Thursday, November 24, 2005 · Last updated 12:23 p.m. PT

Capital punishment in the United States

By MONIKA MATHUR
AP NEWS RESEARCHER

A brief look at recent capital punishment in the United States.

HISTORY:

In 1967, the United States entered into a 10-year period during which no executions were carried out. Strong pressure from death penalty opponents, along with several legal challenges, prompted the moratorium.

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively voided state death penalty laws with the Furman v. Georgia decision, calling them "arbitrary and capricious." In response, 35 states quickly enacted reforms to their death penalty statutes. The Supreme Court validated these laws in three related cases in 1976.

FACTS & FIGURES:

- More than 3,400 inmates are serving death row sentences in the United States.

- Texas has executed 355 defendants, the highest in any state since 1976.

- 828 executions were conducted by lethal injection since 1976.

- Approximately 58 percent of the defendants executed were white; 34 percent were black; 6 percent were Hispanic; and 2 percent were from other races.

FREED FROM DEATH ROW:

Since 1973, 122 people in 25 states have been freed from death row with evidence of their innocence: 21 from Florida; 18 from Illinois; eight each from Louisiana, Texas, Arizona; seven from Oklahoma; six from Pennsylvania; five each from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio; four from New Mexico; three each from California, Massachusetts, Missouri; two each from Indiana, South Carolina, Mississippi; one each from Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, Virginia, and Washington.

FOREIGN NATIONALS:

At least 20 foreign nationals have been executed in the U.S. since 1976. Approximately 118 foreign nationals are serving death row sentences in the U.S. Nationalities with more than one reported foreign national on death row in the U.S. are: Mexico (50); Cuba (6); Jamaica (6); El Salvador (5); Vietnam (5); Colombia (4); Cambodia (3); Honduras (3); and Germany (2).

INTERNATIONAL:

In 2004, according to the human rights group Amnesty International, executions were carried out in 25 nations. In that year, 97 percent of all executions were performed in just four countries: China, Iran, Vietnam and the U.S. The vast majority of those executions were in China.

SOURCES:

Death Penalty Information Center http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/

Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/