Capital Punishment 1996

• NCJ Number: 167031
• Date Published: December 1997
• Author(s): Tracy L Snell
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Series: BJS Bulletins
• Agencies: BJS
• Publication Type: Statistics

Annotation

This report provides information and statistics on the status of the death penalty in the United States by State as of December 31, 1996, including data on the number of executions during 1996, the number of prisoners under sentence of death, jurisdictions without a death penalty, death-row inmate demographics, and method of execution.

Abstract

This annual BJS Bulletin presents characteristics of persons under sentence of death on December 31, 1996, and of persons executed in 1996. A new section presents data on executions in 1997 (January through November) including State, method used, and race of inmate. The report summarizes the movement of prisoners into and out of death sentence status during the year. Numerical tables present data on offenders' sex, race, Hispanic origin, education, marital status, age at time of arrest for capital offense, legal status at time of capital offense, methods of execution, trends, and time between imposition of death sentence and execution. Historical tables present executions since 1930 and sentencing since 1973.