Related Guides
Selected Data, Statistics & Public Opinion
For additional sources of data and statistics, see the Criminal Justice Data & Statistics research guide.
- Executions in the United States, 1608-2002 (ICPSR) This collection furnishes data on executions performed under civil authority in the United States between 1608 and 2002. The dataset describes each individual executed and the circumstances surrounding the crime for which the person was convicted. Variables include age, race, name, sex, and occupation of the offender, place, jurisdiction, date, and method of execution, and the crime for which the offender was executed.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics: Capital Punishment The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) collects data on persons held under sentence of death and persons executed during the calendar year from the state department of corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, see Capital Punishment series. Reports produced from this collection summarize the movement of prisoners into and out of death sentence status.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics: Prisoners Executed Prisoners executed under civil authority in the United States, by year, region, and jurisdiction, 1977-2021.
- National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) archives and disseminates data on crime and justice for secondary analysis. The archive contains data from over 2,700 curated studies or statistical data series. NACJD is home to several large-scale and well known datasets, including the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and the Project on Human Development in Chicago
- Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (University of Albany) The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data about all aspects of criminal justice in the United States presented in over 600 tables from more than 100 sources. Selected data to 2013.
- Death Sentences and Executions 2020 (Amnesty International) This report covers the judicial use of the death penalty for the period January to December 2020.
Public Opinion
- Roper Center Public Opinion Archives This link opens in a new window The Roper Center is a public opinion archive that preserves the data from polls conducted by many leading survey organizations. Most of the data are from the United States, but over 50 nations are represented. The iPOLL databank offers access to nearly half a million survey questions and answers asked in the U.S. by more than 150 survey organizations. Direct links are given to study documentation and datasets. Date coverage: 1930s – present.
NACJD: Capital Punishment in the United States
- NACJD: Capital Punishment in the United States (ICPSR) The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) archives and disseminates data on crime and justice for secondary analysis. The archive contains data from over 2,700 curated studies or statistical data series. These data collections provide annual data on prisoners under a sentence of death and on those whose offense sentences were commuted or vacated during the years indicated.
Books & Journals
- Death Row U.S.A. Reporter (HeinOnline) The NAACP Legal Defense Fund issues a quarterly report entitled Death Row USA. The report contains death row populations by state, as well as other statistics pertaining to capital punishment in the United States.
- Death Row USA (NAACP) The NAACP Legal Defense Fund issues a quarterly report entitled Death Row USA. The report contains death row populations by state, as well as other statistics pertaining to capital punishment in the United States.
