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1997 Cap. Punishment 1 (1997)

handle is hein.death/cpshm1997 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Revised 1/14/99 from 12/13/98 release Consistent with printed version Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin December 1998, NCJ 172881 Capital Punishment 1997 By Tracy L. Snell BJS Statistician Seventeen States executed 74 prisoners during 1997. The number executed was 29 greater than in 1996 and was the largest annual number since the 76 executed in 1955. The prisoners executed during 1997 had been under sentence of death an average of 11 years and 1 month, 8 months more than that for inmates executed in 1996. At yearend 1997, 3,335 prisoners were under sentence of death. California held the largest number on death row (486), followed by Texas (438), Florida (370), and Pennsylvania (214). Fifteen prisoners were under a Federal sentence of death. During 1997, 29 States and the Federal prison system received 256 prisoners under sentence of death. California (36 admissions), Texas (32), North Carolina (22) and Florida (18) accounted for 42% of those sentenced to death. During 1997, 74 men were executed. Of those executed, 41 were non- Hispanic whites; 26 were non-Hispanic blacks; 4, white Hispanics; 1, black Hispanic; 1, American Indian; and 1, Asian. Sixty-eight of the executions were carried out by lethal injection, and 6 by electrocution. From January 1, 1977, to December 31, 1997, 432 executions took place in 29 States. Nearly two-thirds of the executions occurred in 5 States: Texas (144), Virginia (46), Florida (39), Missouri (29), and Louisiana (24). Highlights Status of the death penalty, December 31, 1997 Executions durina 1997* Texas Virqinia Missouri Arkansas Alabama Arizona Illinois South Carolina Colorado Florida Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Nebraska Oklahoma Oreqon Total 37 9 6 4 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Number of prisoners under sentence of death California Texas Florida Pennsylvania Ohio North Carolina Alabama Illinois Oklahoma Arizona Georqia Tennessee Missouri Nevada Louisiana South Carolina Mississippi 18 other jurisdictions 74 Total * At yearend 1997, 34 States and the Federal prison system held 3,335 prisoners under sentence of death, 3% more than at yearend 1996. Persons under sentence of death, by race White Black American Indian Asian Other 1987 1,128 813 17 9 0 1997 1,876 1,406 28 17 8 * The 283 Hispanic inmates under sentence of death accounted for 9.2% of inmates with a known ethnicity. * Forty-four women were under a sentence of death in 1997. 486 438 370 214 177 176 159 159 137 120 115 98 88 87 70 68 64 309 Jurisdictions without a death penalty Alaska District of Columbia Hawaii Iowa Maine Massachusetts Michiqan Minnesota North Dakota Rhode Island Vermont West Virqinia Wisconsin 3,335 * Among persons for whom arrest information was available, the average age at time of arrest was 28; 2% of inmates were age 17 or younger. * At yearend the youngest inmate was 18; the oldest was 82. * Of the 5,796 people under sentence of death between 1977 and 1997, 7.5% were executed, 2.7% died by causes other than execution, and 32.2% received other dispositions. * The number of States authorizing lethal injection increased from 18 in 1987 to 32 in 1997. In 1997, 92% of all executions were by lethal injec- tion, compared to 28% in 1987. *For preliminary 1998 data on executions, see page 12.

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