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 19, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Taliban judges are expected to issue a verdict next...
Taliban judges are expected to issue a verdict next week in the trial of eight foreigners held in jail in Kabul since August on charges of spreading Christianity, their lawyer said
- OCTOBER 18, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Judge Leonard B
Judge Leonard B
- OCTOBER 18, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A majority of the jurors who convicted four men in...
A majority of the jurors who convicted four men in connection with the 1998 bombings of U
- OCTOBER 16, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Federal and state law enforcement officials fear that...
Federal and state law enforcement officials fear that a recent Mexico Supreme Court ruling may hamper prosecution of more than 100 U
- OCTOBER 8, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The United States is happy with the support and actions...
The United States is happy with the support and actions of the EU in fighting terrorism following the September 11 attacks, a senior US government official told journalists
- OCTOBER 6, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Afghanistan's Taliban said they would release eight...
Afghanistan's Taliban said they would release eight foreign aid workers held on charges of promoting Christianity if the United States backed off from attacking the country
- OCTOBER 5, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A Paris-based human rights group said that most of...
A Paris-based human rights group said that most of those on death row in the United States had not received a fair trial and called on US Supreme Court judges to declare the death penalty unconstitutional
- OCTOBER 5, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A Pakistan court asked the military government to explain...
A Pakistan court asked the military government to explain why a Palestinian jailed for the 1986 hijacking of a US plane in which 22 people were killed was extradited to the United States to face further trial after serving his sentence
- OCTOBER 2, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
US embassy diplomats in Uganda had appeared before...
US embassy diplomats in Uganda had appeared before the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee and urged parliament to pass the bill expeditiously that seeks to impose a mandatory death sentence for terrorists and any person who aids, finances or supports
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The Washington Post said that this year marked the...
The Washington Post said that this year marked the first time since the death penalty was restored in 1976 that executions had dropped significantly nationwide for two years in a row
- SEPTEMBER 4, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said called...
American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said called on the United States to follow the example of the African National Congress in South Africa, in getting the death penalty abolished
- AUGUST 17, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A July 2001 Harris Interactive survey found that: · 94%...
A July 2001 Harris Interactive survey found that: · 94% of Americans believe innocent people are sometimes convicted of murder · those surveyed believe that, on average, 12% of those convicted of murder are innocent · only 42% believe the death penalty de
- AUGUST 3, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
American Bar Association Urges Moratorium on Federal...
American Bar Association Urges Moratorium on Federal Death Penalty; Releases Death Penalty Protocols
- JULY 31, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)...
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to investigate whether the death sentence given to Rahmad Shah Afridi, the owner and chief editor of a Pakistan daily on charges of drug trafficking was politic
- JULY 23, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
During his visit in Italy, President Bush was received...
During his visit in Italy, President Bush was received by Pope John Paul II who admonished him for his support of capital punishment, saying the death penalty does not belong in "a free and virtuous society
- JULY 20, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Ira Einhorn, the ex-hippie guru at the centre of a...
Ira Einhorn, the ex-hippie guru at the centre of a controversial extradition case between France and the United States was extradited to the US to face trial for the murder of his former girlfriend
- JULY 10, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A federal jury in New York sentenced Khalfan Khamis...
A federal jury in New York sentenced Khalfan Khamis Mohamed to life without parole for the August 1998 bombing of the U
- JULY 8, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Federal Judge Michael Ponsor wrote about his experience...
Federal Judge Michael Ponsor wrote about his experience presiding over the case of Kristen Gilbert, a former nurse accused of murdering 4 patients at a veterans' hospital
- JULY 2, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor made a statement to a group...
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor made a statement to a group of women lawyers in Minnesota and said it should further energize the nation's continuing re-examination of capital punishment
- JUNE 28, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Wang Guoqi, a Chinese doctor told the House of Representatives...
Wang Guoqi, a Chinese doctor told the House of Representatives subcommittee on human rights that Chinese doctors harvested the organs to profit from foreign transplant patients
- JUNE 28, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A French court ruled that James Kopp, an American fugitive...
A French court ruled that James Kopp, an American fugitive wanted in New York for the murder of Barnett Slepian, an abortion doctor, there in 1998, can be extradited to the United States
- JUNE 27, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The Constitution Project's Death Penalty Initiative,...
The Constitution Project's Death Penalty Initiative, a bipartisan committee of death penalty supporters and opponents, released a report calling for reforms in the death penalty system
- JUNE 27, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The U
The U
- JUNE 25, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Europe's leading human rights institution threatened...
Europe's leading human rights institution threatened to revoke observer status from the United States and Japan unless they stop all executions "without delay" and move to repeal the death penalty
- JUNE 21, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
At the first World Congress Against the Death Penalty,...
At the first World Congress Against the Death Penalty, Walter Schwimmer, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, denounced the United States' use of capital punishment
- JUNE 11, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
President Bush said: "the death penalty should never...
President Bush said: "the death penalty should never be applied to any individual who is metally retarded"
- JUNE 7, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The Justice Department has released a study five days...
The Justice Department has released a study five days before the first federal execution in 37 years claiming that there is no racial bias in federal capital prosecutions
- JUNE 6, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The U
The U
- MAY 14, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
EP Glyn FORD, of the Party of European Socialists called...
EP Glyn FORD, of the Party of European Socialists called for the death sentence on Timothy McVeigh to be commuted to life imprisonment
- MAY 10, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
In line with established EU practice, the Swedish Presidency...
In line with established EU practice, the Swedish Presidency of the European Union on May 10, 2001 made a demarche to the U