more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks." - United States General Accounting Office, Death Penalty Sentencing, February 1990 |
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Persons Executed for Interracial Murders in the U.S. Since 1976 |
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 (20) Black Defendant / White Victim (289)
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Executions for Interracial Murders ![]() |
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Current U.S. Death Row Population by Race |
Death Row Population Figures from NAACP-LDF "Death Row USA (July 1, 2017)" |
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Current Death Row Populations by Race
as of July 1, 2017
State | Total | Black | White | Latino | Native Amer. | Asian | Unknown |
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Alabama | 191 | 101 | 87 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Arizona | 125 | 17 | 75 | 27 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Arkansas | 32 | 17 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
California | 746 | 270 | 249 | 188 | 10 | 29 | 0 |
Colorado | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Florida | 374 | 142 | 202 | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Georgia | 61 | 32 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Idaho | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Indiana | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kansas | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kentucky | 33 | 5 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Louisiana | 73 | 48 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Mississippi | 48 | 25 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Missouri | 24 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Montana | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Nebraska | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Nevada | 82 | 30 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
New Hampshire | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
New Mexico | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
North Carolina | 152 | 78 | 61 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
Ohio | 144 | 79 | 60 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Oklahoma | 47 | 21 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Oregon* | 33 | 2 | 26 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Pennsylvania | 169 | 90 | 61 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
South Carolina | 41 | 22 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
South Dakota | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Tennessee | 62 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Texas | 243 | 106 | 65 | 67 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
Utah | 9 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Virginia | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Washington | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Wyoming | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
US Gov’t | 61 | 26 | 26 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
US Military | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* One member of Death Row's race is not currently identified
(In this table, the total of inmates on death row will be slightly higher than the national total of 2,817 because some inmates were sentenced to death in more than one state and hence will be counted twice.)
Figures from NAACP-LDF "Death Row USA (July 1, 2017)"
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