CAPITAL PUNISHMENT OF FEMALE OFFENDERS: PRESENT FEMALE DEATH ROW INMATES AND DEATH SENTENCES AND EXECUTIONS OF FEMALE OFFENDERS, JANUARY 1, 1973, TO DECEMBER 31, 1993

• NCJ Number: 148090
• Author(s): V L Streib
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report, the 14th in a series, describes the past 21 years of death sentencing for female offenders under modern capital punishment laws in the United States.

Abstract

The analysis reveals that both the female death sentencing rate and the female death row population remain very small in comparison to those for males. Actual execution of female offenders is rare; only 511 such executions have been documented since the first in 1632. These 511 female executions make up less than 3 percent of the total of approximately 18,585 confirmed executions since 1608. Since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Furman in 1972, a total of 99 female death sentences have been imposed, accounting for only 2 percent of the total death sentences. Beginning in the 1980's, about five death sentences were imposed each year. The rate doubled in 1989, declined to just above earlier levels for the next two years, increased to 10 in 1992, and declined to four in 1993. Tables and appended case summaries