Death penalty in the United States

The death penalty in the United States is one of the most controversial elements of the legal system in the United States, both nationally and internationally . In the overwhelming majority of cases, it is the responsibility of the states there to impose and execute them, many of which have since abolished the death penalty. Federal criminal law continues to provide for them, both in military jurisdictionas well as in the (few) criminal matters for civilians under federal law; therefore, acts committed in a state that has abolished the death penalty can also be imposed if the perpetrator is convicted under federal law. No executions were carried out between 1967 and 1976 due to a nationwide enforcement moratorium.

Executions in the US since 1976

Judiciary	Executions since 1976 (July 9, 2020)	inmates currently sentenced to death ( January 1, 2020)	Last execution of the death penalty (May 6, 2020)
Texas	570	218	2020
Virginia	113	3	2017
Oklahoma	112	46	2015
Florida	99	347	2019
Missouri	90	23	2019
Georgia	76	48	2020
Alabama	67	175	2020
Ohio	56	141	2018
North Carolina	43	145	2006
South carolina	43	40	2011
Arizona	37	119	2014
Arkansas	31	31	2017
Louisiana	28	69	2010
Mississippi	21st	43	2012
Indiana	20th	8th	2009
Delaware	16	0	2012
California	13	725	2006
Tennessee	13	52	2020
Nevada	12	74	2006
Illinois	12	0	1999
Utah	7th	7th	2010
South Dakota	5	1	2019
Washington	5	0	2010
Maryland	5	0 *	2005
Nebraska	4th	12	2018
Idaho	3	8th	2012
Kentucky	3	28	2008
Montana	3	2	2006
United States Federal Government	5	60	2020
Pennsylvania	3	147	1999
Oregon	2	31	1997
Connecticut	1	0	2005
New Mexico	1	0 *	2001
Colorado	1	3	1997
Wyoming	1	1	1992
Kansas	0	10
United States Armed Forces	0	4th
New Hampshire	0	1	1939
United States as a whole	1,512	2,620 **
Currently no death penalty : Alaska , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Hawaii , Illinois , Iowa , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , North Dakota , New Mexico , Rhode Island , Vermont , West Virginia , Wisconsin , District of Columbia , Puerto Rico , New Jersey , New York . In Oregon since November 2011 a permanent moratorium. The governor of Washington , Jay Inslee , imposed a moratorium on capital punishment in the US state ruled by him until the end of his term 2017th * New Mexico abolished the death penalty in March 2009, but not retrospectively, so two inmates remain on death row. In the state of Maryland , the death penalty was abolished in May 2013; however, as this law was not retroactive either, 4 inmates remained on death row. These were pardoned on January 21, 2015 by Martin O'Malley . ** Multiple prisoners were sentenced to death in more than one state, so the total is less than the sum of the numbers in each state.

year	Number of death sentences imposed (July 20, 2018)
1998	295
1999	279
2000	223
2001	153
2002	166
2003	151
2004	138
2005	140
2006	123
2007	126
2008	120
2009	118
2010	114
2011	85
2012	82
2013	83
2014	73
2015	49
2016	30th
2017	23
2018	25th
2019	9

Country	Executions in the United States from 1680 to 1976
Virginia	1,277
new York	1,130
Pennsylvania	1,040
Georgia	950
North Carolina	784
Texas	755
California	709
Alabama	708
South carolina	641
Louisiana	632
Arkansas	478
Ohio	438
Kentucky	424
New Jersey	361
Mississippi	351
Illinois	348
Massachusetts	345
Tennessee	335
Florida	314
Maryland	309
Missouri	285
West Virginia	155
Oklahoma	132
Indiana	131
Connecticut	126
Oregon	122
Washington, DC	118
Washington	105
Arizona	104
Colorado	101
New Mexico	73
Montana	71
Minnesota	66
Delaware	62
Nevada	61
Kansas	57
Rhode Island	52
Hawaii	49
Iowa	45
Utah	43
Nebraska	34
Idaho	26th
Vermont	26th
New Hampshire	24
Wyoming	22nd
Maine	21st
South Dakota	15th
Michigan	13
Alaska	12
North Dakota	8th
Wisconsin	1
United States as a whole	14,492

history

The British colonies in North America imposed the death penalty shortly after their establishment . The first known execution was that of Captain George Kendall in 1608, convicted of espionage for Spain. The first woman was executed in 1632. Until the 1990s, fewer than three percent of those executed were female. From the start of the American colonial era to 1996, approximately 20,000 people were executed, including 400 women, 27 of whom were convicted of witchcraft .

From 1834, executions began to be carried out in camera. The last public execution took place on August 14, 1936 in Owensboro ( Kentucky instead) when the 22-year-old African American was hanged Rainey Bethea before about 20,000 spectators.

The death penalty was abolished in Wisconsin and Michigan in the mid-19th century . In 1888 the electric chair was introduced instead of the previous methods of shooting and hanging . From 1924 onwards, the gas chamber was another “modern” enforcement method in some states .

Executions in the United States from 1608 to 2009

In the 20th century there were several cases with a political background that caused a sensation and polarized the public, for example the death sentences against Sacco and Vanzetti and against the couple Ethel and Julius Rosenberg . 199 people were executed in the United States in 1935, more than any other year. In 1944, 14-year-old George Stinney became the youngest person to be executed in the USA since the beginning of the 20th century. His death sentence was declared invalid posthumously in 2014 due to procedural errors.

By 1960 public attitudes began to lean towards the death penalty. Many allied nations had either completely abolished the death penalty or reduced it, and the number of executions was also decreasing in the United States . In 1940 there were 1,289 executions, 10 years later the figure was 715, and the number fell further to 191 between 1960 and 1967. According to a 1966 poll, only 42 percent of the American population were in favor of the death penalty at the time . It was discussed whether people could be arbitrarily sentenced to death.

