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
- 1,047
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 1,047 news items on United States, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- OCTOBER 4, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS DEATH PENALTY IS BEYOND REPAIR
in a dissenting opinion filed in the capital case of Moore v. Parker, Judge Boyce Martin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit wrote that "the death penalty in this country is arbitrary, biased, and so fundamentally flawed at its very core th
- AUGUST 19, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
proponents of the so-called Streamlined Procedures Act justify this radical piece of...
proponents of the so-called Streamlined Procedures Act justify this radical piece of legislation by citing the supposedly intrusive scrutiny of federal courts of state capital convictions and the delays that ensue.
- AUGUST 7, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
speaking at the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Awards Dinner in Illinois...
speaking at the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Awards Dinner in Illinois...
- JULY 14, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
VERMONT, USA. JURY RECOMMENDS DEATH FOR MAN IN FIRST DEATH PENALTY CASE FOR 50 YEARS
Donald Fell, a man convicted of kidnapping a supermarket worker and fatally beating her as she prayed for her life, was sentenced to death by a federal jury in Vermont's first capital punishment case in almost a half century.
- JULY 12, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
VIRGINIA, USA. HIGH COURT STAYS LOVITT EXECUTION
the US Supreme Court granted a last-minute stay of execution to Robin Lovitt, a man convicted of murder in Virginia, because much of the evidence was accidentally destroyed.
- JUNE 20, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. SUPREME COURT TOSSES DEATH SENTENCE
the US Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Ronald Rompilla, a Pennsylvania man on death row for a 1988 murder, ruling that his lawyers had failed to properly represent him.
- JUNE 6, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. MURDERS DECLINE EVEN AS NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS DROP
preliminary data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report for 2004 found that murders in the U. S. dropped last year by 3.6%. The number of executions also declined in 2004.
- MAY 23, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. SHACKLED DEFENDANT'S RIGHTS VIOLATED, COURT RULES
the US Supreme Court ruled the US Constitution generally forbids the use of shackles for a defendant at a sentencing hearing to determine whether the death penalty will be imposed.
- APRIL 29, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. AKBAR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING COMRADES
a US military jury sentenced Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar to death for killing two officers in a grenade and rifle attack on his comrades in Kuwait two years ago
- APRIL 27, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
many Americans are in favour of capital punishment,
many Americans are in favour of capital punishment,
- APRIL 26, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. DEATH SENTENCES FALL TO RECORD LOW SINCE 1976, THE NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
the number of people sentenced to death last year in the United States fell to the lowest level since the US Supreme Court reinstated the penalty in 1976.
- APRIL 20, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
United States voted against the resolution on the death penalty at the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights.
United States voted against the resolution on the death penalty at the 61st UN Commission on Human Rights.
- APRIL 14, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. LETHAL INJECTION EXECUTION 'CRUEL', RESEARCHERS
American researchers have called for a halt to lethal injection, the most common method of execution in the United States, because it is not always a humane and painless way to die.
- MARCH 23, 2005ItalyDEATH PENALTY
TERRI SCHIAVO. THE VATICAN IS FUNDAMENTALIST ON EVERYTHING BUT THE DEATH PENALTY
the definitive ‘No’ by the Vatican on the question of euthanasia, does not correspond to its definitive ‘No’ against the death penalty,” declared Hands Off Cain Secretary Sergio D’Elia, in a dispute with the Vatican which had written in its daily, the Oss
- MARCH 21, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. CATHOLIC BISHOPS CAMPAIGN AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
US Catholic bishops launched a campaign against the death penalty and presented new data suggesting support for capital punishment among American Catholics had fallen sharply in recent years to below 50 percent. Washington Archbishop Theodore McCarrick to
- MARCH 16, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA. “I STILL SUPPORT THE DEATH PENALTY”, BUSH
in a news conference President Bush urged stated his support for the death penalty. The following is a transcript of his remarks:
- OCTOBER 27, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has urged U.S. House and Senate conferees...
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has urged U.S. House and Senate conferees...
- OCTOBER 9, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Congress passed and sent legislation to President Bush...
Congress passed and sent legislation to President Bush that would give rape victims and convicted felons greater access to DNA testing
- JULY 24, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Abu Hamza could not be sent from Britain to the US...
Abu Hamza could not be sent from Britain to the US to face terrorism charges because any guarantee given by the US government not to execute him was worthless, a court was told
- MAY 29, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
At a symposium on capital punishment in Tokyo, sponsored...
At a symposium on capital punishment in Tokyo, sponsored by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Renny Cushing, the executive director of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, also the son of a murdered man in the US, said bereaved families of
- MAY 28, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Britain wanted to push through an extradition request...
Britain wanted to push through an extradition request for Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical Muslim cleric, as quickly as possible so he could stand trial in the United States on charges of aiding terrorists, the government said
- APRIL 23, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Falun Gong members sued Chinese Commerce Minister Bo...
Falun Gong members sued Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai in US federal court for acts of genocide and torture which they said he carried out against them while a provincial governor
- APRIL 21, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The United States voted against the resolution on the...
The United States voted against the resolution on the death penalty at the 60th UN Commission on Human Rights
- APRIL 19, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The US federal government must intervene with the states...
The US federal government must intervene with the states to ensure a review of the cases of foreigners - particularly Mexicans - sitting on death row, The New York Times said in an editorial
- APRIL 9, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Assured that accused murderer Paul Eduardovich Goldman...
Assured that accused murderer Paul Eduardovich Goldman would not face the death penalty in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a French court agreed to extradite him to the United States
- MARCH 2, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Mexican President Vicente Fox will complain to President...
Mexican President Vicente Fox will complain to President Bush about the pending execution in Oklahoma of a Mexican double murderer when the pair meet this weekend, Mexican officials said
- FEBRUARY 26, 2004United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Thailand's human rights credentials declined in 2003,...
Thailand's human rights credentials declined in 2003, the United States said in a blunt criticism over the kingdom's deadly war on drugs
- DECEMBER 26, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
(continued from above) In 1988, the Supreme Court prohibited...
(continued from above) In 1988, the Supreme Court prohibited the execution of defendants who were younger than 16 at the time of their crimes
- DECEMBER 26, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The decision by a Virginia jury to spare Lee Boyd Malvo's...
The decision by a Virginia jury to spare Lee Boyd Malvo's life after finding him guilty in the 2003 Washington-area sniper rampage may hasten a movement to abolish the death penalty for juvenile killers, legal experts say
- DECEMBER 23, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A jury in Chesapeake, Va
A jury in Chesapeake, Va