The Source for Crime and Justice Data

Description & Citation--Study No. 2977

Bibliographic Description

Study No.:

2977

Title:

Capital Punishment in the United States, 1973-1998

Principal Investigator(s):

United States Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Funding:

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Bibliographic Citation:

United States Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Capital Punishment in the United States, 1973-1998. ICPSR02977-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2008-11-05. doi:10.3886/ICPSR02977.v1

Series:

Capital Punishment in the United States Series

Scope of Study

Summary:

This data collection provides annual data on prisoners under a sentence of death and prisoners whose offense sentences were commuted or vacated during the period 1973-1998. Information is supplied on basic sociodemographic characteristics such as age, sex, education, and state of incarceration. Criminal history data include prior felony convictions for criminal homicide and legal status at the time of the capital offense. Additional information is available for inmates removed from death row by yearend 1998 and for inmates who were executed.

Subject Terms:

capital punishment, commuted sentences, criminal histories, death row inmates, demographic characteristics, executions, felony offenses, prison inmates, sentencing, states (USA)

Geographic Coverage:

United States

Time Period:
  • 1973--1998

Date of Collection:
  • 1998

Universe:

All inmates on death row since 1972 in the United States.

Data Types:

event/transaction data

Data Collection Notes:

The inmate identification numbers were assigned by the Bureau of the Census and have no purpose outside this data collection.

Methodology

Data Source:

official prison records

Extent of Processing:

All archived data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. The archive also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, the archive performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Access and Availability

Note:

Detailed file-level information (such as record length, case count, and variable count) is listed in the file manifest.

Original ICPSR Release:

2000-09-11

Restrictions:

The data are restricted from general dissemination. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a restricted data Use Agreement form and specify the reasons for the request. A copy of the Restricted Data Use Agreement form can be requested by calling 800-999-0960. Researchers can also download this form as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file from the download page associated with this dataset. Completed forms should be returned to: Director, National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, Institute for Social Research, P.O. Box 1248, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248, or by fax: 734-647-8200.

Version History:

  • 2008-11-05 Minor changes have been made to the metadata.

  • 2008-10-30 All parts were moved to restricted access and are available only using the restricted access procedures.

  • 2005-11-04 On 2005-03-14 new files were added to one or more datasets. These files included additional setup files as well as one or more of the following: SAS program, SAS transport, SPSS portable, and Stata system files. The metadata record was revised 2005-11-04 to reflect these additions.