Professor Victor Streib (pic­tured) of the Ohio Northern University Law School has pub­lished the lat­est edi­tion of his peri­od­ic reports, Death Penalty for Female Offenders. This study offers sta­tis­tics and infor­ma­tion relat­ed to women who have been exe­cut­ed or are cur­rent­ly on death row. Among the report’s find­ings are:
 — In 2011, women con­sti­tut­ed 6.4% of all per­sons sen­tenced to death, the high­est per­cent­age for any year since 1973.
 — As of the end of 2011, fifty-eight (58) women were on death row, 18 of whom are in California, which hasn’t exe­cut­ed a woman since 1962.
 — California, Texas and Florida were the lead­ing states for sen­tenc­ing women to death from 1973 through 2011.
 — A total of 174 death sen­tences were imposed upon female offend­ers from 1973 through 2011. These 174 death sen­tences for female offend­ers con­sti­tute just 2.1% of all death sen­tences imposed dur­ing the same time peri­od.
 — Approximately 50% of the women on death row received the death penal­ty for killing a hus­band, boyfriend, a relat­ed child, or a child in her care.
‑There have been 12 exe­cu­tions of women since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1976, just under 1% of all exe­cu­tions in that time.

The report also includes infor­ma­tion on all death sen­tences imposed on women between 1973 – 2011, includ­ing the date of crime, the sen­tenc­ing juris­dic­tion, and the date of sen­tence. Click here to read full-text of the report.

(V. Streib, ​“Death Penalty for Female Offenders,” January 24, 2012). See Women. Read more Studies on the death penalty.

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