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
DECEMBER 17, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTYDPIC 2018 YEAR END REPORT: DEATH PENALTY USAGE STAYS NEAR GENERATIONAL LOWS
The long-term decline of death-penalty use in the U.S. continued in 2018, as a twentieth state abolished capital punishment and executions and new death sentences remained near generational lows.
- DECEMBER 14, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - DPIC 2018 Year End Report: Death Penalty Usage Stays Near Generational Lows.
USA - DPIC 2018 Year End Report: Death Penalty Usage Stays Near Generational Lows.
- DECEMBER 7, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Virginia. Father of Murdered Charlottesville Protester Opposes Death Penalty.
USA - Virginia. Father of Murdered Charlottesville Protester Opposes Death Penalty.
- NOVEMBER 28, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Texas. Investigation Reveals Texas Obtained Possibly Tainted Execution Drugs from Pharmacy With Tainted Safety Record.
USA - Texas. Investigation Reveals Texas Obtained Possibly Tainted Execution Drugs from Pharmacy With Tainted Safety Record.
- NOVEMBER 20, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - DPIC New Report, “Behind the Curtain: Secrecy and the Death Penalty in the United States”.
USA - DPIC New Report, “Behind the Curtain: Secrecy and the Death Penalty in the United States”.
- NOVEMBER 13, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Florida. U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Seven Florida Cases
USA - Florida. U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Seven Florida Cases
- NOVEMBER 11, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Exonerations and Wrongful Convictions Harm Murder Victims’ Families, Too.
USA - Exonerations and Wrongful Convictions Harm Murder Victims’ Families, Too.
- NOVEMBER 6, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Louisiana. Voters approved constitutional amendment to end non-unanimous jury verdicts
USA - Louisiana. Voters approved constitutional amendment to end non-unanimous jury verdicts
- NOVEMBER 2, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Rabbis oppose death penalty for Robert Bowers
USA - Rabbis oppose death penalty for Robert Bowers
- OCTOBER 30, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Federal. Federal prosecutor will pursue capital punishment for Robert Bowers, the “synagogue shooter”
USA - Federal. Federal prosecutor will pursue capital punishment for Robert Bowers, the “synagogue shooter”
- OCTOBER 30, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Private prisons in the United States incarcerated 128,063 people in 2016
USA - Private prisons in the United States incarcerated 128,063 people in 2016
- OCTOBER 26, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: RACIAL DISPARITIES IN DEATH PENALTY BEGIN WITH INVESTIGATIONS AND ARRESTS
A study of more than three decades of homicide arrests suggests that racial disparities in arrests and policing practices introduce an additional layer of bias in the application of the death penalty in the United States.
- OCTOBER 25, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Study: Racial Disparities in Death Penalty Begin with Investigations and Arrests.
USA - Study: Racial Disparities in Death Penalty Begin with Investigations and Arrests.
- OCTOBER 23, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Palestinian Authority. U.S Citizen Faces Death Penalty for Selling Jerusalem Land to Jews.
USA - Palestinian Authority. U.S Citizen Faces Death Penalty for Selling Jerusalem Land to Jews.
- OCTOBER 22, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Gallup Poll measured overall support for capital punishment at 56%
USA - Gallup Poll measured overall support for capital punishment at 56%
OCTOBER 22, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: WAITING FOR THE EXECUTIONER, APPLIES FOR ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP
An Italian-American for over 40 years on the death row in Florida asks for Italian citizenship, ANSA reported on 19 October 2018.
- OCTOBER 18, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - The US is expanding its drone operations to Libya and Niger.
USA - The US is expanding its drone operations to Libya and Niger.
- OCTOBER 18, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Conservatives: The Death Penalty Makes America Less Safe.
USA - Conservatives: The Death Penalty Makes America Less Safe.
OCTOBER 12, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: WASHINGTON STATE ABOLISHES DEATH PENALTY
Washington has become the 20th US state to ban the death penalty, after its Supreme Court ruled on 11 October 2018 the punishment was applied in an "arbitrary and racially biased manner".
- OCTOBER 8, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - President Trump demands death penalty for cop killers.
USA - President Trump demands death penalty for cop killers.
- OCTOBER 2, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Clearance rates from "Crime in the United States, 2017"
USA - Clearance rates from "Crime in the United States, 2017"
- SEPTEMBER 29, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - More data available from "Crime in the United States, 2017" (CIUS).
USA - More data available from "Crime in the United States, 2017" (CIUS).
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Federal (Vermont). Judge Approves Plea Deal in Case (Donald Fell) That Challenged the Constitutionality of the Federal Death Penalty.
USA - Federal (Vermont). Judge Approves Plea Deal in Case (Donald Fell) That Challenged the Constitutionality of the Federal Death Penalty.
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - FBI Crime Report Shows Murder Rates Stable in 2017.
USA - FBI Crime Report Shows Murder Rates Stable in 2017.
SEPTEMBER 26, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: FBI CRIME REPORT SHOWS MURDER RATES STABLE IN 2017
The FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2017, released by the U.S. Department of Justice, reports that murder rates stabilized across the United States in 2017, decreasing marginally compared to adjusted homicide figures from 2016 but remaining above the record
- SEPTEMBER 20, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Death Row USA. Spring 2018: 2,743 on death row
USA - Death Row USA. Spring 2018: 2,743 on death row
- SEPTEMBER 11, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - End of prison strike
USA - End of prison strike
- SEPTEMBER 4, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Malaysia. An American man, Gerald Wayne Mickelson, sentenced to hang for killing ex-wife
USA - Malaysia. An American man, Gerald Wayne Mickelson, sentenced to hang for killing ex-wife
- AUGUST 27, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Army Col. James L. Pohl on Monday announced he will retire on Sept. 30
USA - Army Col. James L. Pohl on Monday announced he will retire on Sept. 30
- AUGUST 17, 2018United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Guantánamo judge Colonel James L. Pohl barred prosecutors from using statements five accused 9/11 plotters made to the FBI
USA - Guantánamo judge Colonel James L. Pohl barred prosecutors from using statements five accused 9/11 plotters made to the FBI