Death Penalty Statistics
Complete and more or less reliable death penalty statistics are available only for some calendar years and/or for short periods.
In the Kingdom of Serbia, official statistics were published continuously only from 1889 to 1914. No statistics exist for the period of the First World War (1914–1918).
In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the first statistics were published for the years 1920/1921, and continued thereafter until 1940. It is possible to extrapolate therefrom the statistics pertaining only to the territory of Serbia. No statistics exist for the period of the Second World War (1941–1944).
In the Communist Republic of Yugoslavia, no reliable statistics exist for the first post-war years (1945–1951). Official statistical publications, started in 1949, contained purposefully inexact and misleading information.
Complete and reliable statistics on the annual number of death sentences (but not of executions) in Yugoslavia are available from 1952 to 1991. For Serbia, such statistics are available only for the periods 1952–1955 and 1964–1991.
For both Yugoslavia and Serbia, the official death penalty statistics from 1992 to 2002 are neither complete nor reliable. However, we do know that in this period there was only one execution (in 1992).
1804 – 1813 From 1804, when it was freed from Turkish occupation, until 1813, when re-occupation put an end to its independence, Serbia had been in a permanent state of war with Turkey. Although there were no written laws and no permanent judiciary, death sentences were passed and executed by Serbian authorities. No criminal (or any other) statistics were kept or published. Nonetheless, on the basis of fragmentary archival sources and literature, it is possible to arrive at a rough estimate of the numbers of death sentences and executions. The most conservative estimate would be that there were 20 executions in 1804. The population of Serbia in 1804 was approximately 470,000, which gives a rate od 4.25 executions per 100,000 inhabitants. As at least some of those sentenced were commuted, the number of death sentences must have been somewhat greater. Assuming that every fifth death sentence was commuted, which – according to the archival evidence – seems reasonable, the number of death sentences in 1804 was probably around 25, which gives a rate of 5.3 death sentences per 100,000 inhabitants. Due to intensive immigration and territorial gains, the population of Serbia grew rapidly, reaching some 700,000 in 1813. On the (unrealistic) assumptions that the death sentence / execution rates remained constant and the population growth was linear, estimated numbers of death sentences and executions from 1804 to 1813 would have been as shown in Table 1.
1815 – 1838 After renewed battles with the Turks in 1815, Serbia remained a province of the Ottoman Empire,with a slightly reduced territory and population, but with an almost full autonomy in all internal matters, including the right of the Serbian authorities (the Prince and the newly established courts of law) to pass death sentences. No statistics were kept or published in this period. On the basis of the fragmentary archival evidence, it is possible to arrive at a rough estimate of the numbers of death sentences and executions. The most conservative estimate would be that there were 30 executions in 1815. The population of Serbia in 1815 was approximately 600,000, which gives a rate od 5 executions per 100,000 inhabitants. As at least some of those sentenced were commuted, the number of death sentences must have been somewhat greater. Assuming that every fifth death sentence was commuted, which – according to the archival evidence – seems reasonable, the number of death sentences in 1815 was probably around 38, which gives a rate of 6 death sentences per 100,000 inhabitants. Due to intensive immigration and territorial gains (in 1833), the population of Serbia reached 700,000 again in 1838. On the (unrealistic) assumptions that the death sentence / execution rates remained constant and the population growth was linear, estimated numbers of death sentences and executions from 1815 to 1838 would have been as shown in Table 2.
1839 – 1888 Official statistical data are available only for some years during this period: 1844, 1857, 1868, 1881, 1883 and 1887. On this basis, we have extrapolated the possible number of death sentences and executions for the remaining years, as shown in Table 3.
1889 – 1914 Official statistics are available for the entire period, as shown in Table 4. However, an examination of the more complete and more reliable data found in the archives of the Ministry of Justice revealed certain mistakes and inconsistencies in the published statistics. Therefore, we have corrected some of them, marking the corrected data in green. Some data (e.g. number of executions) were not always included in the published statistics, and in such cases we have supplied our own estimates, marked in red.
1918 – 1941 Yugoslavia. No statistics were pulished for 1918 and 1919. In Table 5, we have supplied our estimates for 1919 (Yugoslavia was created in December 1918, so that no statistics would be meaningful for that year). Official statistics are available from 1920 do 1940. Starting with 1922, we have included corrections, based on raw data as found in the archives of the Ministry of Justice (as above).
1918 – 1941 Serbia. Table 6 was constructed in the same way as Table 5 (see above), with the same estimates and corrections.
1945 – 1959 Yugoslavia. Official statistics were published only from 1951. For the first six years (1945–1950), we have included very rough estimates, based on our own Convict Database. The overall results are shown in Table 7.
1945 – 1959 Serbia. No official statistics are available for Serbia in this period. The data shown in Table 8 represent our estimates, based on our Convict Database and the available official statistics for Yugoslavia as a whole.
1960 – 1991 Yugoslavia. Official statistics are available for this period, but they include only the number of death sentences passed by the courts (and final in law) and no information on executions. On the basis of archival sources and our own Convict Database, we have included our estimates of executions and commutations as well. The sum of these two numbers is at times larger than the official number of death sentences for the corresponding year, because sentences which become final in any one year may be executed (or commuted) many years later. The overall results are shown in Table 9.
1960 – 1991 Serbia. Contains statistics for Serbia, derived in the same way as those shown for Yugoslavia (above). The one difference is that no official statistics are available for Serbia prior to 1965, so that we have included our estimates instead. The overall results are shown in Table 10.
1992 – 2012 The number of final death sentences for this period is taken from Serbia and Montenegro’s report to the UN Human Rights Committee of 24 July 2003 (CCPR/C/SEMO/2003/1). See Table 11.