After the execution of Luis Jose Monge in the gas chamber of the state of Colorado on June 2, 1967, there was a USA-wide de facto enforcement moratorium, since several cases about the basic admissibility were before the Supreme Court of the United States . In 1972 the Furman v Georgia case came to the Supreme Court. Furman argued that the death penalty is arbitrary and whimsical and violates the 8th Amendment to the United States Constitution , which protects everyone from cruel and unusual punishment. The chief judges ruled that a punishment was "cruel and unusual" if it was inappropriate for the crime, if it was arbitrarily imposed, if it violated the public sense of justice, and if it was ineffective than any other harsh punishment. The judges finally agreed that the death penalty was cruel and unusual and that it violated the 8th Amendment. On June 29, 1972, the Supreme Court nullified 40 death penalty laws, suspended the death penalty across the country, and converted the death sentences of 629 prisoners into life sentences.

The states revised their death penalty laws to eliminate arbitrariness in the imposition of a death sentence. Guidelines have been established to enable a judge or the jury to consider aggravating or mitigating factors. In addition, two distinct phases of the trial have been introduced - one to determine whether the defendant is guilty or not, and a second to determine the amount of the sentence in the event of a guilty verdict. In addition, automatic remedies have been established, after which the judgment and sentence can be re-examined on appeal. In January 1976 the Supreme Court re- allowed the death penalty.

From July 1967 to December 1976, that is nine and a half years, there were no executions of death sentences in the United States. The executions resumed on January 17, 1977. Gary Gilmore was executed by a peloton in Utah State Prison . On December 7, 1982, Charlie Brooks was the first convict to be killed by lethal injection in Texas . On December 2, 2005, Kenneth Lee Boyd was executed in the United States as the 1,000th prisoner since the death penalty was reintroduced.

According to opinion polls by the Gallup Institute, the population's approval rate of the death penalty between 1985 and 2007 was between 64 and 80 percent; in October 2007 it was 69 percent. If the question is expressly offered the possibility of life imprisonment without the possibility of early release, the values ​​drop to 47 to 54 percent.

According to Amnesty International , 350 people were sentenced to death in the United States between 1900 and 1985, and their innocence was later proven. In 23 of them, innocence was only established after death. By 2007 a total of 15 death row inmates had been acquitted on the basis of new DNA evidence.

The death penalty is extremely costly in the United States. A study from 2011 using California as an example came to the conclusion that since the capital punishment was reintroduced there in 1978, additional costs totaling more than US $ 4 billion had arisen. This corresponded to a cost of US $ 308 million for each of the 13 executions carried out during the investigation period.

In October 2009, the US and the European Union signed a new extradition and mutual assistance agreement, according to which prisoners from an EU country could only be extradited if they were not facing the death penalty in the United States. The agreement entered into force in February 2010.

Current situation

The death penalty has been abolished in 22 of 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The last time it happened was in the state of Colorado in March 2020. It is no longer enforced in several states. But can federal courts in states that have even abolished the death penalty in cases where applicable nationwide penal provisions are applicable (federal crimes) , impose the death penalty, most recently in 2015 in Boston ( Massachusetts ) against dzhokhar tsarnaev because of the attack on the Boston -Marathon . Also, the bombers of Oklahoma City , Timothy McVeigh , was convicted by a federal court. However, executions under federal law are rare.

In 2015, 28 people were executed in the US, 85 percent of them in the three states of Texas (13, 46%), Missouri (6) and Georgia (5). This is the lowest figure since 1991, when 14 people were executed. The number of death sentences passed has also fallen to 49 (down from 73 in 2014). Six people sentenced to death were found innocent in 2015.

In 2014, 35 people were executed in the United States, 80 percent of them in Texas (10), Missouri (10) and Florida (8). In 2014, eleven death sentences were passed in Texas (an average of 34 in the 1990s), none at all in Virginia (as in 2013) (6 in the 1990s), 14 people were sentenced to death in California and 11 in Florida.

From 2005 to 2015, 26 states carried out the death penalty at least once, from 2011 to 2015 the figure was 14. In 2013 there were nine, in 2014 seven and in 2015 there were six states that carried out death sentences. Texas (84), Oklahoma (21) and Florida (23) used the death penalty continuously from 2010 to 2015, Ohio (20) and Arizona (14) from 2010 to 2014. Missouri (19), Georgia (14), Alabama (12) and Mississippi (11) carried out a relatively large number of sentences between 2010 and 2015.

On April 16, 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in the Baze v. Rees basically on the admissibility of the execution by lethal injection and declared it to be constitutional. The plaintiffs, two death row inmates from Kentucky, had argued this was a "cruel and unusual punishment" and thus violates the Eighth Amendment (Amendment) of the Constitution of the United States .

Although the death penalty as such was not an option, the trial attracted widespread attention and sparked debate on other methods given that lethal injection is used as the main execution method in 37 of the 38 states that enforce the death penalty. After the Supreme Court ruled in September 2007 that it would take the case, all executions in the United States were suspended. After the decision, they were reinstated, first on May 6, 2008 in Georgia with the execution of the death sentence against William Earl Lynd.

In March 2013, a San Francisco appeals court overturned Debra Milke's January 18, 1991 death penalty . Milke had been convicted of instigating two men in 1989 to shoot their four-year-old son; she had always protested her innocence. The appellate judge spoke of a "worrying case". Milke did not get a fair trial at the time. The main witness, a police investigator, was known for false testimony under oath and other misconduct.

The use of the death penalty is hardly regulated and therefore heavily dependent on special influences. The person of the public prosecutor is the deciding factor: only five of around 2,400 public prosecutor's offices have obtained a total of 440 death sentences, around 15% of all convicts who were awaiting execution at the end of 2015. A leader is the Senior Attorney Lynne Abraham in Philadelphia with 108 convictions in 18 years of activity.

Execution of juveniles

Legal situation before March 1st, 2005:

no death penalty

Minimum age 18 years

Minimum age 17 years

Minimum age 16 years

According to Amnesty International , the United States, along with the People's Republic of China , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Iran , Nigeria , Pakistan , Saudi Arabia and Yemen, is one of the few countries in which underage offenders have been executed since 2000 at the time of the crime. Since a ruling by the Supreme Court in 1988, the death penalty has been unconstitutional for offenders under the age of 16.

As of March 2005, the death penalty against minors was still legal in 19 of 38 US states that can use the death penalty.

