Capital Punishment: 2023

The latest data shows that the U.S. continues its decades-long decline in the number of people under sentence of death. At yearend 2023, 2,192 prisoners were on death row, a 3% drop from the previous year, marking the 23rd consecutive decline. Executions remain concentrated in a handful of states—Texas and Florida alone accounted for more than half of those carried out in 2023. These trends reflect shifting state laws, reduced use of the death penalty, and longer average times between sentencing and execution