Facts about the death penalty:

• 16 prisoners were executed in the USA in 2002, bringing the total number to 765 prisoners executed since the start of the use of the death penalty. 
• Currently, over 3,700 prisoners are under sentence of death in this country.
• Since 1973 more than 99 US prisoners have been exonerated from death row after evidence emerged of their innocence of the crimes for which they were sentenced to death.
• Since 1977, the overwhelming majority of death row defendants (over 80%) have been executed for killing white victims, although African-Americans make up about 50% percent of all homicide victims.  See Racial Prejudice for more details.
• Worldwide, 76 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, 14 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes and 20 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice: they retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more.

Other useful death penalty sites:

Amnesty USA's death penalty page: for more on Amnesty's work on the death penalty.

New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty (NYADP): a statewide coalition of organizations and individuals committed to the abolition of capital punishment.

Death Penalty Information Center : death penalty news and information

Moratorium 2000 : A worldwide campaign to obtain an immediate moratorium on the death penalty. In the U.S., this effort is led by Sister Helen Prejean, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and author of Dead Man Walking.

Equal Justice USA: A project of the Quixote, a faith-based, social justice center in Maryland.

For the latest on executions across the globe see Amnesty's press release on the issue - during 2002 over 1,526 people were executed in 31 countries.