On March 1, 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled with an extremely narrow majority of the judges' votes that death sentences for criminals under the age of 18 are unconstitutional as a "cruel and unusual punishment" under the 8th Amendment to the US Constitution ( Roper v . Simmons ). With this judgment, for which ex-President Jimmy Carter had campaigned, a contrary decision from 1989 (Stanford v. Kentucky) was overturned. The court has thus confirmed the view that in many individual states had already led to the abolition of the death penalty for offenders who were not yet of legal age and for the mentally disabled. The so-called death eligibility ( suitability for execution) is no longer given for the groups of people mentioned.

Since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1976, 22 people under the age of 18 have been executed in the United States. The last was Scott Allen Hain in Oklahoma on April 3, 2003.

See also : List of executions of juvenile offenders in the United States since 1976

Execution of foreign nationals

At the beginning of 2005, 119 foreign nationals were among those sentenced to death in the USA, including three Germans: the brothers Michael and Rudi Apelt in Arizona and Dieter Riechmann in Florida , as well as the US citizen Troy Albert Kunkle in Texas, who was born in Nuremberg . Kunkle was executed in late January 2005. Rudi Apelt was classified as mentally disabled in May 2009 and the death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment. In March 2010, Riechmann's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

The brothers Karl and Walter LaGrand , convicted of murder, had already been executed in Arizona in 1999 . Her parents brought her to America when she was three years old. Because of this, they had German citizenship, even though they grew up in the USA. When they were appealed, they had not been adequately informed by the American authorities during their proceedings about the possibility of obtaining consular assistance. That is why the Federal Republic of Germany sued the USA before the International Court of Justice . On June 27, 2001, the court ruled that the USA had violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations .

In the run-up to the execution of Mexican national Humberto Leal Garcia in Texas on July 7, 2011, another controversy arose. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights , Navanethem Pillay , criticized the fact that Garcia had not received consular services and that the US had thereby violated international law. The US administration under President Obama opposed the execution because it feared diplomatic consequences and a deterioration in the treatment of American citizens abroad. Governor Rick Perry ( Republican ) declined a pardon; the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 judges against postponing the execution.

Garcia was executed on July 7; Shortly afterwards - on August 13, 2011 - Perry officially announced his candidacy for the presidency (later Mitt Romney prevailed). With this execution, Perry reaffirmed his position on the death penalty. At that time, a spokesman for Perry vehemently rejected the EU's criticism of the death penalty, among other things with the remark "230 years ago our ancestors waged a war to free themselves from the yoke of a European ruler in order to gain freedom and self-determination" and forbade it EU interference in Texas state affairs.

Execution of the mentally handicapped

In 2002 the US Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was inadmissible for the mentally handicapped because it was a "cruel or unusual punishment" and was therefore unconstitutional.

Daryl Atkins set the precedent as he was found to have an IQ of 59. However, the final decision was made by the state court, and the Virginia jury sentenced him to death because a new IQ test gave him a score of 76. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

However, it is at the discretion of each state as to when an inmate should be considered mentally retarded. In Texas, this led to the controversial executions of Yokamon Hearn and Marvin Wilson in 2012 . Another prisoner, Warren Lee Hill , was executed in Georgia in January 2015, possibly with an intellectual disability.

Executions for non-homicides

Since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976, death sentences have been carried out solely for homicides. The last execution for a crime that did not kill people was on September 4, 1964 in Alabama; James Coburn was executed for grave robbery. However, in several states and at the federal level, other criminal offenses such as drug smuggling, airplane hijacking or serious child abuse are threatened with death.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1977 in the Coker v. Georgia is preoccupied with the question of whether the death penalty can be pronounced for a non-homicide offense. He ruled that the death penalty for raping an adult woman was a cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The legal doctrine then disagreed as to whether the death penalty was forbidden for all rape offenses or only for the rape of an adult woman. In fact, several states ( Montana , Oklahoma , South Carolina , Texas ) have been able to impose the death penalty for rape of children . With his judgment in the Kennedy v. Louisiana , the Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that such provisions are also against the constitution. US President Barack Obama , then Junior Senator for Illinois , as well as his Republican rival in the 2008 election, John McCain , criticized the verdict.

Procedural flaws in death sentences

A major point of criticism is the often inadequate representation of underprivileged criminals by public defenders . In 1996 there was one case in Georgia where a death row convict with below IQ had no legal counsel at all on an appeal. The American Bar Association first published guidelines for adequate legal representation in death penalty proceedings in 1989 and placed attorneys in charge of such cases for free. In June 2000, Professor James S. Liebman of Columbia University published a long-term study of the outcome of appeal proceedings between 1973 and 1995 under the title A broken system , according to which death sentences were corrected in 68 percent of cases by a higher court in favor of the accused.

Another procedural deficiency is the racial discrimination that can sometimes be found in the selection of the jury , which consists in the fact that the public prosecutor, which can reject a number of potential jury members without justification, obviously correctly and illegally match the jury's skin color with that of the ( black) accused makes a criterion. This was objected to several times by the Supreme Court and sanctioned by the annulment of death sentences, especially by Texas courts, most recently (June 2005) in the Miller-El v. Dretke, No. 03-9659, in which ten out of eleven black jury candidates had been rejected by the prosecutor.

However, it is still permissible to reject jury candidates who are against the death penalty in principle. This selection process, known as “death qualifying”, is criticized because, after several investigations, juries selected in this way, regardless of the sentence, are more likely to find defendants guilty than juries that come about without such a selection.

Insufficient investigations into death sentences

In 2012, the US Department of Justice and the FBI examined nearly 270 court rulings from 1985 to 2000. In all of these cases, convictions were based on hair analysis with the microscope. The reports, which were subsequently checked with DNA analyzes, had an error rate of 95%. As a result of the sentences that have now been carried out, 14 people were executed or died in prison.

Gender aspects

There is a disproportion in the pronounced and executed death sentences for the sexes of the death row inmates. The majority of those sentenced to death are men. The crime rate among men is significantly higher, women are less likely to be involved in serious violent crimes. However, if one considers the proportion of women arrested for such crimes and the further course of the proceedings, it becomes apparent that around 13 percent of those arrested in murder cases are women, while the proportion of women among those sentenced to the death penalty, according to some investigations for over 20 years, is constant around two percent. From the resumption of the death penalty to 1996, 5,569 death sentences were passed, 113 of them against women. While 301 men were executed during this period, the same happened to two women.

The last woman executed so far was Kelly Renee Gissendaner. She was executed by lethal injection in the state of Georgia on September 30, 2015.

