United States
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 16
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 47
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · The pace of USA executions is on the rise, pushed by...
- News items in the archive
- 1,537
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
United States is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 16 executions in the country, against 47 the year before. The archive holds 1,537 news items on United States, from 1999 to today.
In the United States the death penalty is a matter for the individual states as well as the federal government: some have abolished it, some retain it without applying it, and some carry out executions regularly. The prevailing method is lethal injection, and several states have reintroduced alternative methods.
Its death rows are among the most populated in the world and the wait often lasts decades. The debate concerns the availability of the drugs, wrongful convictions and the conditions of isolation. The archive follows executions, stays, commutations and court decisions, state by state.
Latest news
JANUARY 6, 2021United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Federal. Corey Johnson and Dustin Higgs Say Having COVID-19 Will Increase Their Suffering During Execution.
USA - Federal. Corey Johnson and Dustin Higgs Say Having COVID-19 Will Increase Their Suffering During Execution.
JANUARY 1, 2021United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Federal. Appeals court vacates order delaying execution of Lisa Montgomery
The only woman on US death row is scheduled to be executed on January 12.
DECEMBER 30, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - California. Samuel Little died. He was serving life sentences
The FBI has called Little "the most prolific serial killer in the history of the United States"
DECEMBER 29, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Ohio. Romell Broom, who survived execution attempt, dies. COVID suspected.
USA - Ohio. Romell Broom, who survived execution attempt, dies. COVID suspected.
DECEMBER 29, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Architects against the construction of torture sites and death chambers.
USA - Architects against the construction of torture sites and death chambers.
- DECEMBER 26, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Federal. Stay of Lisa Montgomery’s execution.
USA - Federal. Stay of Lisa Montgomery’s execution.
DECEMBER 23, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Published the latest edition of "Death Row USA", updated to 1 October 2020
2,553 death row prisoners.
- DECEMBER 17, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Ohio. House approves abolition of death penalty for severely mentally ill.
The new law now goes to the Governor for ratification
DECEMBER 16, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Death Penalty Information Center “Year End Report”
USA - Death Penalty Information Center “Year End Report”
DECEMBER 11, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alfred Bourgeois was executed in the Terre Haute federal penitentiary
It is the last execution of the year in the United States, the 17th.
- DECEMBER 11, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Military. Death sentences imposed on Major Nidal Hasan upheld
USA - Military. Death sentences imposed on Major Nidal Hasan upheld
DECEMBER 10, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Federal. Brandon Bernard, 40, Black, was executed.
USA - Federal. Brandon Bernard, 40, Black, was executed.
DECEMBER 10, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - 8 Federal Execution Team Members Test Positive for COVID-19 After Orlando Hall Execution.
USA - 8 Federal Execution Team Members Test Positive for COVID-19 After Orlando Hall Execution.
DECEMBER 9, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - "Death Penalty Action": Voices of Opposition to Federal Executions Grow Louder
USA - "Death Penalty Action": Voices of Opposition to Federal Executions Grow Louder
- DECEMBER 9, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - 49,883 inmateshad tested positive, and at least 1,657 prisoners have died from the coronavirus
USA - 49,883 inmateshad tested positive, and at least 1,657 prisoners have died from the coronavirus
- DECEMBER 7, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - North Carolina. New sentencing hearing for William Leroy Barnes.
USA - North Carolina. New sentencing hearing for William Leroy Barnes.
DECEMBER 4, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Intellectually Disabled Defendants of Color, Foreign Nationals Disproportionately Subject to the Death Penalty.
USA - Intellectually Disabled Defendants of Color, Foreign Nationals Disproportionately Subject to the Death Penalty.
NOVEMBER 25, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - The Trump administration is trying to bring back firing squads and electrocutions
USA - The Trump administration is trying to bring back firing squads and electrocutions
NOVEMBER 24, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Gallup Poll: Public Support for the Death Penalty Lowest in a Half-Century.
USA - Gallup Poll: Public Support for the Death Penalty Lowest in a Half-Century.
NOVEMBER 23, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Oklahoma. Kim Kardashian visits death row inmate Julius Jones.
USA - Oklahoma. Kim Kardashian visits death row inmate Julius Jones.
- NOVEMBER 21, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - 1,450 inmates and 98 agents died of Covid-19 in US prisons.
USA - 1,450 inmates and 98 agents died of Covid-19 in US prisons.
- NOVEMBER 21, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: ORLANDO HALL EXECUTED AT THE FEDERAL PRISON COMPLEX IN TERRE HAUTE
Orlando Hall was executed on 19 November 2020 at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.
- NOVEMBER 19, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Judge Delays Federal Execution Of Lisa Montgomery
USA - Judge Delays Federal Execution Of Lisa Montgomery
NOVEMBER 19, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Orlando Hall Was Executed In Federal Prison.
USA - Orlando Hall Was Executed In Federal Prison.
NOVEMBER 13, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Federal. Lawyers for Lisa Montgomery Contract COVID-19 During Prison Visits, Seek Stay of Execution.
USA - Federal. Lawyers for Lisa Montgomery Contract COVID-19 During Prison Visits, Seek Stay of Execution.
NOVEMBER 12, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Bill Pelke, a pioneer of US abolitionism, and a friend of Hands Off Cain, died.
USA - Bill Pelke, a pioneer of US abolitionism, and a friend of Hands Off Cain, died.
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: WHAT BIDEN’S WIN MEANS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND THE DEATH PENALTY
Joe Biden has promised to end private prisons, cash bail, minimum mandatory sentences, the death penalty, and reduce the prison population by more than half.
NOVEMBER 9, 2020United NationsDEATH PENALTYUSA - United Nations. U.S. Death Penalty Criticized by U.N. Human Rights Council.
USA - United Nations. U.S. Death Penalty Criticized by U.N. Human Rights Council.
NOVEMBER 9, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - What Biden’s Win Means for Criminal Justice and the Death Penalty
USA - What Biden’s Win Means for Criminal Justice and the Death Penalty
- OCTOBER 21, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: THE 2020–2021 U.S. SUPREME COURT TERM OPENED, DECLINING TO REVIEW MORE THAN 30 DEATH-PENALTY CASES
The 2020–2021 U.S. Supreme Court term opened on October 5 with the Court declining to review challenges to more than 30 death-penalty court decisions.