Women and the Death Penalty

Facts and Figures
Background
State Breakdown of Death Sentences for Females
Current Female Death Row Inmates
List of Females Executed from 1900-Present

News and Developments - Current Year
News and Developments - Previous Years

FACTS AND FIGURES

• As of June 30, 2009 there were 53 women on death row. This constitutes 1.6% of the total death row population of about 3,297 persons. 
• In the past 100 years, over 40 women have been executed in the U.S, including 11 since 1976. See, Women Executed in the U.S. Since 1900 for the date, state, race, and method of each execution.
• Much of this information is taken from "Death Penalty For Female Offenders, January 1973 through June 30, 2009 [PDF]" by Victor L. Streib, Professor of Law at Ohio Northern University College of Law, with periodic annotations by DPIC (Please see the full-text of the report for more details.)

BACKGROUND

In general, both the death sentencing rate and the death row population remain very small for women in comparison to that for men. Actual execution of female offenders is quite rare, with only 568 documented instances as of 12/31/07, beginning with the first in 1632. These executions constitute about 2.8% of the total of confirmed executions in the United States since 1608.

Eleven female offenders have been executed since 1976. They are:

Velma Barfield in North Carolina on November 2, 1984 - She was in a relationship with Stuart Taylor who was a widower. She forged checks on Taylor's account to pay for her addiction. Fearing that she had been found out, she mixed an arsenic based rat poison into his beer and tea. Taylor became very ill. As his condition worsened, she took him to the hospital where he died a few days later. There was an autopsy which found that the cause of Taylor's death was arsenic poisoning and Velma was arrested and charged with his murder. At the trial, her defense pleaded insanity but this was not accepted and she was convicted. The jury recommended the death sentence. Velma appeared cold and uncaring on the stand and gave the District Attorney a round of applause when he made his closing speech. See "Velma Barfield" by Denise Noe, Court TV.

Karla Faye Tucker in Texas on February 3, 1998 - When she was 13, she began traveling with the Allman Brothers Band. In her early 20's she started to hang out with bikers and on June 13, 1983 she entered the home of another biker with Danny Garrett and James Leibrant to steal a motorcycle. During the robbery, two persons were killed, and Garrett and Tucker were convicted of committing murder with a pickaxe. This case entered the U.S. and international news because she had become a born-again Christian while in prison and George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, had to decide on her request for clemency, which he ultimately denied. Read "Karla Faye Tucker: Texas' Controversial Murderess" by Joseph Geringer, Court TV.

Judy Buenoano in Florida on March 30, 1998 - Buenoano executed for the 1971 murder of her husband James Goodyear. As well, she was convicted of multiple counts of grand theft (for insurance fraud), and is thought to have committed multiple acts of arson (again, for purposes of insurance fraud). Read "Florida's Black Widow Executed" by CNN (March 30, 1998).

Betty Lou Beets in Texas on February 24, 2000 - She was convicted of shooting her fifth husband Jimmy Don Beets. Beets reported that her husband was missing on August 6, 1983 from their home in Henderson County, Texas. Her son, Robert Branson, would later testify that Beets had said that she intended to kill her husband and told her son to leave the house. On returning two hours later to the house, he found Jimmy Don Beets dead with two gunshot wounds. He helped his mother conceal the body in the front yard of the house, after which Beets telephoned the police. At the time of the execution, she was 62 years old, and had five children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. See "Texas Executes Betty Lous Beets for Husband's Murder" by CNN (February 24, 2000).

Christina Riggs in Arkansas on May 2, 2000 - Riggs, a licensed nurse, was convicted of murder by smothering her two preschool-aged children in their beds at the family's Sherwood home. She wrote suicide notes saying "I hope one day you will forgive me for taking my life and the life of my children. But I can’t live like this any more, and I couldn’t bear to leave my children behind to be a burden on you or to be separated and raised apart from their fathers and live knowing their mother killed herself." Then took 28 Elavil tablets, normally a lethal dose, and injected herself with enough undiluted potassium chloride to kill five people. The next day, police officers entered her apartment and found Riggs and rushed her to the hospital. During the death penalty phase, Riggs would not allow attorneys to put on a defense, saying she wanted a death sentence. The jury obliged, and she was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Riggs said "thank you" and squeezed her attorney's hand. Read "Woman Executed in Arkansas" by BBC News (May 3, 2000).

Wanda Jean Allen in Oklahoma on January 11, 2001- She was sentenced to death in 1989 for killing her lover, Gloria Leathers, in Oklahoma City in 1988. The two women, who had met in prison, had a turbulent relationship. Leathers' death followed a protracted argument between the couple which began at a local shop, continued at their home, and culminated outside a police station. Allen maintained she had acted in self-defence, claiming that Leathers had struck her in the face with a hand rake during the confrontation at the house, and that outside the police station Leathers had again come at her with the rake. Allen shot Leathers. The wound to Allen's face from the rake was still visible when she was photographed in jail. Later in 1995, A psychologist conducted a comprehensive evaluation of Wanda Jean Allen found ''clear and convincing evidence of cognitive and sensori-motor deficits and brain dysfunction'' possibly linked to an adolescent head injury. See Amnesty International's Legal Concern on Wanda Jean Allen.

