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1984 Cap. Punishment 1 (1984)

handle is hein.death/cpshm1984 and id is 1 raw text is: US Department of Justice T Bureau of Justice Statistics Bueuo Jutc atitc B ulti Capital Punishment At yearend 1984, States reported a total of 1,405 prisoners under sentence of death. During that year, 280 prisoners were received under sentence of death and 84 prisoners were removed from the population under sentence of death (including 21 prisoners ex- ecuted). The 21 executions carried out during 1984 brought to 32 the total number executed since 1976 when the death penalty was affirmed in three cases before the United States Supreme Court. Since 1930, when national reporting began, 3,891 executions have been conducted under civil authority in the United States.1 All persons under sentence of death at yearend 1984 were convicted of murder. Of the 1,405 inmates, 1,388 were male and 17 were female; 804 were white, 585 were black, ad 16 were classified as other races. The median age of those under sentence of death was 31 years and the median time since sentence was imposed was 33 months. Approximately 2 of every 3 offenders under sentence of death had a prior felony conviction; nearly 1 out of 10 had previously been convicted of homicide. About 2 out of 5 were under some criminal justice status at the time of their capital offense; half of these- 20% of all those under sentence of death-were on parole, while the rest either were on probation, were prison inmates or escapees, or had pending charges. Nearly 63% of those under sentence of death were held by States in the South. Western States accounted for an additional 21% of those sentenced to death, North Central States for 12%, and Northeastern States for 4%. 1An additional 160 executions have been carried out under military authority since 1930. 2Other races include American Indians and Asian Americans. For additional discussion of race and capital punishment see the appendix. 1984 August 1985 Capital Punishment 1984 marks the 54th consecutive year that data describing prisoners under sentence of death have been published by the Federal govern- ment. This year's report incorpo- rates information on the criminal histories of those under sentence of death, including the number with prior felony convictions and prior convictions for homicide, as well as their criminal justice status at the time of the capital offense (e.g., on probation or pa- role, facing pending charges for other crimes, or a prison inmate or Florida had the largest number of inmates under sentence of death (215), followed by Texas (178), California (172), and Georgia (111). Of those received under sentence of death in 1984, 56% were in the South, 20% in the West, 16% in North Central States, and 8% in the Northeast. Twenty-seven States received prisoners under a sen- tence of death in 1984; by yearend 1984 a total of 32 states had prisoners under sentence of death. The 21 executions in 1984 were carried out by six States: 8 in Florida, 5 in Louisiana, 3 in Texas, 2 in Georgia, 2 in North Carolina, and 1 in Virginia. Of those executed, 13 were white males, 7 were black males, and 1 was a white female. Between 1977 and 1984, about 1.4% of those under sentence of death were executed and approximately 36% received other dispositions result- ing in removal from the population under sentence of death. Those exe- cuted between 1977 and 1984 spent an average of 6 years between the time the death sentence was originally im- posed and the date it was carried out. escapee). Given the continuing interest in race data relating to capital punishment, this report presents data for 1980 through 1984 comparing the race of those arrested, imprisoned, sentenced to death, and executed for murder. The Bureau of Justice Statistics gratefully acknowledges the cooperation and participation of State officials whose generous assistance makes this reporting program possible. Steven R. Schlesinger Director , Capital punishment in the courts In the 1972 decision Furman v. Georgia. the Supreme Court struck down on Eighth Amendment grounds State and Federal capital punishment laws that permitted wide discretion in the application of the death penalty. In response, many States revised their statutes to conform to the guidelines in Furman. The High Court clarified these guidelines in a series of five decisions announced on July 2, 1976. In Woodson v. North Carolina and Roberts v. Louisiana the Court struck down State statutes that required mandatory imposition of the death penalty for specified crimes. As a direct con- sequence, mandatory death penalty provisions in 21 States were invalidated either through subsequent court action or repeal by State legislatures. This resulted in the modification (to life imprisonment) of death sentences im- posed upon hundreds of offenders in these States. In three other major cases, however, the Supreme Court up- held State death penalty laws that afforded sentencing authorities

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