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1999 Cap. Punishment 1 (1999)

handle is hein.death/cpshm1999 and id is 1 raw text is: 

U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs


                                                                                       December 2000, NCJ 184795





Capital Punishment 1999


           By Tracy L. Snell
           BJS Statistician

Twenty States executed 98 prisoners
during 1999. The number executed
was 30 greater than in 1998 and was
the largest annual number since the
105 executed in 1951. The prisoners
executed during 1999 had been under
sentence of death an average of 11
years and 11 months, 13 months more
than that for inmates executed in 1998.

At yearend 1999, 3,527 prisoners were
under sentence of death. California
held the largest number on death row
(553), followed by Texas (460), Florida
(365), and Pennsylvania (230). Twenty
were under a Federal death sentence.

During 1999, 32 States and the
Federal prison system received 272
prisoners under sentence of death.
Texas (48 admissions), California (43),
North Carolina (24) and Florida (20)
accounted for half of those sentenced
to death in 1999.

During 1999, 98 men were executed:
61 whites, 33 blacks, 2 American
Indians, and 2 Asians. The executed
inmates included 9 Hispanics (8 white
and 1 American Indian). Ninety-four of
the executions were carried out by
lethal injection; 3, by electrocution; and
1, by lethal gas.

From January 1, 1977, to December
31, 1999, 598 executions took place in
30 States. Sixty-four percent of the
executions occurred in 5 States:
Texas (199), Virginia (73), Florida (44),
Missouri (41), and Louisiana (25).


Status of the death penalty, December 31, 1999


Executions durina 1999*


Texas
Virginia
Missouri
Arizona
Oklahoma
Arkansas
North Carolina
South Carolina
Alabama
California
Delaware
Florida
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Nevada
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Utah
   Total


     Number of prisoners
     under sentence of death

35  California
14  Texas
9    Florida
7    Pennsylvania
6    North Carolina
4   Ohio
4   Alabama
4    Illinois
2   Oklahoma
2   Georgia
2   Arizona
1   Tennessee
1  Nevada
1  Louisiana
1  Missouri
1   South Carolina
1  Mississippi
1
1   21 other jurisdictions
1
98    Total


- At yearend 1999, 37 States and the
Federal prison system held 3,527
prisoners under sentence of death,
2% more than in 1998.
Persons under sentence of death,
by race


White
Black
American Indian
Asian
Other


l qqN


1,379
945
  25
  15
  1


1lqqq


1,948
1,514
  28
  24
  13


- The 325 Hispanic inmates under
sentence of death accounted for
10% of inmates with a known
ethnicity.
- Fifty women were under a death
sentence in 1999, up from 35 in
1990.


Jurisdictions without
a death penalty

Alaska
District of Columbia
Hawaii
Iowa
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
North Dakota
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin


3,527


- 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 arrest.
- At yearend the youngest inmate
on death row was 18; the oldest
was 84.
- Of the 6,365 people under
sentence of death between 1977
and 1999, 9% were executed, 3%
died by causes other than execution,
and 32% received other dispositions.
- The number of States authorizing
lethal injection increased from 20
in 1989 to 34 in 1999. In 1999, 96%
of all executions were by lethal
injection, compared to 44% in 1989.
*For preliminary 2000 data on
executions, see page 12.


1990      1999

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