The Nation : Executions Last Year Highest Since ’76

Nearly 2,000 prisoners were on Death Row last year and 25 inmates were executed, both figures record highs since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, the government reported. The highest population on Death Row previously was 1,800 in 1986, and there were 21 inmates executed in 1984, the former yearly high. State courts sentenced 299 people to death in 1987, while the death sentences of 79 were vacated or commuted, the Bureau of Justice Statistics said. A total of 1,984 men and women were on Death Row in 34 states as of Dec. 31. Just 2.9% of the people under death sentences were executed from 1976 to 1987--92 men and one woman. During the same years, nearly 1,100 people, or 34.3% of those facing capital punishment, were removed from Death Row.