Tracy L. Snell, BJS Statistician

September 29, 2020    NCJ 254786

This report presents information on persons under sentence of death on December 31, 2018 and persons executed in 2018. Tables show state-by-state statistics on the movement of prisoners sentenced to death during 2018, the status of capital statutes, and methods of execution. Data include offender characteristics, such as sex, race, ethnicity, criminal history, and time between the imposition of a death sentence and execution. The report also summarizes preliminary findings on executions in 2019.

Highlights:

• At year-end 2018, a total of 30 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) held 2,628 prisoners under sentence of death, which was 75 (3%) fewer than at year-end 2017.
• Eight states executed a total of 25 prisoners in 2018, with Texas accounting for more than half (13) of the executions.
• California (28%), Florida (13%), and Texas (8%) held about half of the prisoners under death sentences in the United States at year-end 2018.
• The largest declines in the number of prisoners under death sentences in 2018 were in Pennsylvania and Texas (down 11 prisoners each), followed by Washington (down 8) and then Alabama, Florida, California, and Nevada (down 6 each).

Part of the Capital Punishment Series

Full report (PDF 729K)
Data tables (Zip format 27K)

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