Thirty-seven people were executed in the United States in 2008. Eighteen of them were in the state of Texas. One (James Earl Reed) was executed via electrocution. Executions were not carried out in the United States between September 2007 and April 2008, due to certiorari in Baze v. Rees, which questioned the constitutionality of lethal injection. The U.S. Supreme Court stayed all executions for seven months until a decision was made, meaning executions did not begin until May, with none having taken place since that of Michael Wayne Richard the previous September.
List of people executed in the United States in 2008 Date of execution Name Age of person Gender Ethnicity State Method At execution At offense Age difference 1 May 6, 2008 53 33 20MaleWhite GeorgiaLethal injection 2 May 21, 2008 49 28 21 Mississippi 3 May 27, 2008 31 21 10Black Virginia 4 June 4, 2008 38 20 18 Georgia 5 June 6, 2008 48 36 12White South Carolina 6 June 11, 2008 37 21 16 Texas 7 June 17, 2008 47 34 13 Oklahoma 8 June 20, 2008 49 35 14Black South Carolina Electrocution 9 June 25, 2008 30 18 12 OklahomaLethal injection 10 July 1, 2008 39 22 17 White Florida 11July 10, 2008 29 19 10Black Texas 12 26 18 8 Virginia 13July 23, 2008 34 25 9 White Mississippi 14 40 23 17 Black Texas 15 July 24, 2008 36 29 7 White Virginia 16 July 31, 2008 40 27 13 BlackTexas 17 August 5, 2008 33 18 15Hispanic 18 August 7, 2008 29 22 7 19 August 12, 2008 32 18 14 Black 20 August 14, 2008 45 38 7 Hispanic 21 September 16, 2008 57 23 34White Georgia 22 September 17, 2008 39 28 11 Texas 23 September 23, 2008 34 18 16 Black Florida 24 September 25, 2008 52 35 17White Oklahoma 25October 14, 2008 41 19 22 Ohio 26 57 33 24Texas 27 October 16, 2008 27 21 6 Black 28 October 21, 2008 29 19 10White 29 October 28, 2008 47 33 14 30 October 30, 2008 42 31 11 31 November 6, 2008 46 15Black 32 November 12, 2008 37 23 14 33 November 13, 2008 42 32 10 34 November 19, 2008 53 37 16 Ohio 35 November 20, 2008 45 36 9 Texas 36 November 21, 2008 37 30 7 White Kentucky 37 December 5, 2008 38 22 16 Black South Carolina Average: 40 years 26 years 14 years
Demographics Gender Male 37 100% Female 0 0% Ethnicity Black 17 46% White 17 46% Hispanic 3 8% State Texas 18 49% Georgia 3 8% Oklahoma 3 8% South Carolina 3 8% Virginia 3 8% Florida 2 5% Mississippi 2 5% Ohio 2 5% Kentucky 1 3% Method Lethal injection 36 97% Electrocution 1 3% Month January 0 0% February 0 0% March 0 0% April 0 0% May 3 8% June 6 16% July 7 19% August 4 11% September 4 11% October 6 16% November 6 16% December 1 3% Age 20–29 5 14% 30–39 14 38% 40–49 13 35% 50–59 5 14% Total 37 100%
Executions in recent years Number of executions 2009 52 2008 37 2007 42 Total 131
See also List of death row inmates in the United States List of most recent executions by jurisdiction List of people scheduled to be executed in the United States List of women executed in the United States since 1976
References