Annual number of U.S. executions in 2017 is far below 1999 peak
The annual number of U.S. executions peaked at 98 in 1999 and has fallen sharply in the years since. In 2017, 23 inmates were executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. That’s slightly higher than the year before, when 20 people were executed, but still well below the number of inmates annually put to death in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Just eight states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Texas and Virginia – accounted for all executions in 2017, compared with 20 states in 1999.
Annual number of U.S. executions is far below 1999 peak  | 100  | 80  | Executions  | 60  | 40  | 23  | States carrying out executions  | 20  | -O  | '77 '79 '81 83 '85 '877 889 191 '92 '95 997 99 '01 '03 05 '07 '09 '11 '13 '15 117  | Notes: The federal government carried out two executions in 2001 and one in 2003  | Source: Pew Research CONTER ana lysis of data from Death Penalty Information Center.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 