Summary Analysis of Executions in the United States, 1608-1987: The Epsy File (From Death Penalty in America: Current Research, P 1-19, 1991, Robert M Bohm, ed. -- See NCJ-127534)

• NCJ Number: 127535
• Author(s): V Schneider; J O Smykla
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 148 pages
• Sale Source: Anderson Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Survey; Historical Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter describes major data sources on executions in the United States with particular focus on the Espy File which documents 14,570 legal executions between 1608-1987.

Abstract

It provides information on six major data sources including the Teeters-Zibulka inventory and the National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) program regarding their coverage, strengths and limitations. For the Espy File, it describes the data collection procedures and 21 variables in the collection, provides a summary analysis, and compares results with data provided by Bowers. Data on local-level executions is cited as the major feature of the Espy file because it provides a more comprehensive picture of executions during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Significant differences were found between the Espy File and Bowers' (1984) findings in regional variations in execution in the analysis by offense. The pattern of executions for murder in the South and in the rest of the country are not as comparable as Bower suggested. In addition to information on historical and regional trends in capital punishment, the descriptive analysis of the Espy File characterizes the condemned on the basis of race, gender, and age as well as slave executions in America. 3 notes and 14 references