Read CNN’s Death Penalty Fast Facts to learn more about capital punishment in the United States.
Facts As of March 24,2021, capital punishment is legal in 27 US states. Three of those states have governor-imposed moratoriums. According to the Death Penalty Information Center,17 people were executed in the United States in 2020. The number of death sentences imposed was 18. There are 2,591 people on death row in the United States as of December 16,2020. Since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated by the US Supreme Court, states have executed 1,534 people (as of June 2021). Since 1973, there have been 185 death row exonerations ( as of March 2021). Thirty of them are from the state of Florida. The percentage of Americans who favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder has been around 60%-65% since 2019, according to a Pew Research Center study. The April 5-11,2021, survey finds 60% favor the death penalty for those convicted of murder and 78% agree that there is a risk that innocent people may be put to death. Federal Government The US government and US military have 46 people awaiting execution as of 2021. The US government has executed 16 people since 1988 when the federal death penalty statute was reinstated. The first federal execution since 2003 took place in July 2020. Females According to the Criminal Justice Project of the NAACP, there are 51 women on death row in the United States as of October 1,2020. As of January 13,2021,17 women have been executed since the reinstatement of the death penalty. Juveniles Twenty-two individuals were executed between 1976 and 2005 for crimes committed as juveniles. March 1,2005 – Roper v. Simmons. The Supreme Court rules that the execution of juvenile offenders is unconstitutional. Clemency Since 1976,294 individuals have been granted clemency. For federal death row inmates, the president alone has the power to grant a pardon. Timeline 1834 – Pennsylvania becomes the first state to move executions into correctional facilities, ending public executions. 1846 – Michigan becomes the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason. 1890 – William Kemmler becomes the first person executed by electrocution. 1907-1917 – Nine states abolish the death penalty for all crimes or strictly limit it. By 1920, five of those states had reinstated it. 1924 – The use of cyanide gas is introduced as an execution method. June 29,1972 – Furman v. Georgia. The Supreme Court effectively voids 40 death penalty statutes and suspends the death penalty. 1976 – Gregg v. Georgia. The death penalty is reinstated. January 17,1977 – A 10-year moratorium on the death penalty ends with the execution of Gary Gilmore by firing squad in Utah. 1977 – Oklahoma becomes the first state to adopt lethal injection as a means of execution. December 7,1982 – Charles Brooks becomes the first person executed by lethal injection. 1984 – Velma Barfield of North Carolina becomes the first woman executed since reinstatement of the death penalty. 1986 – Ford v. Wainwright. Execution of insane persons is banned. 1987 – McCleskey v. Kemp. Racial disparities are not recognized as a constitutional violation of “equal protection of the law” unless intentional racial discrimination against the defendant can be shown. 1988 – Thompson v. Oklahoma. Executions of offenders age 15 and younger at the time of their crimes are declared unconstitutional. 1996 – The last execution by hanging takes place in Delaware, with the death of Billy Bailey. January 31,2000 – A moratorium on executions is declared by Illinois Governor George Ryan. Since 1976, Illinois is the first state to block executions. 2002 – Atkins v. Virginia. The Supreme Court rules that the execution of mentally disabled defendants violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. January 2003 – Before leaving office, Governor Ryan grants clemency to all the remaining 167 inmates on Illinois’s death row, due to the flawed process that led to the death sentences. June 12,2006 – The Supreme Court rules that death row inmates can challenge the use of lethal injection as a method of execution. December 17,2007 – New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signs legislation abolishing the death penalty in the state. The death sentences of eight men are commuted to sentences of life without parole. April 16,2008 – In a 7-2 ruling, the US Supreme Court upholds use of lethal injection. Between September 2007, when the Court took on the case, and April 2008, no one was executed in the United States due to the de facto moratorium the Court placed on executions while it heard arguments in Baze v. Rees. March 18,2009 – Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico signs legislation repealing the death penalty in his state.