Marilyn Plantz in Oklahoma on May 1, 2001 - Plantz hired her teenage boyfriend Clifford Bryson and his friend William McKimble to kill her husband for about $300,000 in life insurance. Entering his home after work, he was ambushed by Bryson and McKimble and beaten with bats while Plantz and kids were asleep in bed. Plantz got up and instructed them to "burn him" to make it look like an accident. They drove him to deserted location, doused him and his pickup with gasoline and set it on fire. McKimble pled to Life and testified. Plantz and Bryson were tried jointly. Bryson was executed in 2000. Read "Oklahoma Woman Faces Execution" by BBC News (May 1, 2001).

Lois Nadean Smith in Oklahoma on December 4, 2001- Smith was convicted of killing her son's 21- year old ex-girlfriend, Cindy Baillie in July 1982. Baillie was shot nine times and stabbed in the throat. Authorities said Smith and her son, Greg, picked up Baillie the morning of the killing. Smith then confronted her about rumors that she had threatened to have her son killed. Lois Smith's attorneys said she was trying to protect her son and was under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time. See "Oklahoma puts Third Woman to Death" by Court TV News (December 5, 2001).

Lynda Lyon Block in Alabama on May 10, 2002 - Lyon shot Alabama police Sergeant Roger Motley, Jr. outside of a Wal-Mart during a gunfight between him and her common-law husband, George Sibley, Jr. By Sibley's own account, he was trying to explain to Motley why he didn't need a driver's license when Motley put his hand on his service revolver. Sibley then drew his gun out of the car. Motley took cover behind his patrol car; witnesses stated Sibley fired first. Lyon was at a pay phone when she heard gunfire. Witnesses stated that she was in a crouched position when she fired; she said she fired just as she stopped running toward Motley. She kept firing as he got into his patrol car because, she recalled later, she feared he was getting a shotgun. They maintained they acted in self-defense. Read Amnesty International's Urgent Action on Lynda Lyon Block.

Aileen Wuornos in Florida on October 9, 2002 - Wuornos was a prostitute and convicted serial killer who was sentenced to death by the state of Florida in 1992. She ultimately received five additional death sentences. Wuornos admitted to killing seven men, in separate incidents, all of whom she claimed raped her (or attempted to) while she was working as a prostitute. The 2003 movie Monster, starring Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci, tells Wuornos' story from the moment she met Selby Wall (based on Wuornos' lover and four-year companion, Tyria Moore) until her first conviction for murder. See "Aileen Wuornos: Killer Who Preyed on Truck Drivers" by Marlee MacLeod, Court TV.

Frances Newton in Texas on September 14, 2005 - She was executed for the for the April 7, 1987 murder of her husband, Adrian, 23, her son, Alton, 7, and daughter, Farrah, 21 months. The prosecution suggested that the motive for the killings was to collect the US $100,000 life insurance policy. Newton said that a drug dealer killed the three. The Houston police claims that her husband, Adrian Newton, was a drug dealer and was in debt to his supplier. Newton maintained her innocence from her first interrogation in 1987 until her execution in 2005. Read Amnesty International's Legal Concern on Frances Newton.

Prior to this, the last female offender executed was Elizabeth Ann Duncan, executed by California on August 8, 1962.

Death sentences and actual executions for female offenders are also rare in comparison to such events for male offenders. In fact, women are more likely to be dropped out of the system the further the capital punishment system progresses. Following in summary outline form are the data indicating this screening out effect:

* women account for about 1 in 10 (10%) murder arrests;
* women account for only 1 in 50 (2%) death sentences imposed at the trial level;
* women account for only 1 in 67 (1.5%) persons presently on death row; and
* women account for only 1 in 100 (1%) persons actually executed in the modern era.

Since 1973, 165 death sentences have been imposed upon female offenders. These sentences constitute about 2% of all death sentences.

* Estimates as of June 30, 2009

STATE BREAKDOWN OF DEATH SENTENCES FOR FEMALES

The 165 death sentences for female offenders have been imposed in 25 jurisdictions, comprising well over half of the 39 death penalty jurisdictions during this time period. Five states (North Carolina, Florida, California, Ohio and Texas) account for almost half of all such sentences.

CURRENT FEMALE DEATH ROW INMATES

As of June 30, 2009 there were 53 women on death row.

The present ages of the 53 women on death row range from 23 to 73 years old. They have been on death row from a few months to almost 21 years.

* Victor Streib's report states that 53 women are currently on death row. The NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund's "Death Row USA" January 1, 2009; states that 56 women are currently on death row. Death Row USA, however, includes sentences that have been reversed and are awaiting final disposition.