Education-specific aspects

According to a US study from 2008, education is the most important factor after gender in determining whether a defendant will be sentenced to death for his crime and eventually executed.

Types of execution

Execution of the death penalty:

by lethal injection only

lethal injection as the primary method; other methods possible

fatal injection never performed

no death penalty

The permitted methods of execution vary from state to state (number of uses from 1976 to July 9, 2020): injection (1,339), electrocution (163), gas chamber (11), hanging (3), and shooting (3). Nebraska was the only state that made electrocution mandatory, but the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 2008. Nebraska has since abolished the death penalty and all death sentences have been commuted. All other countries where injection is not the method used in principle, offer death row inmates this option.

Ever since the supply of drugs used for lethal injection began to be short of supply , several states have been considering reintroducing older methods of execution. In Tennessee, Governor Bill Haslam signed a law in late May 2014 that reverted to making the electric chair the primary method if the drugs for lethal injection are not available. For the same reason, it was decided in Utah to re-allow the execution by shooting, which had been officially abolished since 2004 but was last carried out on June 18, 2010.

Regional aspect

Except for Ohio in the northern states and Tennessee and Kentucky in the southern states, all other former members of the Confederate States of America account for most of the executions carried out.

former Confederate States of America	Executions		Northern states	Executions
Texas	559		Ohio	56
Virginia	113		Indiana	20th
Florida	97		Delaware	16
Missouri	88		California	13
Georgia	72		Illinois	12
Alabama	64		Nevada	12
South carolina	43		Utah	7th
North Carolina	43		Maryland	5
Arizona	37		Washington	5
Arkansas	31		Nebraska	4th
Louisiana	28		South Dakota	4th
Mississippi	21st		Montana	3
Tennessee	9		Pennsylvania	3
Kentucky	3		Federal government	3
			Idaho	3
			Oregon	2
			Connecticut	1
			New Mexico	1
			Colorado	1
			Wyoming	1
total	1208
+ Oklahoma	112
Sum with Oklahoma	1320		total	172

The former Confederate States of America executed 1,208 people (81%) by February 2019. Oklahoma, which later became part of the USA but is assigned to the southern states, another 112 people (7.5%). Thus, 172 executions (11.5%) fell on the northern states, the federal government and later admitted states.

Ohio, Indiana and Delaware combined carried out more than half of all executions in the northern states.

Situation in the individual jurisdictions

States with a moratorium

State	Start of the moratorium	Duration
Oregon	November 22, 2011	unlimited moratorium. The aim is to abolish the death penalty in the state.
Pennsylvania	February 13, 2015	until an investigation report is received
California	17th July 2014	unlimited moratorium. Unconstitutional according to Cormac J. Carney, Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a new moratorium in mid-March 2019.

State death penalty:

Death penalty repealed

declared unconstitutional

not used since 1976

applied since 1976

State, territory, or suburb that has abolished the death penalty or where courts have declared it illegal

No.	State	Year of abolition
#1	Michigan	1846
# 2	Wisconsin	1853
# 3	Maine	1887
# 4	Minnesota	1911
# 5	Puerto Rico	1929
# 6	Alaska	1957
# 7	Hawaii	1957
#8th	Vermont	1964 1
# 9	Iowa	1965
# 10	West Virginia	1965
# 11	North Dakota	1973
# 12	Washington, DC	1981
# 13	Massachusetts	1984 2
# 14	Rhode Island	1984
# 15	New Jersey	2007
# 16	new York	2007 2nd
# 17	New Mexico	2009 3
# 18	Illinois	2011
# 19	Connecticut	2012
# 20	Maryland	2013
# 21	Delaware	2016 2
# 22	Washington	2018 2
# 23	New Hampshire	2019 3
# 24	Colorado	2020
1 In Vermont, the death penalty is still possible for high treason. 2 In these states the death penalty was prohibited by courts. 3 Offenders sentenced to death before this date can still be executed in these states .

Alabama

The first execution in Alabama took place in 1812. Until the introduction of the electric chair in 1927, hanging was the most common method of execution. After the 1967 statewide moratorium expired, the death penalty was reintroduced in Alabama in 1976 and executions resumed in 1983. The last execution so far took place in October 2017. The execution of the 61-year-old delinquent Doyle Lee Hamm, scheduled for February 22, 2018, was called off after several failed attempts to establish venous access to administer the lethal injection. A total of 61 people have been executed since 1983, including 60 men. Alabama is the only state where a judge can unrestrictedly impose the death penalty despite the jury's sentencing to the contrary, even if the jury calls for a life sentence.

Number of executions per year:

Alaska

There were only seven documented executions between the purchase of Alaska in 1867 and 1899. Eight other death sentences were carried out between 1900 and 1957. In 1957, Alaska, then a territory of the United States , abolished the death penalty. In 1959 Alaska became a state. Besides Hawaii, it is the only state that has never been subject to the death penalty.

Arizona

In 1973 Arizona laid the legal foundations for reintroducing the death penalty. The first execution took place on April 6, 1992. On November 15, 1992, lethal injection was declared the only method of execution. However, those convicted before that date could choose between lethal injection and the gas chamber. Between 1992 and 2014, the death penalty was carried out 37 times in Arizona. All those executed were men. On July 23, 2014, the last use of the death penalty to date took place with the execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood III. instead of. This attracted particular public attention, as Wood suffered a death throes of more than an hour from an incorrectly dosed poisonous cocktail. A temporary freeze on executions was decided the following day, which is to continue until the execution procedures have been finally reviewed.

Number of executions per year:

Arkansas

When a nationwide moratorium was imposed in 1967, Governor Winthrop Rockefeller pardoned all 15 people sentenced to death at the time. In 1973 the death penalty was reintroduced in Arkansas. The executions resumed in 1990. On April 24, 2017, the first double execution in the United States since 2000 took place.

Number of executions per year:

Federation

Federal criminal law provides for the death penalty, but the vast majority of crimes are prosecuted under the laws of the 50 states. Only in comparatively few cases does the federal courts have criminal jurisdiction. Executions under federal law are therefore rare. On July 14, 2020, a death sentence was carried out under federal law for the first time since 2003 (Daniel Lewis Lee). A short time later a prisoner was again executed. This means that at the federal level outside of military criminal law, a total of six people have been executed since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1976. Currently (as of August 2020) 59 people sentenced to death under federal law are waiting to be executed, some of them for decades.
Military criminal law is also regulated by federal law. The last execution took place there in 1961.
The District of Columbia is directly under the federal government, but has had limited self-government under an elected local parliament ("Council of the District of Columbia") since 1973. This abolished the death penalty in 1981.

