The Death Penalty in Data

January Term 2026

Kira Kuartei and Norah Brusco

Introduction

Famously, the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits the use of cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty was ruled constitutional until the Supreme Court ruling in 1972 Furman v Georgia. This remained for only a few years, however, until 1976 when the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty to be constitutional in certain circumstances and delegated further decisions to the states. Executions began again in 1976 and is where our data begins. Every execution since 1976 has been for murder.

Because some people believe that certain types of executions are cruel and unusual, we will look to analyze how execution methods have changed over time and where these executions occurred. As a large criticism of the death penalty lies in its unfair treatment of people of color, we will look to answer the most common races of those executed as well as the race of their victims. Finally, as criticism of the death penalty looms, we will look to answer how the quantity of executions has changed over time.

This data includes data from every U.S. execution from 1976 to 2016. Among other things, it includes the date of the execution, crime, victim demographics, execution method, and the location of the execution. The data includes 1442 observations and has 17 variables. Each row represents one execution.

The data was found on Kaggle, and they attribute execution data to the Death Penalty Information Center. The data on the victims comes from the Criminal Justice Project’s Death Row USA report. In addition, they attribute some of the data collected to news reports, the Department of Corrections in each state, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

For those who were executed, we know the ages, race, and sex of themselves, as well as their victims. We also know where the execution happened (at the state and regional level), the crime committed, and their execution method used. We will be working with key variables such as the execution method, quantity of executions per year, the region they were executed in, and the race of both the person executed and their victim(s). There are 5 possible methods of execution, an integer for the quantity of executions, a range of ages of the person executed, 4 possible regions, and 6 possible races for both the person executed and the victims.

How has the Quantity of Executions Changed Over Time?

To start, we want to analyze the trend of the number of executions per year since 1976.

This line graph shows the number of people executed in the United States from 1976 to 2016. The x axis shows years and the y axis shows quantity of executions. The lowest number of executions occurs in 1977 with one execution and the highest number of executions occurs in 1999 with just under 100 executions.

Figure 1: Shows a peak in executions around 1999, after a steady increase in executions since 1976. The line shows the correlation between the year, measured on the x-axis, and the number of executions that occured that year, measured on the y-axis.

By plotting our data as a line graph, our question can be answered by looking at the peaks, valleys, and overall trend of the number of executions over 1976-2016. The trend shows a positive increase in executions from when executions were legalized all the way until 1999 when executions peaked. Following 1999, the graph conveys that there has been an overall decrease in the quantity of executions, with a small increase again around 2007. From 1999 to 2016, the highest number of executions was around 100, in 1999, and the lowest was around 20.

This trend is largely due to the changing political beliefs. During the 1970s and 1990s, the increase in the number of executions was largely due to legislature decisions that restored the death penalty and widened the scope of pre existing laws. 1 As the 20th century began, the decrease in executions can be attributed to political push back regarding the reliability and equality of the death penalty. This led to the halting of executions in several states. 2

Where are these executions happening?

Now that we know the trend over time of the quantity of executions, we want to know where these executions are happening. Because decisions about the use of the death penalty are largely left up to the state, we will examine data separately for each state.

This United States map with state lines has dots varying in size to represent the quantity of executions. It helps to illustrate where the death penalty is most commonly carried out. The map indicates that the South is the region with the greatest number of exectuions, while regions such as the West and Midest have implemented the death penalty the least.

Figure 2: Shows the number of executions by state. Excludes Alaska and Hawaii. Hawaii had 0 executions, Alaska had 58. Map Source: Google Public Data Explorer

Figure 2 shows us the quantity of executions by state. We note that a majority of the executions have occurred in southern regions, with the most occurring in Texas. There are also some blank states that have no dots on them, representing that they have had no executions. One notable observation from this graph is the sheer quantity of executions that occur in Texas. This trend can be explained by a few reasons. First, Texas appellate judges are elected to office, which encourages them to take a hard line against criminals in order to win reelection. 3 Additionally, Texas has been criticized for the inexperienced lawyers who often represent those facing the death penalty and for not allowing extenuating evidence (e.g. mental illness, status as a minor at the time of the crime) to be examined by juries until 1990. 4. As for the executions mainly occurring in the South, this trend is largely due to political motivations in that region. Furthermore, some of the states (such as Minnesota) with no executions have fully outlawed the death penalty.

What is the most common method of execution?

