Death Row Statistics for Dead Man Walking
6 = Number of people proven innocent and freed from death row in 2006 in Pennsylvania
"We know that there have been major league mistakes in Pennsylvania death penalty cases," says Sobel, former president of the American Judicature Society. "Because of those mistakes, six people condemned to death have been freed from death row. If an airline crashed at least six flights out of a total less than 250, would you recommend traveling on its next flight to Los Angeles? Until the systemic flaws are addressed, I think it's shameful for us as a society to execute another person on Pennsylvania's death row."
November 15, 2007 = The date the United Nations, by majority vote, voted to support a global moratorium on the death penalty.
"The non-binding resolution, adopted by a vote of 99 members in favor, 52 against and 33 abstaining, asks all governments in the world body to ‘establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.'' The measure says the death penalty ‘undermines human dignity' and that there is no conclusive evidence of its deterrent value." Vocal in their objections were China, Sudan, Iran, and the USA. - Bill Varner
New Jersey = The state that at the end of 2007 abolished the death penalty
James Abbott = New Jersey police chief who served on the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission
"He was a longtime supporter of the death penalty but eventually concluded that abolition was ‘just plain common sense.' Chief Abbott noted, ‘I no longer believe that you can fix the death penalty. Six months of study opened my eyes to its shocking reality. I learned that the death penalty throws millions of dollars down the drain -- money that I could be putting directly to work fighting crime every day -- while dragging victims' families through a long and torturous process that only exacerbates their pain.'" -Fort Worth Star-Telegram
405 = Number of people put to death in Texas from 1982 until the recent nation-wide moratorium on the death penalty
One hour = The length of time it has taken several people to die of lethal injection rather than the stated 20 minutes. In Ohio, Christopher Newton was given a bathroom break because his execution was taking so long. And in the spring of 2006, it took more than an hour for Ohio to dispatch Joe Clark, who at one point sat up and observed: "This don't work."
3 = Number of drugs in the "cocktail" used for lethal injection. The first drug induces sleep, the second paralysis, and the third heart failure. This method is currently on moratorium in the USA as the Supreme Court determines whether it is cruel and unusual punishment. This method of "putting to sleep" has not been used by veterinarians on animals for several years, having been determined too painful for the animal.
8th = The Amendment in the US Constitution that bans "cruel and unusual punishment."
42 = Number of people executed in the US in 2007. - Bureau of Justice statisitcs
- 26 in Texas; 3 each in Alabama and Oklahoma; 2 each in Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee; and 1 each in South Dakota, Georgia, South Carolina, and Arizona.
- 28 were white, 14 were black, all were men
- 41 were lethal injection, 1 was electrocution
3,228 = Number of people on death row in the US at the end of 2006
54 = Number of women on death row at the end of 2006. -Bureau of Justice Statistics
28 = Average age of death row inmates at time of arrest. -Bureau of Justice Statistics
1 in 9 = Death row inmates who were 19 or younger at the time of their arrest. -Bureau of Justice Statistics
5 = Number of legal methods of execution in the US: lethal injection, electric chair, gas chamber, hanging, firing squad. -Amnesty International
$30,000 = Amount it costs per year to house a death row inmate.
$15,000 = Amount it costs per year to house an inmate for life. -The New York State Defenders Association via the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy
A 1993 Duke University study found that in North Carolina it costs $2.16 million more to execute a single person than it does to imprison that person for life. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, on a national basis, the extra cost comes to over $700 million spent since 1976 on the death penalty. -Salt of the Earth (claretianpubs.org)
18 = The age under which international human rights agreements prohibit the death penalty.
6 = The number of prisoners under the age of 18 the US has executed since 1990. Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen have also executed offenders under 18 since 1990. -Amnesty International
4.3 times = The number of times higher the odds are of receiving the death penalty if the victim is white as opposed to any other race. -American Civil Liberties Union
The 1990 report, "Death Penalty Sentencing: Research Indicates Pattern of Racial Disparities," an analysis of 28 studies of the death penalty, found that in 82 percent of the studies, race of the victim influenced the likelihood of a defendant being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty. Those who murdered whites were found to be more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks. -Salt of the Earth (claretianpubs.org)
90% = The percentage of those on death row who could not afford to hire a lawyer at the time of their conviction. -American Civil Liberties Union
4 = Number of years a nation-wide moratorium was placed on the death penalty in the US. This was put in place by the Supreme Court from 1972-1976. The reason was mainly the lack of consistency in sentencing of the death penalty. -Salt of the Earth (claretianpubs.org)
417 = Number of people in the past 100 years that have probably been wrongly convicted of capital offenses
23 = Number of people proven innocent after being executed in the past 100 years. -Salt of the Earth (claretianpubs.org)
123 = Number of people released from death row since 1973 after proven innocent. Recurring features in their cases include prosecutorial or police misconduct; the use of unreliable witness testimony, physical evidence, or confessions; and inadequate defence representation. Other US prisoners have gone to their deaths despite serious doubts over their guilt. The state of Florida has the highest number of exonerations: 22. -Amnesty International
Venezuela = The first country to abolish the death penalty. Venezuela (1853) and Portugal (1867) were the first nations to abolish the death penalty altogether. In the United States, Michigan was the first state to abolish it for murder in 1847. Today, it is virtually abolished in all of Western Europe and most of Latin America. www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/thoughts.html
13 = Number of people exonerated from death row in Indiana. Their names are: Richard Alexander, Nancy Botts, Larry Hicks, Ralph Jacobs, John Jeffers, Ralph W. Lobaugh, Larry Mayes, Dwayne Scruggs, Jeremy Sheets, Charles Smith, Christopher Smith, Percy B. Sullivan, and Jerry E. Watkins. -Northwestern University, IL: Center on Wrongful Convictions
88 = Number of countries that have completely abolished the death penalty
11 = Number of countries that have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes
29 = Number of countries that can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more making a total of 128 countries which have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. -Amnesty International
91% = Per cent of all known executions in 2006 that took place in China, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Pakistan and the USA. -Amnesty International
3.09 = Homicide rate per 100,000 in Canada in 1975, the year before the abolition of the death penalty.
2.41 = Canadian homicide rate in 1980
2.0 = Canadian homicide rate in 2005. -Amnesty International
19 = The number of men Indiana has executed since reinstating the death penalty in 1977. -Indy Star
Michigan City = The Indiana city that houses Indiana's death row. -Indy Star
10 years = The youngest age Indiana allowed for the death penalty until 1987. A bill was passed in the 1987 legislature to raise the age to 16 and in 2002, it was raised again to age 18. -Indy Star
$4.5 million = The amount spent on remodeling Indiana's death row in 2003.
12 = Number of states that do not have the death penalty: Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. -Clark County Prosecutor Website
37% = In Indiana, it costs 37% more to put an offender to death than to imprison him or her for life. -Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission
$356 million = The amount of money Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ear-marked for a new death row at San Quentin state prison. California has the largest death row in the country, with approximately 660 inmates. But in the past 30 years, California has carried out just 13 executions. -Marin Independent Journal
12 = Number of people currently on death row in Indiana: 11 men and 1 woman. www.in.gov
5.5% = Average murder rate per 100,000 in states that have the death penalty
3.6% = Average murder rate per 100,000 in states that do not have the death penalty. www.in.gov
87% = Percentage of Indiana's death row inmates who are convicted of killing a white victim. www.in.gov