Thirty-seven States have legalized capital punishment since its reinstatement by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976, while 13 States have no death penalty.
Since 1976, the vast majority of States have executed death row inmates through lethal injection and electrocution, while a few have used the gas chamber, hanging, and firing squad. Fifty-five percent of executed defendants have been white, 38 percent black, and 6 percent Hispanic. About 85 percent of victims in capital cases have been white, although 50 percent of murder victims are black. Texas has carried out the most (92) executions since 1976. There are currently 41 women on death row; one woman has been executed since 1976. There are also 39 death row inmates, all males, sentenced as juveniles; nine men have been executed since 1976 for crimes committed while they were juveniles. To date, 12 mentally retarded offenders have been executed; 10 States forbid execution of the mentally retarded. Public support for capital punishment is only 50 percent when voters are offered alternative sentences.