Now that we have examined where executions are happening, we want to look at how they are happening. The method of execution can tell us a lot about what is the more commonly used execution method and how that reflects political beliefs.

This bar graph displays the order of most used execution methods from most common to least common. Lethal injections are the most used while firing squad and hanging's have been used the least. The method of executions is graphed on the y-axis, while the count is graphed on the x axis.

Figure 3: This bar graph is illustrating the methods of executions and their frequencies. This reveals how lethal injection has been the primary execution method, being used over 1200 times, and the least common methods being implemented less than 5 times which are hanging and firing squad. There are 5 execution methods that have been used during our time period of data anylasis, graphed on the y-axis, and the number of times each execution method has been carried out.

From this chart, it is evident that the most frequent type of execution is by lethal injection. Lethal injections have become the most used execution method because it is seen as the least painful. No method of execution a perfect science, however, lethal injection ensures the person executed is paralyzed and cannot feel anything before they pass away, and because it has been noted as the most humane way for the person executed and the witnesses of the execution. 5 However, there have been instances of botched lethal injections where the person has cried out in pain. 6

Is if there is a correlation between the race of the person executed and their victim?

From execution methods, we want to look at the if certain races are more affected by the death penalty than others (both in the race of the victim and the race of the person executed).

This is a segmented bar graph showing the race of the person executed and the race of their victim. The x-axis is grouped by race of the person executed, where there are four possibile races the people executed have been: White, Native American, Black, Latino, and Asian. The segments of each bar graph is indicitive of the race of the victims, where the proportion of the victims race for each race of the person exectued, is measured on the y-axis. The graph illustrates how the most common victim race is White, excpet for Latino people and Asian people, who were more likely to kill people of their same race

Figure 4: Shows the relation between the race of the person executed, and the race of the their victim. Only data points who had one person executed were included, removing 326 data points. Additionally, the category ‘Other’ of the race of the person executed was excluded, removing 2 data points. The trend shown is that the race of the person executed is most often the same as the race of their victim for Latino and Asian people. For those executed who were White, Black, and Native American, the most common race of their victim was White.

This figure shows the distribution of the race of the person executed and the race of their victim. One notable observation is that Latino people and Asian people are more likely to have victims of their same race, while Black, White, and Native American people are more likely to have White victims. Some critics of the death penalty would use this plot to show that people are more likely to receive the death penalty if they have killed a White person. 7 On the other hand, some people would claim that this correlation is due to the fact that White people make up a majority of the population.

Conclusion

We have examined trends over time of quantity of executions and the states in which these executions occurred. In addition, we examined execution methods and the races of those executed and their victims. The death penalty continues to be a highly contested issue that divides Americans. Some criticize it as unfairly targeting people of color and low economic status and point to the number of people on death row who were wrongfully convicted. Others see it as a necessary measure to bring justice to victims. Regardless of personal views, we must remember that the people in these statistics, both the victims and those executed, were real people.

  1. Steiker, Carol, and Jordan Steiker. “The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of the Death Penalty in the United States.” The University of Texas at Austin School of Law, law.utexas.edu/faculty/publications/2020-the-rise-fall-and-afterlife-of-the-death-penalty-in-the-united-states/. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.↩︎

  2. Steiker, Carol, and Jordan Steiker. “The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of the Death Penalty in the United States.” The University of Texas at Austin School of Law, law.utexas.edu/faculty/publications/2020-the-rise-fall-and-afterlife-of-the-death-penalty-in-the-united-states/. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.↩︎

  3. Walpin, Ned. “Why Is Texas #1 Executions?” Death Penalty Information Center, deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/why-is-texas-1-executions. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.↩︎

  4. Walpin, Ned. “Why Is Texas #1 Executions?” Death Penalty Information Center, deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/why-is-texas-1-executions. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.↩︎

  5. “Lethal Injection | EBSCO.” EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | Www.ebsco.com, 2025, www.ebsco.com/research-starters/law/lethal-injection.↩︎

  6. “U.S. Supreme Court Reinstates the Death Penalty | EBSCO.” EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | Www.ebsco.com, 2023, www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/us-supreme-court-reinstates-death-penalty↩︎

  7. Long, Colleen. “Report: Death Penalty Cases Show History of Racial Disparity.” AP NEWS, The Associated Press, 15 Sept. 2020, apnews.com/article/united-states-lifestyle-race-and-ethnicity-discrimination-racial-injustice-ded1f517a0fd64bf1d55c448a06acccc.↩︎