Colorado

Since the death penalty was reintroduced in the United States in 1976, it has only been used once in Colorado (1997). In 2009 a bill was introduced to completely abolish the death penalty in Colorado. It was accepted with a narrow majority in the House of Representatives , but then rejected with a narrow majority in the Senate . In 2013, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper postponed the execution of the murderer Nathan Dunlop indefinitely.

If the population of 2010 is compared with the executions by January 17, 2016, Colorado comes last with 0.02 executions per 100,000 inhabitants.

The death penalty was abolished in March 2020.

Connecticut

The governor of Connecticut has no right to pardon . On May 13, 2005, the first execution of a death sentence since 1960 took place. Back then, Joseph Taborsky was still executed on the electric chair. It was about the serial killer Michael Bruce Ross , a so-called "voluntary" death row inmate who, after 18 years on death row, had waived any further legal remedies he was entitled to. In the last days before his execution were by the former public defender several unsuccessful attempts made to let prevent the execution of court. Their reasoning was that Ross may be insane because of his failure to appeal. In that case an execution would have been illegal.

In 2012 Connecticut became the 17th state to abolish the death penalty. In 2009 the Senate and the House of Representatives voted for a law abolishing the death penalty. The then incumbent governor M. Jodi Rell , however, vetoed. In April 2012 the Senate and the House of Representatives voted again for the abolition of the death penalty. Governor Dan Malloy , who has been in office since January 2011, signed the law on April 25, 2012. The abolition of the death penalty applies to acts committed on or after the day the law was signed, but not retrospectively, which originally left eleven men with death sentences stayed. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled on August 13, 2015 that the death penalty was unconstitutional, commuting the sentences of the last 11 men on Connecticut death row to life imprisonment.

Delaware

In May 2015, the judiciary committee failed by a narrow majority in a bill that provided for the abolition of the death penalty in Delaware. In August 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court declared that the death penalty as it stands is unconstitutional. The death penalty would only be constitutional if the jury unanimously agreed. The Delaware Supreme Court ruled on December 15, 2016 that the sentences of the 13 men remaining on Delaware death row should be commuted to life sentences.

If the population of 2010 is compared with the executions up to January 17, 2016, Oklahoma is at the top with 2.99 executions per 100,000 inhabitants, ahead of Texas with a rate of 2.11. Right behind is small Delaware with 1.78 executions per 100,000 people.

Number of executions per year:

Florida

Since the reintroduction of the death penalty in Florida 95 people in Florida State Prison executed. Until 1999, executions were carried out exclusively using the electric chair. After the switch to lethal injection as the primary method, the electric chair remained as a secondary method, but has not been used since then. Since March 2016 a 10: 2 majority of the jury has been necessary for the imposition of the death penalty. The previously sufficient simple majority of the jury had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Washington.

Following an execution that required a second injection, extending the executioner's agony to 34 minutes, then-Governor Jeb Bush decided on December 15, 2006 to suspend executions until further notice and to defend the human and constitutional aspects of the bad to have the execution method under control checked by a commission. Since September 2008, death sentences have been carried out again.

Under Republican Rick Scott , 26 of the 95 death sentences (27%) have been carried out since 2012. In February 2015, the Florida Supreme Court issued a temporary freeze on executions pending legal clarification of the legality of the execution procedure established in Florida, in which the combined administration of midazolam and hydromorphone , which is also controversial in other US states , is used. The last execution so far took place in May 2019.

Florida has the second highest number in the USA after California with 350 people sentenced to death (as of December 2017).

Number of executions per year:

Georgia

On September 21, 2011, after about 20 years on death row, the African American Troy Davis was executed with lethal injection. He was convicted of the murder of a police officer, had always protested his innocence and died despite appeals for clemency worldwide. His case is considered "one of the most controversial judicial cases in the US".

Number of executions per year:

Hawaii

There were a total of 49 executions in Hawaii during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Almost all death sentences were given for members of minority groups ( Polynesians , Chinese , Japanese and Filipinos ). In 1957, Hawaii, then a territory of the United States , abolished the death penalty. In 1959, Hawaii became a state. Besides Alaska, it is the only state in which the death penalty was never applied.

Idaho

The death penalty was introduced in Idaho in 1864 and is used to this day. It was reintroduced in 1973 after the nationwide moratorium. So far, a total of 29 executions have been carried out, including three since 1976. As of 2009, lethal injection has been the only method of execution.

Illinois

Since the reintroduction of the death penalty, several people sentenced to death in Illinois have been proven innocent. The outgoing Governor George Ryan then converted the sentence of all 167 death row inmates in Illinois to life imprisonment in 2003. In addition, an enforcement moratorium has been in effect in Illinois since January 2000. This was preceded, among other things, by a report by the Chicago Tribune , which spoke of false evidence, unscrupulous litigation and legal incompetence. In the case of the death row inmate Anthony Porter , students of journalism professor David Protess were able to prove a false judgment . Porter was released from death row in March 1999.

In 2011, Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the death penalty. In early 2011, the state House and Senate passed law to permanently abolish the death penalty in Illinois. It came into force on July 1, 2011. With the signing of the law by Governor Pat Quinn on March 9, 2011 , the 15 outstanding death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.

Number of executions per year:

Indiana

Indiana is one of the states where the death penalty is carried out by injection. When Tommie Smith was executed in 1997, prison staff could not find a suitable vein, so a doctor had to be called. In total, the procedure, which Smith was fully aware of, took over 30 minutes. In July 2004, the governor of Indiana first made use of his pardon and converted the death sentence against the mentally retarded Darnell Williams to life imprisonment.

Number of executions per year:

Iowa

There have been 46 executions in Iowa's history, 43 of them for murder and three for rape. All those killed were men. The death penalty was abolished for the first time in 1872, but was reintroduced in 1878. In 1965 it was finally abolished. The Republican Governor Terry E. Branstad campaigned for a reintroduction in 1994, but was ultimately unable to bring a corresponding bill through the two chambers of the Iowa General Assembly .

