Death Row Overview - Death Penalty Information Center

Death Row

Death Row Overview

Around 2,100 prisoners currently face execution in the United States. The national death-row population has declined for 20 consecutive years, as sentence reversals, executions, and deaths by other causes outpace new death sentences.

DPI Page: Conditions on Death Row

Includes information such as the length of time prisoners spend on death row

DPI Page: Racial Demographics

Racial demographics of death-row prisoners

DPI Report: The 2% Death Penalty

How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All

DPI Page: Sentencing Data

Information on new death sentences

* Figures include per­sons whose death sen­tences have been over­turned but who still face the pos­si­bil­i­ty of being re-sen­tenced to death after a new tri­al or new sen­tenc­ing hear­ing. The num­ber of pris­on­ers in the U.S. fac­ing active death sen­tences is lower.

** The state-by-state total of indi­vid­u­als on death row is greater than the nation­al total because three pris­on­ers are sen­tenced to death in two dif­fer­ent states.

“I miss the stars. You know, I haven’t seen the stars in years and years and years. I miss the rain. I miss food. I miss all these things. But what it comes down to the most — and this is the thing that will scar me the most and that I’ll car­ry with me as a scar the longest — the thing I miss the most is being treat­ed like a human being.”

News & Developments

News

May 22, 2023

Death Row USA Summer 2022 Report: Death-Row Population Continues Long-Term Decline

The num­ber of peo­ple sen­tenced to death or fac­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a death sen­tence in pend­ing cap­i­tal retri­al or resen­tenc­ing pro­ceed­ings con­tin­ued its more than two-decade decline in the third quar­ter of last year, accord­ing to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) Summer 2022 quar­ter­ly cen­sus of death rows across the…

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News

Sep 02, 2022

Spring 2022 Death Row USA: 11 State Death Rows Decrease in Size as Nationwide Erosion of Capital Punishment Continues in First Quarter of 2022

The nation­wide ero­sion of the death penal­ty in the United States con­tin­ued in the quar­ter of 2022, as the death rows of eleven states decreased in size and no state or fed­er­al death row grew larg­er, accord­ing to the Legal Defense Fund’s Spring 2022 Death Row USA (DRUSA) report on…

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News

Mar 14, 2022

Winter 2022 Death Row USA: State Death Rows Drop Below 2,400 For First Time Since 1990

The num­ber of peo­ple sen­tenced to death or fac­ing con­tin­u­ing jeop­ardy of exe­cu­tion in pend­ing cap­i­tal retri­al or resen­tenc­ing pro­ceed­ings in U.S. states has dropped below 2,400 for the first time since 1990, a Death Penalty Information Center analy­sis of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF)…

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News

Feb 09, 2022

Death Row USA Fall 2021 Report: Death-Row Population Continues Long-Term Decline

The num­ber of peo­ple sen­tenced to death or fac­ing con­tin­u­ing jeop­ardy of exe­cu­tion in pend­ing cap­i­tal retri­al or resen­tenc­ing pro­ceed­ings con­tin­ued its more than two-decade decline in the third quar­ter of 2021, accord­ing to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) Fall 2021 quar­ter­ly cen­sus of death rows across the…

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News

Dec 29, 2021

Death Row USA Summer 2021 Report: Fewest Death-Sentenced Prisoners in Three Decades Face Continuing Jeopardy of Execution

Fewer peo­ple were on death rows across the United States as of July 1, 2021 or faced con­tin­u­ing jeop­ardy of exe­cu­tion in pend­ing cap­i­tal retri­al or resen­tenc­ing pro­ceed­ings than at any oth­er time in more than three decades, accord­ing to data com­piled by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) and ana­lyzed by the Death Penalty Information…

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In This Section

• Size of Death Row by Year
• Racial Demographics
• "Death Row USA"
• Additional Resources

Foreign Nationals

DPI page on foreign nationals executed or sentenced to death in the U.S. and related policy issues

Women

DPI page on women and the death penalty

Native Americans

DPI page on Native Americans and the death penalty