Texas death penalty statistics tell a clear story: the state has carried out 600 executions since resuming capital punishment in 1982, more than a third of the national total over that span and far more than any other state. About 166 people currently sit on death row. But the pace has slowed dramatically. Texas executed 40 people in the year 2000 alone; in 2025, it executed five.
Executions Since 1982
Texas carried out its first modern execution on December 7, 1982, when Charles Brooks became the first person in the country put to death by lethal injection. That followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1976 decision in Gregg v. Georgia, which allowed states to resume capital punishment under carefully drafted sentencing procedures after a four-year halt.1Justia Law. Gregg v Georgia 428 US 153 (1976)
The pace accelerated fast. The year 2000 marked the all-time peak, with 40 executions in a single calendar year.2Bureau of Justice Statistics. Capital Punishment 2000 Roughly 71 percent of all Texas executions took place during the two decades between 1996 and 2015. As of May 14, 2026, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s executed offenders list reached entry 600.3Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Executed Offenders
Annual totals have since dropped into the single digits. Several forces are pulling in the same direction: fewer capital-eligible cases reach trial, juries are choosing life sentences more often, and the appeals process has become more rigorous. Texas still executes more people than any other state in most years, but the gap between its current pace and the late-1990s peak is enormous.
Who Is on Texas Death Row
Of the roughly 166 people currently awaiting execution, 159 are men and 7 are women. The racial breakdown skews sharply: Black individuals make up about 46 percent of the death row population, Hispanic individuals about 27 percent, and White individuals about 24 percent.4Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Death Row Gender and Racial Statistics The Black share is far larger than the group’s share of the state’s overall population.
Women have rarely been sentenced to death in Texas, and even more rarely executed. The seven women currently held represent just over four percent of the death row total. Only a handful of women have been executed in the state since 1982.
These patterns mirror national trends in capital sentencing, where racial disparities have been a persistent concern. Studies of wrongful convictions have found that Black Americans account for a disproportionate share of death row exonerations as well.
Where Death Sentences Come From
Capital punishment in Texas is concentrated in a handful of urban counties. Harris County, which includes Houston, has produced more executions than any other county in the country, and more than most entire states. Dallas, Tarrant, and Bexar counties follow, though at much lower numbers. Together, Harris, Dallas, and Tarrant counties account for more than half of the people currently on death row.
The concentration exists for practical reasons. Larger counties handle more homicide cases, employ prosecutors with capital experience, and can afford the long, expensive process of seeking a death sentence. A rural county with a tight budget is more likely to offer a plea for life without parole, even when the crime technically qualifies as capital murder. In 2024, Texas juries imposed six new death sentences statewide, and three came from Tarrant County alone.
Where a capital-eligible murder happens matters. Two nearly identical crimes in different counties can produce different outcomes based on the local district attorney’s willingness to seek death and the county’s ability to pay for it.
How Long People Stay on Death Row
According to TDCJ’s own data, the average time a Texas inmate spends on death row before execution is about 11 years.5Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Death Row Facts That average understates how long many people actually wait. Nationally, more than half of all current death row inmates have been there for over 18 years, and some Texas inmates have spent more than 20 years in the appeals process. The gap between the Texas average and national figures likely reflects the fact that Texas executes people more frequently than other states, which pulls the average wait time down.
Every death sentence in Texas triggers an automatic direct appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, followed by state habeas review and then federal habeas review through the U.S. District Court, the Fifth Circuit, and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court. A trial court cannot set an execution date until at least 91 days after the Court of Criminal Appeals denies habeas relief, and in practice execution dates are rarely set until federal review is complete.6Texas Attorney General. Capital Punishment Appellate Guidebook That multi-layered process is the main reason death row stays run for years or decades.
How Death Sentences End
Not everyone sentenced to death is ultimately executed. Several other outcomes show up in the data.
- Commutation to life in prison. The governor can commute a death sentence only on the written recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. The governor can independently grant one reprieve per capital case, but only for up to 30 days. Texas governors have used commutation power very rarely.7State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 48.01 – Governor May Pardon
- Resentencing or a new trial. Successful appeals can result in a new trial, a reduced charge, or resentencing to life in prison.
- Exoneration. Some inmates are removed from death row after evidence proves they were wrongfully convicted.
- Death from other causes. A number of death row inmates die of natural causes, illness, or suicide before their execution date arrives.
Clemency in Texas capital cases is extraordinarily rare because both the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the governor must agree before a sentence can be commuted.7State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 48.01 – Governor May Pardon
Exonerations
Between 1976 and 2024, at least 18 people sentenced to death in Texas were later exonerated and released. Nationally, the figure stands at more than 200 wrongful death sentences overturned since 1973. The most common factors behind these wrongful convictions include false testimony, flawed forensic evidence, official misconduct, and mistaken eyewitness identifications.
Texas exonerations have involved cases where key witnesses recanted, DNA evidence excluded the defendant, or prosecutors were found to have withheld favorable evidence. The existence of these cases is one reason the appeals process, frustrating as its delays can be, is built with so many layers of review.
What Capital Cases Cost
Capital cases are dramatically more expensive than non-capital murder prosecutions. The added cost comes at every stage: longer and more complex jury selection, the required two separate trial phases for guilt and punishment, more expert witnesses, heightened security, and the years of mandatory appeals that follow a death sentence. Studies of Texas capital cases have estimated the total cost at roughly three times that of imprisoning someone for life, though exact figures vary with methodology and time period.
Defense costs alone are substantial. In federal capital habeas proceedings, appointed counsel can bill up to $226 per hour as of January 2026, with no cap on total compensation for capital representations.8United States Courts. Guide to Judiciary Policy, Vol 7 – Chapter 6: Federal Death Penalty and Capital Habeas Corpus Representations State-level trial costs, prosecution expenses, and the cost of housing an inmate on death row for over a decade all add to the total. For counties weighing whether to seek a death sentence, that financial burden is a real factor, and it is one reason smaller counties rarely pursue capital cases even when the facts might support one.