California

Under applicable law, under Section 3604 (a) of the California Penal Code, death row inmates could choose between intravenous injection of poison or gas poisoning. If they had not made a decision after 10 days, the execution was carried out by injection of poison. In March 2019, Democratic governor Gavin Newsom suspended the death penalty by decree.

After three years of no executions, Donald Jay Beardslee was sentenced to death on January 19, 2005 for a double homicide committed in 1981. A pardon suggesting mental illness due to brain damage was rejected by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ; likewise the two pardons from Stanley Williams , convicted of four murders , who wrote books against drugs and gang crime for young people and was respected for his literary work during his 24-year stay on death row. He was executed by lethal injection on December 13, 2005 at 9:01 am CET . On January 17, 2006, the visually impaired, deaf and wheelchair-sitting 76-year-old Clarence Ray Allen was executed. He nearly died of a heart attack four months before the sentence was carried out, but was resuscitated. He was charged with ordering murders out of prison.

On December 15, 2006, a federal court in San José ruled that the execution by injection practiced in California , in its current form, constituted a "cruel, unusual punishment" and was therefore unconstitutional. On the same day, Florida Governor Jeb Bush decided to suspend lethal injections. Thirteen people have been executed in California since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, and 744 (as of April 2017) people sentenced to death are awaiting execution. In California, most of the people in the United States who have been sentenced to death live. In 2014, 14 new death sentences were passed. However, there have been no executions since 2006.

In 2012, some law enforcement officials, family members of murder victims and innocent convicts finally organized themselves in the initiative "Savings, Accountability, and Full Enforcement for California Act" (SAFE California) with the aim of abolishing the death penalty through a referendum and carrying out existing death sentences replace life imprisonment with no prospect of parole. In addition, the income that the detainees received for work during their stay in prison should be used for reparation payments to the bereaved. The referendum campaign received 799,589 supporters' signatures on March 1, prompting California State Election Officer Debra Browen to propose proposed law on April 23 as Proposition 34 for simultaneous vote with the election of the U.S. President and Congress on April 6. November 2012. In this referendum, a majority of 52.7 percent of voters rejected the abolition of the death penalty. Another vote on the election of the US President and Congress on November 8, 2016 was also rejected by 53.8 percent.

On July 16, 2014, Federal Judge Cormac J. Carney declared the death penalty unconstitutional in California. Due to the long time that elapsed before the execution, it could not serve as “retaliation or deterrence”. The system is also arbitrary due to the small number of people executed. Thus the death penalty violates the 8th Amendment to the Constitution . The California sentence suspended the death penalty and an appeal was possible. An appeals court ruled in November 2015 that the death penalty was legal in California. California wants to resume executions and in future wants to use one of four barbiturates in doses of 7.5 grams instead of a poison cocktail.

Death penalty approval in California, though declining since the 1980s, is still high and has remained almost unchanged over the past 15 years. A poll by the polling institute Field Research Corporation (FRC) in February 2004 found that 68 percent of California citizens supported the death penalty and 31 percent opposed it. 58 percent believed the state's death sentences would be "generally fair and error-free." In contrast, 57 percent of those surveyed who identified themselves with an African American origin rejected this view. Despite the high approval ratings for the death penalty, according to the FRC, more and more Californians have welcomed the sentence of “life imprisonment without parole” for capital crimes such as murder, preferring it in September 2011 with 48 percent over execution (40 percent). In March 2012, according to SurveyUSA, 61 percent of California's electoral population intended to vote for the death penalty if they had the opportunity in a referendum on November 6, 2012. Only 29 percent would have voted against the death penalty.

If the population of 2010 is compared with the executions by January 17, 2016, California ranks fourth-last, with 0.03 executions per 100,000 inhabitants, ahead of Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Colorado.

Number of executions per year:

Kansas

After the temporary freeze of executions, there were several attempts in Kansas from 1976 to reintroduce the death penalty. Corresponding bills failed in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1985 because of the veto of the Democratic Governor John W. Carlin . Only a fifth draft came into effect in 1994 with the approval of Carlin's successor and party colleague Joan Finney . Kansas was the penultimate state to reinstate the death penalty (New York reintroduced it in 1995, but abolished it in 2007). The only crime for which the death penalty can be imposed is murder of particular gravity. Death sentences are comparatively seldom passed and so far not a single one has actually been carried out. In 2004, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional, but this was later revised. In 2010 the Kansas Senate passed a bill converting the death penalty to life imprisonment with no prospect of early release by a majority of only one vote.

Kentucky

The last execution in Kentucky took place in 2008. There have been a total of 3 executions since 1976. 33 prisoners await their execution. (As of April 2017)

Louisiana

Since the death penalty was reinstated on July 2, 1973, 27 people have been executed, 18 of them before 1990. Since then, there has been at most one execution per year, the last being in 2010. The only method of execution is lethal injection. The governor can only commute a death sentence with a positive recommendation from the Grace Committee. He is not bound by the recommendation. He can arrange a stay of execution in his own right.

Child rape was also threatened with death in Louisiana . However, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Kennedy v. Louisiana that this is inconsistent with the 8th Amendment to the United States Constitution .

Number of executions per year:

Maine

The first execution in Maine took place in 1644. In 1876, Maine became the third state to abolish the death penalty after Michigan and Wisconsin. In 1883, however, it was briefly reintroduced. In 1885, Daniel Wilkinson's last death sentence was carried out. Because of the poor execution of the execution, he suffered a slow death from suffocation. This contributed to the final abolition of the death penalty in 1887. There have been several attempts at reintroduction. Two bills from 1925 and 1937 were not pursued; four more from 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1979 were rejected. All but one death sentences in Maine were handed down for homicides. Only during the American Revolutionary War was Jeremiah Baum executed for treason in 1780.

Maryland

Five injections have been carried out since the death penalty was reintroduced, the last on December 5, 2005. In 2013, Maryland became the 18th state to abolish the death penalty. In March 2013, the Senate and the House of Representatives voted to abolish the death penalty. Governor Martin O'Malley signed the law, which went into effect October 1, 2013, on May 2. Those already sentenced to death could have continued to be executed. On January 21, 2015, Martin O'Malley pardoned the final four death row inmates Vernon Evans, Heath Burch, Jody Miles and Anthony Grandison to life imprisonment without parole.

