Bureau of Justice Statistics releases "Capital Punishment, 2019 – Statistical Tables"

This morning the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics released this new report with data on the administration of capital punishment in the United States through the end of 2019. As I have noted before, though BJS sometimes provides the best available data on criminal justice administration, in the capital punishment arena the Death Penalty Information Center tends to have more up-to-date and more detailed data on capital punishment.  In any event, this new BJS report still provides notable and clear statistical snapshots about the death penalty, and the document sets out these initial "highlights":

• Eleven states and the BOP received a total of 31 prisoners under sentence of death in 2019.

• Twenty-one states and the BOP removed a total of 65 prisoners from under sentence of death by means other than execution.

• The New Hampshire legislature repealed the death penalty provision of the capital murder statute, but the repeal was prospective, leaving one male prisoner under a previously imposed sentence of death.

• The New Mexico Supreme Court declared the state capital statute unconstitutional, and the two prisoners under sentence of death were resentenced to life.

• The largest decline in the number of prisoners under sentence of death in 2019 occurred in California (down 11 prisoners), followed by Pennsylvania (down 8), Texas (down 7), and Tennessee (down 6).

• During 2019, the number of prisoners held under sentence of death increased in three states: North Carolina (up 3), Ohio (up 2), and South Carolina (up 1).

• Ninety-eight percent of prisoners under sentence of death were male.

• Among prisoners under sentence of death at year-end 2019, about 56% were white and 41% were black.

• Among prisoners under sentence of death at year-end 2019 with a known ethnicity, 15% were Hispanic.

• As of December 31, 2019, prisoners under sentence of death had been on death row for an average of 18.7 years.

• Prisoners executed during 2019 had been on death row for an average of 22 years.