This report presents statistics on prisoners who were under sentence of death in 2023 and historical trends in executions. It details the jurisdictions that carried out executions in 2023 and includes advance counts of 2024 executions. It also presents the demographics (including sex, race and ethnicity, age, education, and marital status) and the criminal history of persons under sentence of death. BJS collects information about capital punishment each year through its National Prisoner Statistics program.
In 2023:
- At yearend, a total of 26 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) held 2,192 prisoners under sentence of death, which was 73 (3%) fewer than at yearend 2022.
- Five states and FBOP received a total of 15 prisoners under sentence of death.
- Five states executed a total of 24 prisoners.
- Fourteen states and the FBOP removed a total of 64 prisoners from under sentence of death by means other than execution.
Downloads
- Full report, (PDF 816K)
- Data tables, (Zip format 20K)
- Status of the death penalty laws, (PDF 396K)
- Supplemental Table 1. Capital offenses, by state, 2023, (Excel file 18K)
- Supplemental Table 2. Federal capital offenses, 2023, (Excel file 16K)
- Supplemental Table 3. Method of execution, by state, 2023, (Excel file 17K)
- Supplemental Table 4. Prisoners executed under civil authority in the United States, by year, region, and jurisdiction, 1977-2024, (CSV 8K)