Number of executions per year:

Massachusetts

The execution of Ferdinando "Nicola" Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti on August 23, 1927 in Charlestown attracted international attention . They had been sentenced to death in a controversial trial, and in 1977 they were posthumously rehabilitated by the governor of Massachusetts. In 1984 the death penalty was prohibited by a court. Jokhar Zarnayev was sentenced to death under federal law for the attack on the Boston Marathon . In July 2020, however, a federal court overturned the verdict for procedural errors in the selection of the jury and ordered that the sentence must be rescheduled.

Michigan

Since Michigan was first colonized in Europe in the 17th century, only 13 executions have taken place, six of them after the establishment of Michigan in 1805 and none after Michigan was incorporated as a state in 1837. In 1847 Michigan became the first English-speaking territory to completely abolish the death penalty in normal criminal law. It could only be imposed for treason, but such a case never occurred. In 1938, Anthony Chebatoris was the only person to be executed in Michigan, but under federal rather than state law. The death penalty has been unconstitutional in Michigan since 1962.

Minnesota

The exact number of executions carried out in Minnesota is unknown because records prior to 1889 are patchy. Between 1860 and 1906 there were 27 executed death sentences under state law. In addition, on December 26, 1862, the largest mass execution in United States history occurred when 38 Dakota people were hanged under federal law. A total of 303 death sentences had been passed, but the remaining sentences were overturned by President Abraham Lincoln . Some of the hanged men later found out that their identities had not been correctly established. The poorly executed execution of William Williams in 1906 caused a further stir. William suffered a suffocation of almost 15 minutes. This contributed to the abolition of the death penalty in Minnesota in 1911. Between 1913 and 2005 there were a total of 22 bills reintroducing the death penalty, but all of them failed.

Mississippi

In Mississippi, death sentences were carried out by hanging until 1940, by the electric chair from 1940 to 1952, by the gas chamber from 1955 to 1989, and since then by lethal injection. Since a change in the law in 1998, this type of execution is the only one permitted. There have been a total of 21 executions since 1976. Death row is located in the Mississippi State Penitentiary .

Number of executions per year:

Missouri

88 people have been executed since the death penalty was reintroduced, 10 of them in 2014 (11%). Jay Nixon was Missouri Attorney General for 16 years (1993-2009). During that time, 59 people were executed.

If the population of 2010 is compared with executions by January 17, 2016, Missouri ranks fourth after Oklahoma (2.99), Texas (2.11) and Delaware (with 1.44 executions per 100,000 inhabitants) 1.78).

Number of executions per year:

Montana

There have been three executions in Montana since 1976, most recently in August 2006. As of April 2017, two prisoners had been sentenced to death.

Nebraska

For a long time the only method of execution in Nebraska was the electric chair. On February 8, 2008, however, the highest court in Nebraska ruled that the execution with the electric chair was unconstitutional because the method was "particularly cruel and unusual." On May 28, 2009, the governor of Nebraska signed a law introducing the fatal injection. In May 2015, Nebraska became the 19th state to abolish the death penalty. The veto of the Governor Pete Ricketts against the decision of the Parliament of 20 May 2015. overruled on May 27, 2015 by the parliament short of 30 votes to 19. 30 votes were required. The law applies retrospectively. 11 death sentences were thus commuted to prison terms. On November 8, 2016, the death penalty was reintroduced by referendum. After a 20-year de facto moratorium (the last execution took place on December 2, 1997), Carey Dean Moore was executed on August 14, 2018.

Number of executions per year:

Nevada

Number of executions per year:

New Hampshire

New Hampshire was the last of the New England states to allow the death penalty until it was abolished on May 30, 2019 . On May 30th, the Senate overruled (16 to 8 votes) Governor Sununu's veto against the abolition of the death penalty, which does not apply retrospectively. The only remaining death row inmate is Michael "Stix" Addison, who was sentenced to death in 2008 for a police murder. The last execution took place in 1939.

New Jersey

The last execution in New Jersey took place in 1963. On January 10, 2006, the death penalty was suspended by a resolution of the Senate. A commission should investigate whether death sentences are fair and whether the death penalty is necessary for public safety. The moratorium was in effect until February 2007. On January 2, 2007, the commission published its final report. In it, she called for the abolition of the death penalty in New Jersey, with life imprisonment as an alternative. On December 11, 2007, it was announced that the New Jersey Senate voted 21:16 to abolish the death penalty. On December 13, 2007, the House of Representatives also voted 44:36 for the abolition of the death penalty. The Democratic Governor Jon Corzine , an opponent of the death penalty, signed the law on December 17, 2007, putting it into effect. At the same time, he converted the sentences of the then eight death row inmates to life imprisonment with no parole option. This makes New Jersey the 14th state to abolish the death penalty and the first to do so since it was readmitted in 1976.

New Mexico

New Mexico became the 15th state to abolish the death penalty, and the law was signed by Governor Bill Richardson on March 18, 2009. The law did not apply to the two then death row inmates in New Mexico, and their sentences were not automatically commuted.

new York

No one has been executed in New York State since 1963. In 1965 the possibility of a death sentence was restricted to police murder and certain cases of murder by a convict. After the US Supreme Court suspended all death penalty laws in 1972, New York State waived the reinstatement of the death penalty for more than 20 years. In March 1995, in fulfillment of a campaign promise, then Republican Governor George Pataki passed a law in both houses of the New York State Parliament to restore the death penalty by injection. Until 2004, seven people were sentenced to death in the first instance under this law, but all judgments were ultimately commuted to higher instances. On June 24, 2004, the New York Supreme Court, while not declaring the death penalty per se, the wording of this law unconstitutional and repealed it. Since then, several attempts by Republican politicians to introduce constitutional death penalty legislation have failed because of the majority of the Democratic Party in the New York State Assembly . No person has been on death row since 2007, when the sentence against the last death row inmate was commuted to life imprisonment. Governor David Paterson , a declared capital punishment opponents, was in July 2008, a few months after taking office, in 1995 in the high security prison Greenhaven in Beekman ( Dutchess County dismantle installed) and never used enforcement institutions.

