The Times is doing a series of articles highlighting common laws and rules. Today, in the third installment of a three part series on the death penalty, we take a look at Indiana's death row. To suggest a law for The Times to highlight, contact the writer.

Many people think Indiana's death row is filled with dozens of offenders -- a high percentage of them minorities -- who are executed on a regular basis.

But despite the death penalty in Indiana, few people are on death row.

Only 14 people were on Indiana's death row as of July 1, according to Clark County Prosecutor Steve Stewart's book "Death Row 2009. Capital Punishment in Indiana." Stewart is an expert in the death penalty.

Thirteen of the death row inmates are men and one is a woman. Eleven are white and three are black, according to the book.

On death row for the longest period is Lake County's Debra Denise Brown, who has been on death row for more than 23 years. The person with the least amount of time on death row has been there for more than a year and a half. The average length of time on death row is about 10 years.

The books states that since Jan. 25, 2008, no Indiana jury trial has resulted in a death sentence -- although one inmate was added to death row July 1, 2008, as a result of a successful state appeal.

Since June 15, 2007, no Indiana death row inmates have been executed.

Statistics show only two people have received death sentences in Indiana in the past four years -- an average of one every two years. But in the previous 30 years, there were an average of three and a half per year.

As The Times reported previously, it costs 10 times more to conduct a death penalty trial than a standard murder trial, and death penalty cases are heavily scrutinized in the appeals process. Those factors have led to a decrease in death penalty cases, Stewart said.

Other interesting facts from Stewart's book:

-- The youngest person on death row now is 29, but the youngest person on death row since 1977 was 16. The oldest person now on death row is 60, but the oldest on death row since 1977 was 75.

-- Since 1977, 67 percent of death row inmates have been white, 31 percent black and 2 percent Hispanic; 96 percent have been male and 4 percent female.

-- The 94 defendants sentenced to death since 1977 have accounted for 153 murders. The defendants killed 37 family members, 37 friends or acquaintances, six employers or coworkers, five neighbors, 10 police officers and 58 strangers. Shooting was the most common method, followed by stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, stomping, drowning, burning and other methods.

-- Lake (with 22) and Marion (with 21) are the counties with the most death sentences.

-- Since 1900, 89 men (65 white and 24 black) and no women have been executed in Indiana. Since 1977, 19 men (16 white and three black) have been executed.