Execution Wait Grew in 1999, Study Says

Convicted killers executed in 1999 spent 13 months longer on death row than those put to death in 1998, as legislation and court rulings to speed appeals clashed with growing concern over possibly erroneous verdicts, a federal study shows. The 98 prisoners executed in 1999--the most since 1951--were on death row an average of 11 years and 11 months, up sharply from 10 years and 10 months for the 68 inmates put to death in 1998, a Bureau of Justice Statistics report says. By contrast, the 1998 figures had reflected a drop of three months from the 1997 average.