Presents characteristics of persons under sentence of death on December 31, 1997, and of persons executed in 1997. Preliminary data on executions in 1998 include State, method used, and race of inmate. The report summarizes the movement of prisoners into and out of death sentence status during 1997. Numerical tables present data on offenders' sex, race, Hispanic origin, education, marital status, age at time of arrest for capital offense, legal status at time of capital offense, methods of execution, trends, and time between imposition of death sentence and execution. Historical tables present executions since 1930 and sentencing since 1973.