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1985 Cap. Punishment 1 (1985)

handle is hein.death/cpshm1985 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics 0I111 1 llI1 11111 Capital Punishment, 1985 Eight States executed a total of 18 prisoners during 1985, bringing the total number of executions to 50 since 1976, the year that the United States Supreme Court upheld the death penal- ty in three separate cases. Those exe- cuted during 1985 had spent an average of 5 years and 11 months awaiting exe- cution, about the same as the average for the 32 previous executions. During 1985, 273 prisoners were received under sentence of death, 80 had their death sentences vacated or commuted, and 4 died while under sen- tence of death. At yearend 32 States reported a total of 1,591 prisoners under sentence of death, all for mur- der. The median time since sentence was imposed was 36 months. About 2 in 3 offenders under sen- tence of death for whom such informa- tion was available had a prior felony conviction; about 1 in 11 had a prior homicide conviction. About 2 in 5 condemned prisoners for whom such in- formation was available were in some criminal justice status at the time of the capital offense; half of these were on parole. The rest were either in prison, on escape from prison, or on probation or had charges pending against them. The majority of those under sen- tence of death (903) were white; 672 were black; 11, American Indian; and 5, Asian. The median age was nearly 32 years old. About 63% of those under sentence of death were held by States in the South. Western States held an addi- tional 19%; Midwestern States, 14%; and the Notheast, nearly 5%. Florida had the largest number of condemned inmates (226), followed by Texas (206), California (170), and Georgia (107). Inmates received under sentence of Status of death penalty as of 12/31/85 and 1985 executions Death penalty in force: Executions in 1985 No Yes =IM death during 1985 were also concen- trated in the South (61%). Twenty percent were in the Midwest; 12%, in the West; and 7%, in the Northeast. A total of 26 State prison systems received prisoners under sentence of death in 1985. The 18 executions in 1985 were carried out by eight States: 6 in Texas, 3 in Georgia, 3 in Florida, 2 in Virginia, and 1 each in Indiana, Louisiana, Ne- vada, and South Carolina. Eleven of those executed were white males and seven were black males. From the beginning of 1977 to the end of 1985, a total of 12 States carried out executions. Over the same period, 2,110 persons were admitted to prisons under sentence of death and 889 per- No death penalty October 1986 This bulletin marks the 55th consecutive year that capital punishment statistics have been published by the Federal govern- ment. The cooperation of officials in each of the States has been essential to the continuity of this series. The Bureau of Justice Statistics gratefully acknowledges the contributions of both the State departments of correction and offices of the attorney general to the information presented in this report. Steven R. Schlesinger Director b (0

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