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
- 1,543
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 1,543 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
- 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
- JANUARY 1, 2020United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Pfizer Blocks the Use of Its Drugs in Executions.
USA - Pfizer Blocks the Use of Its Drugs in Executions.
- DECEMBER 20, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Death Row USA Summer 2018
USA - Death Row USA Summer 2018
- DECEMBER 17, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - DPIC 2019 Year End Report
USA - DPIC 2019 Year End Report
- DECEMBER 15, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - The Death Penalty in 2019: A Year of Incredible Progress, Marred by Unconscionable Executions.
USA - The Death Penalty in 2019: A Year of Incredible Progress, Marred by Unconscionable Executions.
- DECEMBER 11, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Indiana. Indiana Marks 10 Years Without an Execution.
USA - Indiana. Indiana Marks 10 Years Without an Execution.
DECEMBER 10, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: SUPREME COURT RULING HALTS SCHEDULED FEDERAL EXECUTIONS
The United States Supreme Court on December 6, 2019 denied an application by the U.S. Department of Justice to lift a federal court injunction blocking the federal government from carrying out four executions scheduled for December 2019 and January 2020.
DECEMBER 9, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Kentucky. Governor Matt Bevin Commutes the Sentences of Two Death-Row Prisoners.
USA - Kentucky. Governor Matt Bevin Commutes the Sentences of Two Death-Row Prisoners.
- DECEMBER 6, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - The United States Supreme Court says there is no hurry to resume federal executions
USA - The United States Supreme Court says there is no hurry to resume federal executions
DECEMBER 4, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: FEDERAL APPEALS COURT REFUSES TO LIFT INJUNCTION AGAINST FEDERAL EXECUTIONS
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on 2nd December 2019 denied the Department of Justice’s motion to lift the preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court judge on 21 November barring the United States government f
- DECEMBER 2, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Federal appeals court confirms suspension of federal executions
USA - Federal appeals court confirms suspension of federal executions
- NOVEMBER 26, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: GALLUP POLL — FOR FIRST TIME, MAJORITY OF AMERICANS PREFER LIFE SENTENCE TO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
For the first time since Gallup began asking the question in 1985, a majority of Americans now say life imprisonment is a better approach for punishing murder than is the death penalty.
- NOVEMBER 25, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Gallup Poll. For First Time, Majority of Americans Prefer Life Sentence To Capital Punishment.
USA - Gallup Poll. For First Time, Majority of Americans Prefer Life Sentence To Capital Punishment.
NOVEMBER 25, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: WASHINGTON DISTRICT COURT ENJOINS U.S. GOVERNMENT FROM CARRYING OUT FEDERAL EXECUTIONS
A federal judge in Washington has issued a preliminary injunction barring the United States government from carrying out four executions scheduled for December 2019 and January 2020.
NOVEMBER 22, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Summer 2019 “Death Row USA” Shows Smallest U.S. Death-Row Population in 27 Years.
USA - Summer 2019 “Death Row USA” Shows Smallest U.S. Death-Row Population in 27 Years.
- NOVEMBER 22, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: FORMER STATE AND FEDERAL JUDGES, PROSECUTORS, AND LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS AND FAMILIES OF MURDER VICTIMS URGE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO CALL OFF EXECUTIONS
Hundreds of former state and federal judges, prosecutors, law enforcement and corrections officials, and family members of homicide victims have signed on to a series of letters urging the federal government to halt the five federal executions scheduled f
NOVEMBER 21, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Washington District Court Enjoins U.S. Government From Carrying Out Federal Executions.
USA - Washington District Court Enjoins U.S. Government From Carrying Out Federal Executions.
- NOVEMBER 12, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Former Judges, Prosecutors, Law Enforcement Officials and Families of Victims Urge Federal Government to Call Off Executions.
USA - Former Judges, Prosecutors, Law Enforcement Officials and Families of Victims Urge Federal Government to Call Off Executions.
- OCTOBER 28, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - More Than 250 Conservative Leaders Join Call to End Death Penalty.
USA - More Than 250 Conservative Leaders Join Call to End Death Penalty.
- OCTOBER 2, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Texas. The Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a judge's finding that Paul Storey should be resentenced to life in prison
USA - Texas. The Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a judge's finding that Paul Storey should be resentenced to life in prison
SEPTEMBER 24, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: FORMER GUANTÁNAMO OFFICIALS BLAST WASTE AND MISMANAGEMENT AS COSTS TO TAXPAYERS TOP $6 BILLION
As U.S. taxpayers pick up a tab of more than $6 billion and climbing, former top officials involved in the military commission death-penalty cases against Guantánamo Bay detainees have blasted the military tribunals for waste, mismanagement, and ineffecti
- SEPTEMBER 23, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Guantánamo Costed To Taxpayers More than $6 Billion.
USA - Guantánamo Costed To Taxpayers More than $6 Billion.
- SEPTEMBER 2, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: TRIAL FOR MEN CHARGED WITH PLOTTING SEPT. 11 ATTACKS IS SET FOR 2021
A military judge on Friday set Jan. 11, 2021, as the start of the joint death-penalty trial at Guantánamo Bay of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four men charged as plotters of the attacks that killed 2,976 people in New York, Washington and a Pennsylvania fie
- AUGUST 30, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Trial for Men Charged With Plotting Sept. 11 Attacks Is Set for 2021.
USA - Trial for Men Charged With Plotting Sept. 11 Attacks Is Set for 2021.
- AUGUST 16, 2019United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Jewish Congregations Ask Not to Seek Death Penalty in Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting.
USA - Jewish Congregations Ask Not to Seek Death Penalty in Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting.