Latest BJS death penalty stats as we approach 1000th execution

Thanks to this post at TalkLeft, I see the Bureau of Justice Statistics has released "Capital Punishment, 2004," which details the state of capital punishment in the United States.  The full report can be accessed at this link; a summary of highlights from the report can be found in this official press release or in this AP story.  The full BJS report includes a lot of intriguing data, and it spotlights that capital punishment remains a regional story with the great majority of death sentences and executions taking place in the south. 

Of course, the most up-to-date capital numbers are always available from the Death Penalty Information Center, where you can see from this page that we are quickly approaching the 1000th execution in the modern death penalty era.  Notably, there are websites and blogs tracking the march to this noteworthy milestone in the modern administration of capital punishment.