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
- JUNE 4, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International criticised the planned extradition...
Amnesty International criticised the planned extradition deal between the European Union and the United States, saying the pact contained "serious flaws" regarding human rights
- APRIL 10, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
British cabinet ministers warned that it would be illegal...
British cabinet ministers warned that it would be illegal for Tony Blair to bow to US demands for Iraqi prisoners of war captured by British forces to be handed over to the US for trial or imprisonment in the United States
- APRIL 5, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
British Home Secretary David Blunkett vowed that Britain...
British Home Secretary David Blunkett vowed that Britain would not send people to the US under a new extradition treaty if there was a possibility they could face the death penalty
- MARCH 1, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The Council of Europe urges nations across the globe...
The Council of Europe urges nations across the globe to abolish the death penalty as the organization celebrates Death Penalty Abolition Day
- MARCH 1, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The Council of Europe urges nations across the globe...
The Council of Europe urges nations across the globe to abolish the death penalty as the organization celebrates Death Penalty Abolition Day
- FEBRUARY 18, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The American Bar Association proposed new standards...
The American Bar Association proposed new standards for defence lawyers in death penalty cases, after criticism by Supreme Court justices and legal scholars about the poor representation afforded many accused of being killers
- FEBRUARY 7, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
US Attorney General John Ashcroft has directed federal...
US Attorney General John Ashcroft has directed federal prosecutors in New York and Connecticut to seek the death penalty in a dozen cases in which they had recommended lesser sentences
- FEBRUARY 6, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Texas said it would ignore a World Court order demanding...
Texas said it would ignore a World Court order demanding it stay the executions of 2 Mexicans, Cesar Robert Fierro Reyna and Roberto Moreno Ramos
- FEBRUARY 5, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
State lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that...
State lawmakers gave final approval to a bill that would restore Idaho's death penalty, which was overturned last year by a US Supreme Court ruling
- FEBRUARY 5, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The International Court of Justice ruled that three...
The International Court of Justice ruled that three of the Mexican nationals on death row in the United States should be granted a temporary stay of execution
- JANUARY 30, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
In a resolution the European Parliament called for...
In a resolution the European Parliament called for the United States, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Congo and others to introduce a moratorium on executions "with a view to completely abolishing the death penalty
- JANUARY 30, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
In a resolution the European Parliament called for...
In a resolution the European Parliament called for the United States, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Congo and others to introduce a moratorium on executions "with a view to completely abolishing the death penalty
- JANUARY 29, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Iraq denied a leading US defense official's charge...
Iraq denied a leading US defense official's charge that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered the execution of any scientists seen cooperating with UN arms inspectors
- JANUARY 27, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The United States raised concern regarding the execution...
The United States raised concern regarding the execution of Lobsang Dhondup, a Tibetan activist convicted following a string of bomb blasts in southwestern China
- JANUARY 27, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The US Supreme Court refused to get involved in the...
The US Supreme Court refused to get involved in the controversy over death sentences for juveniles
- JANUARY 21, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Saying it had exhausted other alternatives, Mexico...
Saying it had exhausted other alternatives, Mexico appealed to the World Court to stop the execution of 51 of its citizens in the United States
- JANUARY 11, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
In the largest purge of death row in US history, Illinois...
In the largest purge of death row in US history, Illinois Gov
- JANUARY 7, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
According National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty,...
According National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, 224 death sentences have been imposed on juveniles since 1976 but only 21 have been carried out
- JANUARY 1, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Following the events of 11 September, ''anti-terrorist''...
Following the events of 11 September, ''anti-terrorist'' proposals which would include expansion of the death penalty were made by legislators in several US states, including Alabama, Illinois, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio and North Carolina
- JANUARY 1, 2003United StatesDEATH PENALTY
In the USA there are 38 retentionist states (of which...
In the USA there are 38 retentionist states (of which at least 35 have very active death penalty dockets), 11 circuits with many federal district courts in each circuit all handling death penalty cases, all making law, some in conflict with others
- NOVEMBER 19, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Thousands of people gathered in south-western Pakistan...
Thousands of people gathered in south-western Pakistan for the funeral of a Pakistani executed in the United States for killing two CIA employees, and hailed Mir Amil Kansi as an Islamic hero
- NOVEMBER 18, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The US Supreme Court broadened its review of the death...
The US Supreme Court broadened its review of the death penalty, agreeing to consider when death row inmates with bad lawyers deserve a second chance
- NOVEMBER 15, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Softly chanting "There is no God but Allah" until he...
Softly chanting "There is no God but Allah" until he lost consciousness, a Pakistani man was put to death by injection on November 14 for the slayings of two CIA employees in 1993
- NOVEMBER 14, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Pakistani protesters burned the US flag and called...
Pakistani protesters burned the US flag and called for a strike in the home town of a Muslim militant due to be executed later in the day in the United States
- NOVEMBER 11, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Miss United States Rebekah Rebels said: "I decided...
Miss United States Rebekah Rebels said: "I decided that the best thing for us to do was to take a stance, a positive stance and come over to Africa and support her (Amina Lawal), instead of staying at home
- NOVEMBER 7, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
In blocking the execution of a Texas killer, the Supreme...
In blocking the execution of a Texas killer, the Supreme Court revealed interest in a new area of capital punishment: the mentally ill
- OCTOBER 21, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court, which recently abolished executions...
The Supreme Court, which recently abolished executions for the mentally retarded, was bitterly divided in refusing to consider also ending the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes
- OCTOBER 1, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The United States is to move to bar entry to Chinese...
The United States is to move to bar entry to Chinese nationals linked to the controversial global trade in organ harvesting
- SEPTEMBER 25, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The United States executes two thirds of all child...
The United States executes two thirds of all child offenders killed by the death penalty around the world, according to a report by Amnesty International
- SEPTEMBER 16, 2002United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Germany said that differences with the US over the...
Germany said that differences with the US over the death penalty would probably prevent it providing evidence to Washington in the case of Ramzi Binalshibh, the al-Qaeda suspect arrested on September 11 in Pakistan