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
- 1,550
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 1,550 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
JANUARY 11, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTYUNITED STATES. SUPREME COURT TAKES UP FIRST DEATH ROW DNA CASE
the US Supreme Court for the first time heard an appeal by a death row inmate using new DNA evidence to proclaim his innocence and demand a retrial. The court's verdict, expected by mid 2006, will do more than seal the fate of convicted murderer Paul Hous
JANUARY 10, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTYUNITED STATES. FBI CHECKING PRINTS IN DEATH ROW CASES
the FBI is reviewing the cases of all state and federal prisoners scheduled for execution to determine whether bureau fingerprint examiners made errors that led to death sentences.
- JANUARY 1, 2006United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Of the 50 states that make up the United States of America, 38 have the death penalty.
Of the 50 states that make up the United States of America, 38 have the death penalty.
DECEMBER 20, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTYUNITED STATES. FEDERAL DEATH SENTENCE FOR WOMAN, FIRST IN OVER 50 YEARS
Angela Johnson was sentenced to death by a federal court after being found guilty of involvement in the murder of five people in the state of Iowa in 1993. She says she is innocent.
- DECEMBER 19, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
murder increased by 2.1% across the USA during the first 6 months...
murder increased by 2.1% across the USA during the first 6 months of 2005 and was on track to nearly reverse a 2.4% decline recorded last year, according to preliminary FBI figures released today.
- NOVEMBER 30, 2005ItalyDEATH PENALTY
1,000TH EXECUTION IN THE U.S. AND CITIES AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY, D’ELIA: LETS NOT FORGET THE SLAUGHTER IN CHINA AND THOSE CONDEMNED TO DEATH IN IRAN, VIETNAM AND NORTH KOREA
Hands Off Cain adhered to the demonstration in Rome on November 30 in front of the United States embassy to mark the 1,000th US execution since the Supreme Court reintroduced the death penalty in 1976.
- NOVEMBER 29, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
VIRGINIA. GOVERNOR STOPS MILESTONE U.S. EXECUTION
Gov. Mark Warner spared the life of a convicted killer who would have been the 1,000th person executed in the United States since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. The governor commuted Robin Lovitt's death sentence to life
- NOVEMBER 15, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
a statement approved during this week's meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops...
a statement approved during this week's meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops...
- NOVEMBER 15, 2005North KoreaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. US PANEL RELEASES CHILLING REPORT OF NORTH KOREAN RELIGIOUS PERSECUTIONS
the United States government released chilling interviews with North Korean refugees who witnessed bloody executions of religious believers, to highlight suppression of religious freedom in the hardline communist state.
NOVEMBER 13, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTYUNITED STATES. US REPORTS DECLINE IN EXECUTIONS
the number of people sentenced to death in the United States and the number executed fell again in 2004, according to the latest government figures.
NOVEMBER 9, 2005Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTYUSA. NO DEATH PENALTY IN NEW GUANTANAMO CASES
the Pentagon said the United States would not seek the death penalty against any of the five Guantanamo Bay prisoners it had announced charges against on November 7.
NOVEMBER 8, 2005CanadaDEATH PENALTYUSA. CANADA WANTS ASSURANCES THAT GUANTANAMO TEENAGER WON'T BE EXECUTED
Canadian diplomats sought a promise from the Pentagon that it would not seek to execute a teenager being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
NOVEMBER 3, 2005Puerto RicoDEATH PENALTYPUERTO RICO. COURT BARS EXTRADITION OF MAN FACING DEATH PENALTY TO PENNSYLVANIA
an Appeal Court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico recently held that it would be unconstitutional to extradite Juan Melendez Cruz to Pennsylvania if he faces a possible death sentence, Death Penalty Information Centre reported.
- OCTOBER 25, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
several provisions contained within the U.S. House of Representatives version of legislation...
several provisions contained within the U.S. House of Representatives version of legislation...
- OCTOBER 24, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Of the 50 states that make up the United States of America, 38 have the death penalty.
Of the 50 states that make up the United States of America, 38 have the death penalty.
- OCTOBER 21, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
even as the use of the death penalty continued to decline in the United States, the number of murders and the national murder rate dropped in 2004.
even as the use of the death penalty continued to decline in the United States, the number of murders and the national murder rate dropped in 2004.
- OCTOBER 19, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. US DEATH PENALTY 'WOEFULLY SHORT OF JUSTICE', DEATH PENALTY INFORMATION CENTER
jurors in US death penalty cases are often excluded because of race and gender, are not shown critical evidence and tend to be conviction prone, the Death Penalty Information Center said in a report.
- OCTOBER 18, 2005IraqDEATH PENALTY
IRAQ. AMERICANS SAY HUSSEIN SHOULD FACE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
many adults in the United States thought Saddam Hussein should face the death penalty, according to a poll by Opinion Dynamics released by Fox News. 56 per cent of respondents believed the deposed Iraqi leader should be executed if convicted, while 35 per
- OCTOBER 17, 2005BulgariaDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. BUSH URGES LIBYA TO FREE CONDEMNED BULGARIAN NURSES
President George W. Bush urged Libya to free five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death on charges of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with the HIV virus.
OCTOBER 11, 2005CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUNITED STATES. SUPREME COURT DENIES APPEAL BY STANLEY ‘TOOKIE’ WILLIAMS
the US Supreme Court declined to review the case of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a California death-row inmate whose attorneys argued that the prosecutor had engaged in racial discrimination in selecting the jury for his trial.
OCTOBER 4, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA. 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 31, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
UNITED STATES. MAN CAN BE EXTRADITED TO FACE THAI DEATH PENALTY
a US federal appeals court declined to block the extradition to Thailand of Suwit Prasoprat, an American who faced the death penalty there for drug smuggling.
- 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 13, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
newly published research examining 340 exonerations in the United States between...
newly published research examining 340 exonerations in the United States between 1989 and 2003 found that a significant number of those who were wrongly convicted had been sentenced to death.
- 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 27, 2005IranDEATH PENALTY
US CONDEMNS IRANIAN EXECUTIONS, SAYS DUE PROCESS DENIED
The US State Department responded critically to 10 recent executions in Iran, saying the rights of defendants weren't safeguarded.
- JULY 20, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTY
GUANTANAMO BAY. US ADVISER RULES OUT DEATH PENALTY
Air Force Brigadier-General Thomas Hemingway, the US military legal adviser overseeing the possible trials of up to 12 terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, including Australian David Hicks, says no evidence from any of the cases warrant him seeking the deat
JULY 14, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTYVERMONT, 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, 2005PennsylvaniaDEATH PENALTYUNITED 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.