NCJ Number
153505
Date Published
1995
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This report documents 22 years of the death sentencing of female offenders under modern death penalty statutes in the United States.
Abstract
In general, both the female death sentencing rate and the female death row population are very small in comparison to that for males, and actual execution of female offenders is quite rare. For many years, the annual rate of death sentences for female offenders has remained less than 2 percent of the annual total. The current American death penalty era began when new death penalty statutes were passed following a Supreme Court decision in 1972 which in effect struck down all then-existing death penalty statutes. Table 1 of this document lists death sentences imposed upon female offenders from January 1973 through December 1994. Although there are several unexplained fluctuations, the average portion of the total death sentences was 1.9 percent. Table 2 indicates that two states (Florida and North Carolina) account for one-quarter of all death sentences for women. Appendixes provide more detailed information on name, race, jurisdiction, dates of crimes and sentences, and current status for each female death sentence. Tables, appendixes