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
- MAY 10, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
An article in the New York times stated that support...
An article in the New York times stated that support for capital punishment in the United State's was dropping
- MAY 10, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The human rights group Amnesty International asked...
The human rights group Amnesty International asked President Bush to commute Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's death sentence
- MAY 8, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Former Assistant Secretary of State Harold Koh, who...
Former Assistant Secretary of State Harold Koh, who led two U
- MAY 8, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The 75 year old writer Gore Vidal was one of three...
The 75 year old writer Gore Vidal was one of three people chosen by MCVeigh to be a witness to his final moments in the death chamber of Terre Haute in Indiana
- MAY 5, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
An ABC News Poll found that 51% of Americans support...
An ABC News Poll found that 51% of Americans support a nationwide moratorium on executions while a commission studies whether the death penalty is applied fairly
- MAY 4, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A nationwide poll released earlier this month by USA...
A nationwide poll released earlier this month by USA Today shows that general support for the death penalty has fallen to 59%
- APRIL 30, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Sister Helen Prejean, an activist for the abolition...
Sister Helen Prejean, an activist for the abolition of the death penalty and writer of the book which inspired the film 'Dead Man Walking', declared herself in favour of a live television broadcast of the McVeigh execution so that all would be able to see
- APRIL 29, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Vice President Dick Cheney said that Oklahoma City...
Vice President Dick Cheney said that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh deserved to be executed, dismissing a papal plea to spare the life of the man responsible for the worst act of domestic terrorism in U
- APRIL 28, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Pope John Paul II has asked President Bush to spare...
Pope John Paul II has asked President Bush to spare the life of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who is scheduled to be executed on May 16
- APRIL 26, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A Reuters/Zogby poll found that 75 % of respondents...
A Reuters/Zogby poll found that 75 % of respondents favoured the death penalty, while 22 % said they were against executions in all circumstances
- APRIL 25, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Speaking at the UN Commission on Human Rights during...
Speaking at the UN Commission on Human Rights during the vote on the resolution on the death penalty, a representative of the United States said his delegation would not support the resolution as drafted
- APRIL 24, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International Report Finds Increase in Death...
Amnesty International Report Finds Increase in Death Penalty "Volunteers" A new report about volunteers and the death penalty by Amnesty International, "The Illusion of Control," found that since the death penalty was reinstated, 89 of the 707 executions
- APRIL 19, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Judge John Tinder of U
Judge John Tinder of U
- APRIL 19, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said the Chinese...
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said the Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded that the United States repatriate Zhang Honggbao the leader of Zhong Gong a spiritual sect that has been banned in China, where he is accused of violent crimes and could f
- APRIL 18, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A federal judge late rejected an Internet company's...
A federal judge late rejected an Internet company's request to broadcast over the Web the execution of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh
- APRIL 6, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Actress Susan Sarandon, star of the film 'Dead Man...
Actress Susan Sarandon, star of the film 'Dead Man Walking' declared the death penalty "expensive, arbitrary and capricious
- APRIL 4, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
International Views: Use of the Death Penalty Could...
International Views: Use of the Death Penalty Could Result in Withdrawal of U
- MARCH 25, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A national poll recently conducted by Peter D
A national poll recently conducted by Peter D
- MARCH 7, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
With cases mounting in the United States of innocent...
With cases mounting in the United States of innocent people sentenced to death, a group of U
- MARCH 6, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
During the first meeting between the new US administration...
During the first meeting between the new US administration and the representatives of the European Union, EU Council President Anna Lindh, High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and External Relations Commissioner Chris P
- MARCH 4, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
The Rutherford Institute Urges President Bush to Declare...
The Rutherford Institute Urges President Bush to Declare a Death Penalty Moratorium In a letter to President Bush, John W
- FEBRUARY 15, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
Religious leaders in the South and around the nation...
Religious leaders in the South and around the nation are speaking out against capital punishment more loudly than ever, emboldened by a shift in public opinion and cases of innocence on death row
- JANUARY 31, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
On the 1st anniversary of Illinois' death penalty moratorium,...
On the 1st anniversary of Illinois' death penalty moratorium, Wisconsin Sen
- JANUARY 1, 2001United 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
- JANUARY 1, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
May: a gallup Poll found that nationwide support for...
May: a gallup Poll found that nationwide support for the death penalty had fallen to 65% a significant 15% decline from 1994, and the lowest support in 23 years
- JANUARY 1, 2001United StatesDEATH PENALTY
October: a gallup Poll following the September 11th...
October: a gallup Poll following the September 11th terrorist attacks on the USA founf that, within the margin of error of the poll, support for the death penalty (68%) had not measurably increased
- DECEMBER 18, 2000United StatesDEATH PENALTY
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, upon receiving 3
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, upon receiving 3
- DECEMBER 17, 2000United StatesDEATH PENALTY
December 17-18, 2000: An investigative series by the...
December 17-18, 2000: An investigative series by the Chicago Tribune examined the cases of four death row inmates who were executed despite evidence of their innocence
- DECEMBER 11, 2000United StatesDEATH PENALTY
A poll of potential jurors by The National Law Journal...
A poll of potential jurors by The National Law Journal and Decision Quest found that recent exonerations of death row inmates, both by DNA and outside investigations, have made 31% of potential voters more inclined to vote for life imprisonment instead of
- NOVEMBER 20, 2000United StatesDEATH PENALTY
In a letter delivered to the White House, religious,...
In a letter delivered to the White House, religious, civil rights, and political leaders urged President Clinton to declare a moratorium on federal executions