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
- 1,549
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 1,549 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
- 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
- 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