This is a list of women on death row in the United States. The number of death row inmates fluctuates daily with new convictions, appellate decisions overturning conviction or sentence alone, commutations, or deaths (through execution or otherwise). Due to this fluctuation as well as lag and inconsistencies in inmate reporting procedures across jurisdictions, the information in this article may be out of date. The time on death row counter starts on the day they were first placed on death row. It does not count time incarcerated prior to sentencing nor does it discount time spent in prison off death row in cases where death sentences were overturned before being reinstated.
Demographics of women subjected to extreme sentences like the death penalty or life without parole, known as virtual death sentences, are highly skewed towards women of color. A 2021 national study by The Sentencing Project shows that one in every 39 Black women in prison is serving life without parole, while their white female counterparts have a rate of one in every 59. This is further exacerbated in southern states of the U.S. like Mississippi (one in 12), or in Louisiana where one in 14 Black women in prison have a LWOP (life without parole) sentence. Latina women make up 6% of the national total of LWOP sentences being served by women, however, states like New York or Texas have more than 20% of their Latina prison population sentenced to life without parole.
, there are 45 women awaiting execution in all of the United States overall.
Alabama NameDescription of crimeTime ondeath rowOtherPatricia BlackmonBlackmon was convicted in the death of her two-year-old adopted daughter, Dominiqua Bryant. According to an autopsy report, the child suffered a fractured skull, several broken bones, bruises and a shoeprint on her chest.Because the victim was under the age of 14, Blackmon was eligible for the death penalty. She argued in her appeal that an age-based statute was unconstitutional. In 2009, Blackmon's petition to the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari was denied.Tierra Capri GobbleGobble was convicted in the death of her four-month-old son, Phoenix Cody Parrish. According to a coroner's report, the infant suffered extensive bruising, and fractures of the skull, ribs and wrists. The cause of death was determined to be head trauma consistent with child abuse.In 2013, Gobble's petition to the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari was denied.Lisa Leanne GrahamIn 2015, Graham was convicted of capital murder for persuading a family friend to gun Graham's daughter down on a remote dirt road in Russell County in 2007. Graham was sentenced to death.Graham's lead attorney, Margaret Young Brown, argued that psychologist and attorney Glen King's evaluation showed that Graham had "borderline intellectual functioning," which cast doubt on her capacity to make reasonable decisions. In 2020, Graham's petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave was denied by the United States Supreme Court.Heather Leavell-KeatonIn March and June 2010, Leavell-Keaton murdered her common-law husband's children, three-year-old Chase DeBlase and four-year-old Natalie DeBlase. Prosecutors allege that she put antifreeze in the children's food and choked them both to death.In 2014, Leavell-Keaton's husband John DeBlase was also sentenced to death. She is the first woman sentenced to death in Mobile County.Christie Michelle ScottIn August 2008, a blaze broke out at the home of Christie Michelle Scott in Russellville, Alabama, killing her six-year-old son, Mason. Scott had purchased a $100,000 life insurance policy on her son 12 hours before his death. She was convicted of both the arson and the murder.Mason had been diagnosed with multiple psychiatric disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder.
Arizona NameDescription of crimeTime ondeath rowOtherSammantha AllenOn July 12, 2011, police officers were called to 10-year-old Ame Deal's home, where she was found dead in a small plastic container, having suffocated. Ame lived with a number of relatives, including her aunt and legal guardian, Cynthia Stoltzmann. Allen was Stoltzmann's daughter. The family first told the police officers that Ame was playing hide-n-seek and locked herself in the trunk the night before, after the adults went to sleep. During interrogation, Sammantha and her husband John confessed to locking Ame in the trunk as a form of punishment, because she took a popsicle without permission.Ame, who was and had to be squeezed into the trunk since its dimensions were only by , and deep. Before Ame was squeezed into the trunk, she was forced to do jumping jacks, backbends, and run around in heat for over an hour. She was then padlocked inside the trunk. The state alleges that Ame Deal suffered horrific abuse throughout her life. John Allen was also sentenced to death.Wendi AndrianoAndriano was convicted of the murder of her husband Joe Andriano. Her 33-year-old husband Joe was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in the couple's apartment in Ahwatukee, Arizona. His autopsy revealed that he had sustained 23 blows to the skull, and traces of sodium azide (a toxin similar in activity to cyanide) were also found in his system.Joe Andriano was terminally ill at the time of his death. In 2007, Andriano's petition to the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari was denied.Shawna FordeShawna Forde and her accomplices entered the Flores home by claiming they were officials looking for fugitives. The suspects had the expectation of finding money and drugs that could be sold to finance Forde's vigilante nativist group, Minutemen American Defense (MAD), which patrolled Arizona's border with Mexico. When they found no drugs, the intruders took inexpensive jewelry and fatally shot 29-year-old Raul Flores Jr. and his daughter, nine-year-old Brisenia Ylianna Flores.Forde was active in the Minuteman movement, a grassroots anti-illegal immigration group that would station themselves along the U.S. southern border, keep watch for Mexicans crossing the border illegally, and then alert the Border Patrol. Forde allegedly boasted of robbing drug dealers to finance the movement. Prosecutors alleged Forde and her associates entered the trailer disguised as government officials looking for fugitives. No drugs were found in the trailer. In 2014, Forde's petition to the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari was denied.
California