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
MAY 25, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI SAYS HE IS RENOUNCING TERRORISM, AL-QAIDA AND THE ISLAMIC STATE
Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man ever convicted in a U.S. court for a role in the Sept. 11 attacks, now says he is renouncing terrorism, al-Qaida and the Islamic State.
MAY 23, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Hannah Cox, of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty: “Death Penalty is Now a GOP Fringe Position”
USA - Hannah Cox, of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty: “Death Penalty is Now a GOP Fringe Position”
- MAY 20, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Zacarias Moussaoui says he is renouncing terrorism
USA - Zacarias Moussaoui says he is renouncing terrorism
MAY 15, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Oregon. Department of Corrections is closing death row
USA - Oregon. Department of Corrections is closing death row
MAY 8, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYIRAN - The body of Ali Ajami, Iranian human rights activist, found in Texas on May 6, 2020.
IRAN - The body of Ali Ajami, Iranian human rights activist, found in Texas on May 6, 2020.
APRIL 27, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: DOCTORS ASK DEATH PENALTY STATES TO GIVE UP EXECUTION DRUGS FOR COVID-19 PATIENTS
There’s a national shortage of the drugs used to treat COVID-19 patients in ICU beds, and a group of doctors penned a letter asking Oklahoma to share its supply with local hospitals. The drugs were originally designed for medical use.
- APRIL 21, 2020LouisianaDEATH PENALTY
USA - U.S. Supreme Court: Unanimous jury verdict required to convict.
USA - U.S. Supreme Court: Unanimous jury verdict required to convict.
APRIL 21, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Ohio. 4,000 coronavirus cases in the Ohio prison system
USA - Ohio. 4,000 coronavirus cases in the Ohio prison system
- APRIL 21, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Doctors Ask Death Penalty States to Give up Execution Drugs for COVID-19 Patients.
USA - Doctors Ask Death Penalty States to Give up Execution Drugs for COVID-19 Patients.
APRIL 20, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Michigan. William Garrison died of COVID-19 a few days before his release after serving 44 years.
USA - Michigan. William Garrison died of COVID-19 a few days before his release after serving 44 years.
APRIL 15, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Two tv series about death penalty.
USA - Two tv series about death penalty.
APRIL 12, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Military. David Bruck Is Selected for Guantánamo’s 9/11 Trial
USA - Military. David Bruck Is Selected for Guantánamo’s 9/11 Trial
- APRIL 11, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Virginia. New law reduces secrecy in executions.
SB 270 signed by governor Ralph Northam.
- APRIL 8, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Prisoners and COVID-19
USA - Prisoners and COVID-19
- APRIL 7, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Federal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overtured an injunction against the Trump administration’s plan to restart federal executions
USA - Federal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overtured an injunction against the Trump administration’s plan to restart federal executions
APRIL 3, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - 2019 Exoneration Report
USA - 2019 Exoneration Report
- MARCH 27, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Coronavirus Pandemic Halts Executions, Perhaps for the Foreseeable Future.
USA - Coronavirus Pandemic Halts Executions, Perhaps for the Foreseeable Future.
- MARCH 25, 2020United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
UK - USA. United Kingdom Supreme Court Rules Britain Cannot Provide Evidence to U.S. for Use in Death-Penalty Cases.
UK - USA. United Kingdom Supreme Court Rules Britain Cannot Provide Evidence to U.S. for Use in Death-Penalty Cases.
MARCH 25, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Retirement of Guantánamo Military Judge Likely to Further Delay Sept. 11 Death-Penalty Trial.
USA - Retirement of Guantánamo Military Judge Likely to Further Delay Sept. 11 Death-Penalty Trial.
- MARCH 24, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: COLORADO ABOLISHES DEATH PENALTY
Colorado became the 22nd U.S. state to abolish the death penalty, and the tenth to do so in the past decade-and-a-half, as Governor Jared Polis signed legislation repealing the state’s capital punishment statute.
MARCH 18, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - The Sentencing Project publishes its "ANNUAL REPORT 2019"
USA - The Sentencing Project publishes its "ANNUAL REPORT 2019"
- MARCH 18, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: UPDATES ON GUANTÁNAMO BAY
Inside the Most Secret Place at Guantánamo Bay----At Camp 7, the military holds prisoners who were previously held and interrogated by the C.I.A. But in recent years, conditions have eased up a bit.
- MARCH 15, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Military. Updates on Guantánamo Bay
USA - Military. Updates on Guantánamo Bay
- MARCH 12, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - The Winter 2020 edition of Death Row USA (DRUSA), updated to January 1, 2020
USA - The Winter 2020 edition of Death Row USA (DRUSA), updated to January 1, 2020
- FEBRUARY 25, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Military. Army Judge Proposes 2022 Trial in Guantánamo’s Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri Case
USA - Military. Army Judge Proposes 2022 Trial in Guantánamo’s Abd al-Rahim al-Nashirig Case
- FEBRUARY 21, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Justice Sotomayor writes a devastating rebuke of conservative colleagues’ callousness and fealty to Trump.
USA - Justice Sotomayor writes a devastating rebuke of conservative colleagues’ callousness and fealty to Trump.
- JANUARY 28, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Death Row USA Fall 2019: Death row prisoners continue to decline
USA - Death Row USA Fall 2019: Death row prisoners continue to decline
JANUARY 24, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Nevada. Paul Browning becomes the 168th person exonerated from death row.
USA - Nevada. Paul Browning becomes the 168th person exonerated from death row.
JANUARY 3, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Death Sentences Decline by More than Half in Decade of the 2010s.
USA - Death Sentences Decline by More than Half in Decade of the 2010s.
- JANUARY 1, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
To date, the death penalty no longer exists in 18 of the 50 U.S. States
To date, the death penalty no longer exists in 18 of the 50 U.S. States