Race of Death Row Inmates Executed Since 1976

National Statistics on the Death Penalty and Race

Executions by Race Since 1976

Death Row Populations by Race

National Statistics on the Death Penalty and Race

RACE OF DEFENDANTS EXECUTED IN THE U.S. SINCE 1976	BLACK 411 34% HISPANIC 86 7% WHITE 663 57% 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 OF VICTIMS SINCE 1976	BLACK 255 14% HISPANIC 99 5% WHITE 1365 79% OTHER 41 2% 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.
"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 (245)
CURRENT U.S. DEATH ROW POPULATION BY RACE	BLACK 1,376 41.6% HISPANIC 365 11.0% WHITE 1,487 45.0% OTHER 77 2.3% (Death Row Population Figures from NAACP-LDF "Death Row USA (July 1, 2008)"

Executions by Race Since 1976

Current Death Row Populations by Race
as of January 1, 2009

* 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 3,307 when the individual states are combined.)

Figures from NAACP-LDF "Death Row USA (January 1, 2009)"

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