Mirroring statistics released this year in the Death Penalty Information Center’s Innocence Report, the Justice Department’s Capital Punishment, 2003 revealed that the nation’s death row is continuing to decline and that the amount of time between death sentencing and execution has increased. Compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the report noted that 3,374 inmates were on death row at the conclusion of 2003, 188 fewer than a year earlier. It also found that the average elapsed time from sentencing to execution increased to almost 11 years in 2003. In 2003, 267 people on death row had their death sentences overturned or removed, the largest number since 1976, a figure that reflects the decision of former Illinois Governor George Ryan to commute 144 death sentences and pardon four men on death row prior to his leaving office. The Justice Department review noted that the number executions and the number of persons sentenced to death also declined last year. (Dept. of Justice Press Release, November 14, 2004). Read Capital Punishment, 2003. DPIC will be releasing its 2004 Year End Report in December. See DPIC’s Innocence Report.