Capital Convictions by Calendar Year

Once a jury found an individual guilty of a capital crime, rape or murder, the judge had to sentence him/her to be executed at the gallows. Before 1890 there was no court of appeals, yet individuals were able to avoid the gallows by having the President commute their sentence, or pardon them. (Click here to see a list of those who received Presidential pardons or commutations.) By 1890 defendants could appeal to the Supreme Court. Many verdicts were reversed and new trials were ordered. (To learn more about those who received reversals, click here.)

Year	Number of Convictions	Number of those who were eventually executed (not necessarily in same calendar year)
1875	12	10
1876	8	5
1877	7	0
1878	2	2
1879	4	2
1880	2	0
1881	7	5
1882	3	2
1883	7	3
1884	8	4
1885	11	4
1886	10	8
1887	9	5
1888	9	3
1889	15	10
1890	5	2
1891	2	1
1892	4	3
1893	0	0
1894	13	0
1895	21	10
1896	2	0