Statistics

U.S. statistics are from the Bureau of Justice and are the official United States statistics as compiled by the government. I've updated them in October, 2009 using the Bureau's latest numbers which are compiled from data for the years 2007 and 2008.
Executions so far this year (2010)					32
Executions last year (2009)					52
Executions in 2008					37
Executions in 2007					42
Executions in 2006					53

Number of states with DP AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CN, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WY also the Federal Government and the Military					35
Number of states without DP AK, HI, IA, ME, MA+, MI, MN, ND, NJ, NM, NY++, RI, VT, WV, WI also the District of Columbia In Dec. 2007, New Jersey ended its Death Penalty program in favor of life in prison without parole. ** In March 2009, New Mexico did the same. +Massachusetts has declared its execution program unconstitutional, but may revise it and continue. ++New York did the same.					15

Approx. number of Death Row inmates in US (about 10 less than in 2007)					3,220
Includes 56 women on Death Row.
Age range of Death Row inmates: 19 to 92 years old
Average time spent on Death Row before execution: 11 years
Approx. number of Death Row inmates per state
AL	195	KY	40	OK	85
AZ	110	LA	85	OR	30
AR	35	MD	5	PA	220
CA	655	MS	70	SC	60
CO	2	MO	50	SD	5
CT	5	MT	2	TN	100
DE	15	NE	10	TX	390
FL	375	NH	0	UT	10
GA	100	NV	80	VA	20
ID	20	NJ	10	WA	10
IL	10	NM	2	WY	2
IN	20	NY	1	Feds	40
KS	5	NC	165
		OH	185
States with the most DR inmates: California (655), Texas (390) and Florida (375). States with the fewest DR inmates: New Hampshire has the Death Penalty but has (0) people on DR. Connecticut, Colorado, Kansas, Maryland, Montana, New York, South Dakota and Wyoming have 5 or fewer people on DR. 2 States have since ended executions: New Jersey and New Mexico

Just about every year Texas tops the list of the state with the most executions, with 18 in 2008. This is more than 4 times the number of the next state, Virginia with 4 executions.

Executions were re-instated by the Supreme Court after a break in 1976. The court was concerned about the various state DP laws being unconstituional in regard to cruel and unusual punishment and due process of law. - In the 1980s, about 20 Death Row inmates were executed each year. - In the 1990s, this number jumped dramatically from about 30 in the early 90s, to about 50 in the mid-90s and to a high of almost 100 executions in 1999. - The number of executions per year is now on the decline with 60 executions in 2005. - In total, the United States has executed 1,099 prisoners since the 1976 re-instatement.
Texas is quick to execute. Texas has executed 40 per cent of its Death Row while California has only executed 1 per cent of its Death Row population so far.
The UN (United Nations) opposes the Death Penalty. The US is in violation of UN regulations by having the death penalty.
US is the only NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) country with the DP.
Michigan was the 1st state to abolish the Death Penalty, in 1846. Some people think Michigan wanted to be different from its neighbor, Canada, which had public executions.
Wisconsin (my homestate!) was the 2nd state to abolish the Death Penalty, in 1853. Interestingly, Wisconsin only ever executed one person, a farmer who drowned his wife. His hanging became a public spectacle and may have led to the DP being overturned.
On average per year, there are: 20,000 murders. 15,000 arrests for murder (not all crimes are solved). 14,000 murder cases taken to court (not all cases have strong enough evidence). 10,000 murder convictions. 3,000 persons eligible for the DP (usually 1st degree murder with aggravating circumstances). 125 death sentences handed down. 50 executions.
The number of death sentences handed out each year is declining! In the 1990's, about 300 death sentences were handed down each year. By 2000, it had declined to 225. In 2007, only 115 death sentences were handed out.
In 2008, all 37 prisoners executed were male. Of the 42 executed, 20 were white, 17 black. Lethal injection was used in all but one of the executions, which was by electrocution.

Worldwide statistics are from Amnesty International for the year 2008.
Approx. number of people executed worldwide (from official records which vastly underreport the numbers)					2,400
Approx. number of people sentenced to death worldwide					8,860
Approx. number of countries with Death Penalty laws					60
Approx. number of countries executing prisoners					25
Top 5 countries for most executions (responsible for over 90 percent of all executions worldwide)
China					over 1,700
Iran					345
Saudi Arabia					100
United States					37
Pakistan					35
Methods of execution worldwide: lethal injection (U.S. and China), beheading (Saudia Arabia), firing squad (Iran and other countries), hanging (Singapore and other countries), stoning (Afghanistan and other countries), electric chair (U.S.)
Countries that carried out executions in 2008: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Botswana, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Libya, North Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, St. Kitts and Nevis, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vietnam and Yemen
Country you are most likely to be executed in (most executions per population): Singapore. Executions by hanging even for "minor" crimes such as selling drugs.
Countries that abolished the Death Penalty in 2008: -Uzbekistan and Argentina
Countries WITHOUT the Death Penalty: -Canada, Mexico, most of Europe, a lot of Latin America, Australia and New Zealand