Facts

DNA technology – and the number of people it's freed from death row - has made the death penalty a hot issue again. Ongoing debates over death penalty include: its effectiveness as a form of deterrence, the extent to which is should be used with cases involving the insane, mentally handicapped, or juveniles, and whether its costs are worth it.

General

Note on sources: almost all facts come from the Sourcebook, a huge store of facts pulled together by the University of Albany with the support of the Department of Justice.

Number of Americans on death row:

• 3,254 (2005) (DOJ - pdf).

Number sentenced to death each year

source: DOJ - pdf

Number executed each year

source: DOJ

Crimes committed by those on death row:

• Since 1965, all executions have been for murder convictions.

Number of murders and non-negligent manslaughters (average each decade):

• 90's: 19,221 a year (DOJ) (less than 68/100,000 people);
• 80's: 20,643 a year (DOJ) (less than 83/100,000 people);
• 70's: 19,806 a year ('72 - '79) (DOJ) (less than 87/100,000 people).

Other resources for info on the death penalty:

• Death Penalty Information Center
  - research and information source that claims to have no position on the death penalty, although its critics say it is anti-death penalty

• ProDeathPenalty.com - just as their name says

• A Washington Post article on how capital punishment is going out of style

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