U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 4:30 P.M. EST BJS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1996 202/633-3047
SIXTEEN STATES EXECUTED 56 OFFENDERS LAST YEAR
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sixteen states executed a
total of 56 men last year, the Justice
Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
announced today. It was the largest number of
prisoners put to death in one year since the
United States Supreme Court upheld the
constitutionality of revised state capital
punishment laws in 1976. It was also the greatest
number of executions in 38 years; in 1957 there
were 65 executions.
The prisoners executed last year had been on
death row for an average of 11 years and 2 months,
which was about a year longer than the 31 executed
during 1994. All had been convicted of murder.
In comparison, the 18 prisoners executed in 1985
had been on death row an average of 5 years and 11
months.
Texas executed the most prisoners in 1995
(19), followed by Missouri (6), Illinois and
Virginia (5 each), Florida and Oklahoma (3 each),
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina and
Pennsylvania (2 each) and Arizona, Delaware,
Louisiana, Montana, and South Carolina (1 each).
Thirty-three of the 56 were white (including
two white Hispanics), 22 were black and 1 was
Asian.
Forty-nine of the executions were by lethal
injection. Seven were by electrocution.
As of December 31, 1995, 34 states held 2,998
men and 48 women on death row. The youngest, in
Nevada, was 18 years of age. The oldest, in
Arizona, was 80. Eight men were under a sentence
of death under federal jurisdiction.
Among those whose criminal histories were
known, two-thirds had a prior felony conviction,
and 8 percent had a prior homicide conviction.
They included 1,513 whites, 1,262 blacks, 22
Native Americans, 19 Asians, 2 classified as other
race and 236 Hispanics (8.4 percent of the total).
Half had never been married, a quarter had been
married at the time of sentencing and another
quarter were divorced, separated or had a deceased
spouse.
At the end of last year, 32 states authorized
lethal injection, 11 electrocution, 7 lethal gas,
4 hanging and 3 a firing squad. Of the 38 states
that authorize capital punishment, all but
Arkansas require an automatic review of the
sentence irrespective of the defendant's wishes.
During last year, 19 states revised their
death penalty laws. Most of the changes involved
the conditions under which the death penalty could
be imposed, procedural amendments increasing the
rights of victims and their families and changes
in execution methods.
Alaska, the District of Columbia, Hawaii,
Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia
and Wisconsin do not authorize capital punishment.
The following lists by race and ethnicity the
number of offenders executed last year, the number
entering death row, the number executed from 1977
through 1995, the number entering death row during
the same years and the number removed from death
row during those years:
Native
Amer- His-
Total White Black Asian ican panic
Prisoners
executed,
1995 56 31 22 1 0 2
Prisoners
entering
under
sentence
of death,
1995 310 144 136 4 0 26
Prisoners
under
sentence
of death,
1995* 3,054 1,513 1,262 19 22 236
Prisoners
executed,
1977-95 313 171 120 1 2 19
Prisoners
entering
under death
sentence,
1977-95* 4,857 2,468 1,975 41 29 342
Prisoners
removed,
1977-95 1,870 969 773 18 9 101
*Total includes 2 people of unspecified race.
The bulletin "Capital Punishment 1995" (NCJ-
162043), written by BJS statistician Tracy L.
Snell, can be obtained on the Internet at:
http://www.ncjrs.org/cp95
It will also be available beginning at 9 A.M.
EST, Thursday, December 5, on BJS's Internet home
page by clicking on "What's new at BJS." The BJS
webpage address is:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
Additional BJS materials may be obtained
from the BJS fax-on-demand system (301/251-5550)
or by calling the BJS Clearinghouse at 1-800/732-
3277.
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BJS96256
After hours contact: Stu Smith at 301/983-9354
(end of file)Date Published: December 4, 1996