“Bureau of Justice Statistics releases “Capital Punishment, 2020 – Statistical Tables”

Today the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics has released this new report with data on the administration of capital punishment in the United States through the end of 2020. (As I have noted before, though BJS provides great data on criminal justice administration, in the capital punishment arena the Death Penalty Information Center tends to have more up-to-date and more detailed data on capital punishment.)

This new BJS report provides notable and clear statistical snapshots about the death penalty in the US, and the document starts with this introduction and these “highlights” on the first two pages of a 26-page document:

At yearend 2020, a total of 28 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) held 2,469 prisoners under sentence of death, which was 94 (4%) fewer than at yearend 2019.  During 2020, the number of prisoners under sentence of death declined for the twentieth consecutive year.  California (28%), Florida (14%), and Texas (8%) held half of the prisoners under sentence of death in the United States on December 31, 2020.  The BOP held 51 prisoners under sentence of death at yearend.

Five states and the BOP executed a total of 17 prisoners in 2020.  The BOP executed 10 prisoners, which accounted for 59% of the executions carried out in 2020.

This report presents statistics on persons who were under sentence of death in 2020, state and federal death penalty laws in 2020, and historical trends in executions.  At yearend 2020, a total of 31 states and the federal government authorized the death penalty.

• Colorado repealed the death penalty provision of its first-degree murder statute in July 2020, and the governor commuted the death sentences of the three prisoners under previously imposed sentences of death to life without the possibility of parole. ƒ
• Seven states received a total of 14 prisoners under sentence of death in 2020, the smallest annual number reported since the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated capital punishment statutes in several states in 1972 (see Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972)).
• ƒNineteen states removed a total of 91 prisoners from under sentence of death by means other than execution in 2020.
• ƒDuring 2020, 17 states and the BOP reported a decrease in the number of prisoners held under sentence of death, 16 states reported no change, and no states reported an increase in the number of prisoners held under sentence of death.
• ƒThe largest declines in the number of prisoners under sentence of death in 2020 occurred in California (down 24 prisoners) and Pennsylvania (down 14).
• ƒThe majority (98%) of prisoners under sentence of death were male.
• ƒAt yearend 2020, about 56% of prisoners under sentence of death were white and 41% were black.
• Among prisoners under sentence of death at yearend 2020 with a known ethnicity, 15% were Hispanic. ƒ
• Prisoners under sentence of death on December 31, 2020 had been on death row for an average of 19.4 years.
• ƒPrisoners executed during 2020 had been on death row for an average of 18.9 years.