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
- 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 PENALTYUNITED 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.
- 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, 2005MexicoDEATH PENALTYUSA. SUPREME COURT DISMISSES WORLD COURT DEATH ROW TEST CASE
the US Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by Jose Medellin, a Mexican man facing execution in Texas, in a closely watched test-case on whether World Court rulings on capital cases apply to US courts.
MAY 23, 2005United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA. 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.
- MAY 17, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. AIMB DEMANDS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR US SOLDIERS WHO INSULTED KORAN
the All India Minority Board (AIMB) asked the US President George W Bush to award capital punishment to those soldiers who had insulted the holy Koran and seek public apology for their ''shameful acts''.
- MAY 17, 2005United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
a UK judge ruled that British national Babar Ahmad could be extradited to the US
a UK judge ruled that British national Babar Ahmad could be extradited to the US to face charges of soliciting support for terrorism and trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Arizona.
APRIL 29, 2005United States Armed ForcesDEATH PENALTYUNITED 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 PENALTYUNITED 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 24, 2005FranceDEATH PENALTY
FRANCE. FAMILY HOPE MOUSSAOUI CAN AVOID DEATH PENALTY
Francois Roux, a French lawyer advising the family of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States over the September 11 attacks, said his family still hoped he would avoid the death penalty. Roux said that although Moussaoui had plead
- APRIL 22, 2005FranceDEATH PENALTY
VIRGINIA, USA. 9/11 SUSPECT FACES DEATH PENALTY AFTER PLEADING GUILTY
Zacarias Moussaoui, the man who investigators believed could have unraveled the al-Qaida plot before the September 11 2001 attacks, pleaded guilty to terrorism and other charges carrying the death penalty.
- 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 18, 2005United KingdomDEATH PENALTY
US. NO DEATH PENALTY FOR UK TERROR SUSPECT
the United States Government provided a written assurance that a British terror suspect Babar Ahmad would not face the death penalty if he was extradited to face trial there.
- 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.