Section I: The Statistics
- A total of 1491 convicts have been executed in the United States since 1976, with 23 in 2017 and 25 in 2018.
- The overwhelming majority of executed individuals have been men; less than 1% have been women.
- There were 164 death row exonerations (using DNA and other evidence) between 1973 and 2018, an average of 5 per year.
- Of those on death row, as of April 1, 2018, 42% are African-American, 42% are Caucasian, 13% are Hispanic, and 3% are classified as "other."
- In 96% of states where there have been reviews of race and the death penalty, there was a pattern of either race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination, or both.
- Death penalty cases are much more expensive than other criminal cases and cost more than imprisonment for life with no possibility of parole.
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