Race of Death Row Inmates Executed Since 1976

National Statistics on the Death Penalty and Race

Death Row Populations by Race

National Statistics on the Death Penalty and Race

RACE OF DEFENDANTS EXECUTED IN THE U.S. SINCE 1976	BLACK 415 34.93% LATINO 85 7.15% WHITE 666 56.06% OTHER 22 1.85% 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 OF VICTIMS SINCE 1976	BLACK 255 14.51% LATINO 95 5.41% WHITE 1368 77.86% OTHER 39 2.22% 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. (Execution and Victim Statistics from NAACP-LDF "Death Row USA (January 1, 2010)"
"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 in this graph 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 (15) Black Defendant / White Victim (246)
CURRENT U.S. DEATH ROW POPULATION BY RACE	BLACK 1,351 41.43% LATINO 383 11.74% WHITE 1,448 44.40% OTHER 79 2.42% (Death Row Population Figures from NAACP-LDF "Death Row USA (January 1, 2010)"

Current Death Row Populations by Race
as of January 1, 2010

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

(Some inmates were sentenced to death in more than one state, resulting in a total slightly higher than 3,261 when the individual states are combined.)

Figures from NAACP-LDF "Death Row USA (January 1, 2010)"

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