Capital Punishment

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Death Penalty Trends in U.S. Capital Punishment 1976–2016

Explore execution patterns by state, demographics, and method

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Our project uses execution data from 1976–2016 with 1443 cases, compiled from official state records, historical news reporting, and legal research organizations to examine how capital punishment has been applied across the United States. You’ll find patterns by state, race, gender, and victim’s race, and we highlight how trends have shifted following the reinstatement of the death penalty in the 1970s.

The data allows for comparisons across regions and demographic groups, offering insight into where and how executions occur most frequently and raising questions about broader systemic patterns and disparities. While this dataset enables powerful quantitative analysis, it does not include legal reasoning, personal narratives, or appeal outcomes, which means individual case context is limited.

Scroll down to explore key findings, visualizations, and research questions that frame this analysis at the intersection of law, society, and justice.

Timeline of Events 1976 to 2016

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Research Question #1

To what extent does race and region influence the likelihood of receiving the death penalty in the United States between 1976 and 2016?

Research Question #2

How do intersections of defendant race and victim race influence the likelihood of receiving the death penalty in the United States between 1976 and 2016?

Research Question #3

How does Texas compare to other states in terms of execution frequency, demographic disparities, and long-term trends in capital punishment?

  • NBC News go over the most popular and common types of execution methods that the United States use when performing the Death Penalty.

Research Question #4

How does the gender of the defendant influence the likelihood of receiving the death penalty in the United States between 1976 and 2016?

About Us

Learn More

Our team is a group of UCLA students from Applied Mathematics, Statistics & Data Science, Computer Science, English, and Labor Studies/Digital Humanities. Emmanuel leads content development, Junnan designs clear and interpretable data visualizations, and Diana edits and refines our writing. Cedric builds the website experience, Amaras coordinates the project as our manager, and Jason supports the data work as our specialist. Together, we combine technical and storytelling skills to create a polished, accessible project for our audience. If you need more information about our team, you can clik the tile of about-us.

Helpful Information & Support

We are providing more detailed information about the dataset and are pleased to answer any question for the projects. For more in-depth information on the developers please click the button above which will redirect you to our About Us page. Feel free to connect with us by email!