Tracy L. Snell, Laura M. Maruschak, Bureau of Justice Statistics

December 15, 2002    NCJ 197020

Presents characteristics of persons under sentence of death on December 31, 2001, and of persons executed in 2001. Preliminary data on executions in 2002 include State, method used, and race of inmate. The report summarizes the movement of prisoners into and out of death sentence status during 2001. Numerical tables present data on offenders' sex, race, Hispanic origin, education, marital status, age at time of arrest for capital offense, legal status at time of capital offense, methods of execution, trends, and time between imposition of death sentence and execution. Historical tables present executions since 1930 and sentencing since 1973. This report is published annually.

Highlights:

• At yearend 2001, 37 States and the Federal prison system held 3,581 prisoners under sentence of death, 20 fewer than at yearend 2000
• Fifty-one women were under sentence of death in 2001, up from 36 in 1991
• Of the 6,754 people under sentence of death between 1977 and 2001, 11% were executed, 4% died by causes other than execution, and 32% received other dispositions.

Part of the Capital Punishment Series

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ASCII file (25K)
Spreadsheet (Zip format 65K)
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