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Executions in the Ten Most Populous States: 1975 to 1985
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Number of Executions |
|
| |
State |
Estimated Population (Millions) 6/31/85 |
Five Years
Ending 12/31/79 |
Five Years
Ending 12/31/85 |
Number of
Persons on
Death Row
12/20/851 |
| 1. |
California |
26.4 |
0 |
0 |
177 |
| 2. |
New York2 |
17.8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 3. |
Texas |
16.4 |
0 |
10 |
212 |
| 4. |
Pennsylvania |
11.9 |
0 |
0 |
74 |
| 5. |
Illinois |
11.5 |
0 |
0 |
85 |
| 6. |
Florida |
11.4 |
1 |
12 |
230 |
| 7. |
Ohio |
10.7 |
0 |
0 |
57 |
| 8. |
Michigan2 |
9.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 9. |
New Jersey |
7.6 |
0 |
0 |
17 |
| 10. |
North Carolina |
6.3 |
0 |
2 |
54 |
| TOTALS |
129.1 |
1 |
24 |
906 |
AMA Commentary
In the eight states (Arizona, California, Delaware, Maryland, Montana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina) that changed their death penalty statutes in 1978, the year California's current death penalty law took effect, only one person had been executed by the end of 1985 (Joseph Carl Shaw, January 11, 1984, South Carolina).3
1 Most recent update available from NAACP Legal Defense and Educational fund report, supra.
2 Michigan and New York do not have death penalty statutes in effect.
3 Statistics derived from U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Capital Punishment Reports, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, supra.