Race of Death Row Inmates Executed Since 1976

Posted: January 02, 2003

National Statistics on the Death Penalty and Race

Execution information accurate as of May 16, 2013 following an execution in Texas

Race of Defendants Executed in the U.S. Since 1976

BLACK	457	35%
LATINO	103	7%
WHITE	748	56%
OTHER	24	2%

NOTE: The federal government counts some categories, such as Hispanics, as an ethnic group rather than a race. DPIC refers to all groups as races because the sources for much of our information use these categories.

race chart 1

Race of Victims Since 1976

BLACK	300	15%
LATINO	129	6%
WHITE	1487	77%
OTHER	49	3%

NOTE: Number of Victims refers to the victims in the underlying murder in cases where an execution has occurred since the restoration of the death penalty in 1976. There are more victims than executions because some cases involve more than one victim

race chart 2

"In 82% of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, i.e., those who murdered whites were found more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks."
- United States General Accounting Office, Death Penalty Sentencing, February 1990

Persons Executed for Interracial Murders in the U.S. Since 1976

The cases represented here are cases of one defendant executed for the murder of one or more victims of one race. Cases involving multiple victims of several different races are not included here.

White Defendant / Black Victim (20)

Black Defendant / White Victim (259)

Executions for Interracial Murders

Current U.S. Death Row Population by Race

BLACK	1,309	41.93%
LATINO	387	12.4%
WHITE	1,351	43.17%
OTHER	78	2.51%

Death Row Population Figures from NAACP-LDF "Death Row USA (January 1, 2013)"

Current Death Row Populations by Race
as of January 1, 2013

State	Total	Black	White	Latino	Native Amer.	Asian
Alabama	198	100	94	3	0	1
Arizona	127	15	82	25	3	2
Arkansas	38	24	14	0	0	0
California	727	264	256	170	12	25
Colorado	4	3	0	1	0	0
Connecticut	11	6	4	1	0	0
Delaware	18	11	4	3	0	0
Florida	413	151	223	36	1	2
Georgia	97	47	46	4	0	0
Idaho	13	0	13	0	0	0
Indiana	12	3	9	0	0	0
Kansas	10	4	6	0	0	0
Kentucky	34	5	29	0	0	0
Louisiana	88	58	26	3	0	1
Maryland	5	4	1	0	0	0
Mississippi	48	27	20	0	0	1
Missouri	48	21	27	0	0	0
Montana	2	0	2	0	0	0
Nebraska	11	2	4	5	0	0
Nevada	79	30	40	8	0	1
New Hampshire	1	1	0	0	0	0
New Mexico	2	0	2	0	0	0
North Carolina	161	83	65	4	8	1
Ohio	147	76	65	3	1	2
Oklahoma	60	25	29	3	4	0
Oregon*	37	4	28	3	1	0
Pennsylvania	202	116	67	17	0	2
South Carolina	53	29	22	2	0	0
South Dakota	3	0	3	0	0	0
Tennessee	87	37	45	1	2	2
Texas	300	121	87	88	0	4
Utah	9	1	5	2	1	0
Virginia	11	4	6	1	0	0
Washington	8	4	4	0	0	0
Wyoming	1	0	1	0	0	0
US Gov't	61	30	24	6	1	0
US Military	5	3	2	0	0	0

* One member of Death Row's race is not currently identified

(In this table, the total of inmates on death row will be slightly higher than the national total of 3,125 because some inmates were sentenced to death in more than one state and hence will be counted twice.)

Figures from NAACP-LDF "Death Row USA (January 1, 2013)"

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