Women on Death Row

It is indeed rare for a woman to be given the death sentence in the United States. Of the 3,146  persons on death row in the U.S. as of February 2013, only 61 of them, or 1.9 percent, were women. Of the 61 women who were on death row in 2013, 13  of them were convicted of killing their their husbands and/or boyfriends,  12 were convicted of killing their children and two killed both their husbands and their children, according to Victor L. Streibs research in Death Penalty For Female Offenders, January 1, 1973 through February 20, 2013.   Few Women on Death Row There are approximately 50,000 women in prisons in the United States, only 0.1 percent of them are on death row. In comparison to men, death sentencing rates remain very low, with only 566 total executions carried out against women since the first recorded execution in 1632 -- or less than 3 percent of the total executions. Very few women enter the capital murder system, and fewer still are ever actually executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center: Women account for only 1 in 10 murder arrests.Women account for only 1 in 47 death sentences imposed at the trial level.Women account for only 1 in 51 persons presently on death row.Women account for only 1 in 110 persons actually executed in the modern era (since 1976). 14 Female Executions List of Women Executed in the United States Since 1976 Number Date Name Ageat Execution Ageat Offense Race State Method 1 November 2, 1984 Velma Margie Barfield 52 45 White North Carolina Lethal injection 2 February 3, 1998 Karla Faye Tucker 38 23 White Texas Lethal injection 3 March 30, 1998 Judias V. Buenoano 54 28 White Florida Electrocution 4 February 24, 2000 Betty Lou Beets 62 46 White Texas Lethal injection 5 May 2, 2000 Christina Marie Riggs 28 26 White Arkansas Lethal injection 6 January 11, 2001 Wanda Jean Allen 41 29 Black Oklahoma Lethal injection 7 May 1, 2001 Marilyn Kay Plantz 40 27 White Oklahoma Lethal injection 8 December 4, 2001 Lois Nadean Smith 61 41 White Oklahoma Lethal injection 9 May 10, 2002 Lynda Lyon Block 54 45 White Alabama Electrocution 10 October 9, 2002 Aileen Carol Wuornos 46 33 White Florida Lethal injection 11 September 14, 2005 Frances Elaine Newton 40 21 Black Texas Lethal injection 12 September 23, 2010 Teresa Wilson Bean Lewis 41 33 White Virginia Lethal injection 13 June 26, 2013 Kimberly LaGayle McCarthy 52 36 Black Texas Lethal injection 14 February 5, 2014 Suzanne Margaret Basso 59 44 White Texas Lethal injection Source: Death Penalty Information Center