Bureau of Justice Statistics releases “Capital Punishment, 2023 – Statistical Tables”

This morning the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics released this latest report on national data on the administration of the death penalty in the United States through the end of 2023.  As I have noted in prior posts, though BJS is often provides the best available data on criminal justice administration, in the capital punishment arena the Death Penalty Information Center tends to have much more up-to-date and much more detailed data on capital punishment adminitation.  Still, this new BJS report provides another notable set of statistical snapshots about the death penalty in the United States, and this overview webpage provides these “Highlights.”

In 2023:

• At yearend, a total of 26 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) held 2,192 prisoners under sentence of death, which was 73 (3%) fewer than at yearend 2022.
• Five states and FBOP received a total of 15 prisoners under sentence of death.
• Five states executed a total of 24 prisoners.
• Fourteen states and the FBOP removed a total of 64 prisoners from under sentence of death by means other than execution.