U.S. Execution Statistics 2000

Join the Discussion Anti-Death Penalty "The Death penalty is an abdication by a society's members to deal effectively with its criminals. The punitive taking of life based on a democratic, moral consensus does not change the past nor facilitate or motivate the living to reduce their criminal activities" MORFUSS Click to Read/Reply Pro-Death Penalty "capital punishment is not a deterrent. It is a FITTING PUNISHMENT." FERNOTE Click to Read/Reply     Related Resources • Recent Legal History of the Death Penalty in the US • McVeigh Execution: Garza Next? • Most Wanted & Missing Lists • Crime and Justice Statistics  From Other Guides • Mumia's Death Sentence Thrown Out • Racial Bias in Death Penalty • Color Coordinated Death Row  • Death Penalty on Trial • Death Penalty Issues for Life Activists • Death Penalty Statistics    Elsewhere on the Web • Bureau of Justice Statistics • Crime Statistics Publications • Crime Trends at a Glance • Detailed History of the Death Penalty - Death Penalty Information Center

A total of 85 prisoners - 83 men and two women - in 14 U.S. states were executed during 2000, a reduction of 13 from 1999, according to a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Here are more BJS statistics on executions and capital punishment in the United States:

• Prisoners executed in 2000 had served an average of 11 years and 5 months on death row before being put to death.

• Since 1977, the average time served before execution is 121 months.

• During 2000, Texas executed 40 people, Oklahoma executed 11 inmates, Virginia 8, Florida 6, Missouri 5, Alabama 4, Arizona 3 and Arkansas 2. Delaware, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and California each executed 1 person. 

• Of the 85 prisoners executed in 2000, 49 were white, of which 6 were white Hispanic; 35 were black and 1 was American Indian. 

• Of the 3,593 prisoners on the death rows of U.S. prisons at the end of 2000, about 55 percent were white, 43 percent were black, with all other races represented 2 percent.

• The youngest person now on death row at the end of 2000 was 18, the oldest was 85. 

• Fifty-four women were on death row in 2000, up from 35 in 1990. 

• Of prisoners on death row at the end of 2000, about 64 percent had a prior felony conviction and 8 percent had been convicted of a prior homicide. About 4 in 10 had an existing criminal justice status at the time of their capital offense, including 18 percent who had been on parole, 10 percent on probation and about 11 percent who had charges pending, had been escapees or had committed the capital offense while incarcerated. Approximately 1 in 6 offenders admitted since 1988 had 2 or more death sentences. 

• At year-end 2000, 37 states and the federal government held 3,539 men and 54 women on death row. California had the most (586), followed by Texas (450), Florida (371) and Pennsylvania (238). The federal system held 18. 

• Capital punishment is currently authorized in 38 states and by the federal government.

• Eighty of the executions in 2000 were by lethal injection and 5 by electrocution.

• Since 1976, when the Supreme Court reaffirmed the death penalty, 6,588 persons have been sentenced to death. About 10 percent of those have actually been executed. Another 35 percent have had the their death sentence removed on appeal or have died while in prison.

• Among the 683 executions carried out since 1977, 518 were by lethal injection, 149 by electrocution, 11 by lethal gas, 3 by hanging (two in Washington State and one in Delaware) and 2 by firing squad (both in Utah). 

Complete Report from BJS
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