The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s “Death Row, USA” reports that the number of people on death row in the United States has continued to decline, falling to 3,344 as of October 1, 2006. The size of death row has been declining since 2000 after 25 years of steady increases. For the first time in many years, Florida (398) surpassed Texas (392) in the size of its deathrow. California (657) continued to have the largest death row.
Nationally, the racial composition of those on death row is 45% white, 42% black, and 11% Latino/Latina. Of jurisdictions with more than 10 people on death row, Texas (69%) and Pennsylvania (70%) continue to have the largest percentage of minorities on death row. Nearly 80% of the murder victims in the crimes that resulted in executions were white. (Generally, only about 48% of murder victims are white.)
Death Row, USA is published quarterly and contains the names and race of everyone on death row, execution statistics, and an overview of recent Supreme Court decisions related to capital punishment.
(NAACP Legal Defense Fund, “Death Row, USA, Fall 2006” October 1, 2006) (should be posted soon). See Death Row and DPIC’s 2006 Year End Report for a discussion of the overall decline in the use of the death penalty.
Death Row Overview
May 22, 2023
