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
- AUGUST 10, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - More Than 100 Rabbis Issue Statement Calling for End of Capital Punishment.
USA - More Than 100 Rabbis Issue Statement Calling for End of Capital Punishment.
- AUGUST 8, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Oklahoma. Court of Appeals Invalidates Conviction of Native American for Murder on Tribal Lands.
USA - Oklahoma. Court of Appeals Invalidates Conviction of Native American for Murder on Tribal Lands.
- JULY 26, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - New studies on american prisons
USA - New studies on american prisons
- JULY 1, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Police nationwide killed 492 people in the first six months of this year
USA - Police nationwide killed 492 people in the first six months of this year
- JULY 1, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - The Penalty, a new documentary film about the death penalty in the U.S. had its world premiere at London's East End Film Festival.
USA - The Penalty, a new documentary film about the death penalty in the U.S. had its world premiere at London's East End Film Festival.
JULY 1, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: NUMBER OF FATAL SHOOTINGS BY POLICE IS NEARLY IDENTICAL TO LAST YEAR
Police nationwide shot and killed 492 people in the first six months of this year, a number nearly identical to the count for the same period in each of the prior two years.
- JUNE 26, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Federal government will not appeal vacated death sentence of Ronell Wilson.
USA - Federal government will not appeal vacated death sentence of Ronell Wilson.
- JUNE 12, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - An examination of data from the more than 30 death-row exonerations
USA - An examination of data from the more than 30 death-row exonerations
- MAY 10, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - New Statistical Brief from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Documents U.S. Death Penalty Decline.
USA - New Statistical Brief from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Documents U.S. Death Penalty Decline.
- MAY 6, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - America’s Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences
USA - America’s Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences
MAY 6, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: THE STEADY DECLINE OF AMERICA’S DEATH ROWS
The Washington Post reported the highlights of a study by the Sentencing Project: “Still Life: America’s Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences”.
- MAY 5, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - "Death Row USA Winter 2017" updated to January 1, 2017.
USA - "Death Row USA Winter 2017" updated to January 1, 2017.
- APRIL 27, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - The House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to expand the federal death penalty.
USA - The House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to expand the federal death penalty.
- APRIL 14, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Arkansas. Pharma firms try to stop use of their products in Arkansas executions.
USA - Arkansas. Pharma firms try to stop use of their products in Arkansas executions.
- APRIL 10, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - South Carolina. Dylann Roof was given nine consecutive life sentences
USA - South Carolina. Dylann Roof was given nine consecutive life sentences
- APRIL 3, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - 21st-century executions disproportionately involve prisoners diagnosed with mental illness
USA - 21st-century executions disproportionately involve prisoners diagnosed with mental illness
APRIL 3, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: EXECUTIONS DISPROPORTIONATELY INVOLVE PRISONERS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS
A new study of the case records of the men and women executed in the United States between 2000 and 2015 has found that 21st-century executions disproportionately involve prisoners diagnosed with mental illness and who have experienced traumatic child abu
- MARCH 28, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Texas. U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Texas' Standard for Determining Intellectual Disability in Capital Cases.
USA - Texas. U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Texas' Standard for Determining Intellectual Disability in Capital Cases.
- MARCH 18, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Guantanamo Judge Setting USS Cole Bombing Trial for 2018.
USA - Guantanamo Judge Setting USS Cole Bombing Trial for 2018.
MARCH 18, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA: GUANTANAMO JUDGE SETTING USS COLE BOMBING TRIAL FOR 2018
Air Force Col. Vance Spath, the judge in the USS Cole bombing case, said he would set a 2018 trial date for the death-penalty case.
- MARCH 13, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Inventor of Midazolam Opposes Its Use in Executions.
USA - Inventor of Midazolam Opposes Its Use in Executions.
- MARCH 7, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Reports Find Record Number of Exonerations in 2016
USA - Reports Find Record Number of Exonerations in 2016
- MARCH 7, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: REPORTS FIND RECORD NUMBER OF EXONERATIONS IN 2016, BLACKS MORE LIKELY TO BE WRONGFULLY CONVICTED
Reports released by the National Registry of Exonerations found record numbers of exonerations and wrongful convictions involving official misconduct in 2016, and striking evidence of racial bias both in the wrongful convictions themselves and in the time
- FEBRUARY 27, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Supreme Court snubs challenge to death penalty constitutionality.
USA - Supreme Court snubs challenge to death penalty constitutionality.
- FEBRUARY 27, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA: SUPREME COURT SNUBS CHALLENGE TO DEATH PENALTY CONSTITUTIONALITY
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a direct challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty as
FEBRUARY 22, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTYUS SUPREME COURT GRANTS TEXAS DEATH ROW INMATE DUANE BUCK NEW HEARING
Saying that the "law punishes people for what they do, not who they are," the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-2 to order a new sentencing for Duane Buck, a Texas death-row prisoner.
- FEBRUARY 21, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - ANA Releases New Position Statement Opposing Capital Punishment.
USA - ANA Releases New Position Statement Opposing Capital Punishment.
- FEBRUARY 3, 2017MassachusettsDEATH PENALTY
USA - US District Judge Leo T. Sorokin Formally Sentenced Gary Lee Sampson to Death.
USA - US District Judge Leo T. Sorokin Formally Sentenced Gary Lee Sampson to Death.
- FEBRUARY 1, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - Trump's Supreme Court Pick. Judge Neil Gorsuch, has sided with the government in several recent and important execution cases
USA - Trump's Supreme Court Pick. Judge Neil Gorsuch, has sided with the government in several recent and important execution cases
- JANUARY 17, 2017United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA - 18 Arrested at Anti-Death Penalty Protest.
USA - 18 Arrested at Anti-Death Penalty Protest.