Despite crime rates declining, public support for the death penalty has fallen. Many reasons are at play: DNA exonerations have raised fears that innocent people may be killed; life without parole is an order of magnitude less costly than executions.
China’s secretive nature makes it impossible to know how many people are executed in the country each year.
Number of Inmates on Death Row
The figures about death row inmates, as indicated by death row statistics, have consistently declined for over twenty-five years. In the spring of 2021, the count fell below 2,943. Throughout this duration, there has been an increase in ex-death row inmates receiving life sentences anew, a decrease in death sentences being overturned, and individuals passing away from causes other than execution. Moreover, the number of individuals cleared from death row exceeds those added due to new convictions.
In the past decade, states have executed fewer people than in any year since 1977. This drop has coincided with growing evidence that capital punishment does not deter murder or make communities safer. Despite this, many people still support the death penalty. This support varies by political affiliation, education, race, and ethnicity. Republicans, Republican-leaning independents, and White people who identify as having less than a high school education are more likely to support the death sentence. However, nearly eight in ten Black adults and more than half of Hispanic Democrats oppose the death penalty.
Inmates on Death Row are held in segregation or solitary confinement, confined to their cells except for medical, exercise, social or legal visits, and media interviews. Inmates’ cell sizes vary, but all have a steel bed or concrete slab, a steel toilet, and a small writing table. They are fed into their cells through trays inserted into their cell doors. They have limited opportunities for showers and exercise, which may be as few as three hours per week, depending on their maximum security unit assignment.
Number of Executions
As of August 20, 2022, the death penalty is still authorized in 27 states and the federal government (including the U.S. military) but executed only in a few jurisdictions. Many states have not carried out an execution in over a decade, and 13 have formally imposed moratoriums on capital punishment.
The number of executions recorded worldwide jumped in 2021, led by China and Saudi Arabia, with Iran, Egypt, and Iraq also carrying out significant numbers of executions. Recorded executions in the United States fell slightly. Still, a growing number of prisoners are spending decades on Death Row as they pursue lengthy legal appeals and challenges to state or federal procedures for imposing or carrying out the death sentence.
Wrongful convictions are expected, with the majority of exonerees—3-4 out of 5–being Black or Latinx. In addition, studies show that racial bias plays a vital role in how and why people are prosecuted and executed for capital crimes. For example, prosecutors are more likely to seek the death penalty for defendants who kill white people. Incorrect testimony, junk science, and faulty or false evidence are other significant factors in wrongful convictions. Over 138 Death Row inmates have been freed since 1976, when their innocence was established.
Percentage of Inmates on Death Row with Mental or Psychosocial Disability
The majority of death row prisoners have mental illnesses or psychosocial disabilities. A review of the case files of executed prisoners revealed that 43% of them had at some point in their lives been diagnosed with a mental illness, which is more than double the 18% rate in the general population. Many of these inmates experienced severe childhood trauma, including physical and sexual abuse, neglect, family divorce, or substance abuse. Research shows that childhood adversity significantly increases the risk of criminal behavior.
The vast majority of states confine death row inmates in solitary confinement, with cell sizes ranging from 36 square feet to little more than 100 square feet. Most have little human contact, except with corrections officers and their lawyers. They are given food trays that they insert into slots in their door; even the most basic medical and mental health care is administered through these slots. Inmates are confined in these conditions for years, or even decades, while their cases are appealed through the judicial system.
Some states have provisions to prevent the execution of mentally ill defendants. Still, those are difficult to apply in practice due to the high standards for mental incompetence and the long delay between a change in legal opinion and an influx of new cases in which mentally ill prisoners could be subjected to the ultimate sanction. Moreover, executing sick, mentally ill defendants who cannot understand the reasons and consequences of their crimes is illogical from a deterrence and disciplinary perspective.
Percentage of Inmates on Death Row with Drug Offenses
The majority of people on death row are convicted of drug offenses, which tend to be punished less severely than murder. In many retentionist states, women and foreign nationals are disproportionately represented on death row because of drug convictions. Long-term solitary confinement increases mental illness, is expensive for taxpayers, and offers no opportunity for prisoner rehabilitation, according to research.
The year 2022 was a grim one for botched executions and other mishandlings of capital cases, making it more critical than ever to fight for reform. For example, the Death Penalty Information Center documented seven cases in which the intravenous lines were either incorrectly inserted or didn’t work and more than three dozen cases in which prison officials failed to administer drugs for lethal injections properly Usa People Stories.
LDF’s research shows that severe legal errors are common in all stages of a death penalty case, from the investigation and prosecution to sentencing and post-conviction review. Incorrect evidence, false testimony by unreliable sources, and a failure to provide adequate legal counsel can lead to wrongful convictions. For every eight people executed, one person is wrongly convicted and sentenced to death usa online news.
A growing number of Americans are calling for reform, including those who previously supported the death penalty. This year, polling found that support for the death penalty was at its lowest level in decades and well below the 60% to 80% readings recorded between 1976 and 2016.