North Carolina

The number of executions in North Carolina up to the abolition of the death penalty in 1972 is given as 784. On January 6, 1977, the death penalty was reintroduced. Since then, 43 executions have been carried out. The last execution took place in August 2006. In April 2017, 154 (July 2005 192, four of whom were women) death row inmates were waiting to be killed by injection in Raleigh Central Prison . On December 2, 2005, the country's thousandth execution since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States of the double killer Kenneth Lee Boyd was carried out there after Governor Mike Easley refused a pardon. After a new guideline came into force in February 2007, according to which only capable persons, in particular doctors, were allowed to carry out the execution, the North Carolina Medical Board threatened disciplinary measures up to the withdrawal of the license if a doctor actively participated in an execution. This de facto suspended the death penalty. The North Carolina Constitutional Court then ruled in 2009 that the threatened disciplinary sanctions were illegal. The death penalty is still being suspended because of another ongoing process (as of 2009).

Number of executions per year:

North Dakota

There have been only eight executions in North Dakota's history, the last being in 1905. A 1915 law allowed the death penalty only for treason and for murder committed by a prisoner who was already serving a life sentence. In 1973 the death penalty was completely abolished.

Ohio

After the nationwide moratorium on executions was lifted in 1976, a total of 55 people were executed. Ohio (Indiana follows at a considerable distance) is the state with the most executions of the states assigned to the Northern states. Almost all of the states that have fought on the side of the Confederate States of America are among those with the most executions.

The events during the execution on January 16, 2014 of the murderer Dennis McGuire , who had been given a previously untested combination of hydromorphone and midazolam , led to the suspension of all further executions planned for 2014. At the beginning of January 2015, the responsible prison authorities announced that they would forego the drugs used in McGuire's execution in future executions and instead want to use the thiopental that was used before 2011 again . In addition, the Ohio Senate passed a law in December 2014 that allows drug suppliers to remain anonymous. In order to be able to carry out these measures, the six executions planned for 2015 were suspended and postponed to 2016. In October 2015, Governor John Kasich postponed the dates for twelve executions indefinitely. The first delinquent after the end of this moratorium was the 43-year-old Roland R. Phillips who was executed with a combination of midazolam, rocuronium and potassium chloride on July 26, 2017 .

Currently (as of December 2017) there are 138 people sentenced to death in Ohio.

Number of executions per year:

Oklahoma

On April 29, 2014, the 38-year-old Clayton Lockett was executed in Oklahoma as the 111th  delinquent in that US state since 1976. Lockett was supposed to die from the administration of a previously untested combination of midazolam , vecuronium, and potassium chloride . Upon administration, a vein burst and Lockett had violent reactions that suggested an excruciating process of death. Lockett died of a heart attack 43 minutes after the execution, which had been abandoned as a result of the incident, began . Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin ordered an investigation into the incident and imposed a two-week moratorium on all further executions, which was extended to six months by the Oklahoma Supreme Court on May 8, 2014. Despite massive protests, for example by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights , Oklahoma resumed the method of execution used by Lockett with the execution of Charles Warner (1967-2015) on January 15, 2015.

On April 9, 2015, a law was unanimously passed allowing the execution to be carried out by gassing with nitrogen if lethal injection is prohibited or the chemicals required for it are not available. Killing by asphyxiation with nitrogen has not been tested in humans and is even banned in animals in various states.

A referendum aimed at further tightening the death penalty was approved by 66 percent for the election of the US President and Congress on November 8, 2016. It empowers lawmakers to determine any method of execution that is not prohibited by the United States Constitution. In addition, the new constitution sets a high hurdle for abolition through new laws and court rulings.

If the population of 2010 is compared with the executions up to January 17, 2016, Oklahoma is at the top with 2.99 executions per 100,000 inhabitants, ahead of Texas with a rate of 2.11.

Number of executions per year:

Oregon

The governor of Oregon , John Kitzhaber ( Democratic Party ), had suspended all executions in November 2011 of "moral grounds". Thus, the executions are not formally canceled, but postponed for an indefinite period. In doing so, he gives his previous pardon policy an official note, since no one had been executed for many years before this step. Kitzhaber's successor, Kate Brown , announced shortly after taking office on February 18, 2015 that she would continue this policy and want to abolish the death penalty in Oregon in the long term.

Pennsylvania

Although the death penalty is formally legal in Pennsylvania, no one has been executed since 1999. However, comparable to California, where no executions are currently taking place, a large number of prisoners (155, as of December 2017) are on death row. Their executions were repeatedly postponed due to various legal examinations. Both Democratic Governor Ed Rendell ( 2003-2011 ) and his Republican successor Tom Corbett (2011-2015) supported the death penalty. Both of them countersigned several execution orders (as stipulated by the state's constitution). On February 13, 2015, around three weeks after taking office, the new Democratic governor Tom Wolf , who is strictly opposed to executions , imposed a moratorium on the death penalty.

If the population of 2010 is compared with the executions up to January 17, 2016, Pennsylvania ranks second to last, ahead of Colorado with 0.02 executions per 100,000 inhabitants.

Rhode Island

The death penalty was first abolished in Rhode Island in 1852. It was reintroduced in 1872, but no executions took place until it was finally abolished on May 9, 1984. The last execution of John Gordon was on February 14, 1845 by hanging. On June 29, 2011, Gordon was posthumously pardoned by Governor Lincoln Chafee because the trial of the Irish Catholic immigrant was unfair and is now believed to have been a misjudgment.

South carolina

Number of executions per year:

South Dakota

There have been five executions in South Dakota since 1976, two of them in 2012 and the most recent in 2019. One inmate is currently sentenced to death. (As of December 2019)

Number of executions per year:

Tennessee

There have been eight executions in Tennessee since 1976, most recently in November 2018. There are currently 60 inmates sentenced to death, 59 men and one woman. (As of August 2018)

Governor Bill Haslam is a proponent of the death penalty . After there was a shortage of delivery of the drug cocktail for lethal injection (the execution method currently used in Tennessee), Haslam signed a law on May 22, 2014, which makes the electric chair the primary method again, in the event that execution by lethal injection is due lack of medication cannot be enforced. The electric chair was used again for the first time in Tennessee in November 2018, after not being used in the entire United States since 2013.

Number of executions per year:

Texas

The Texas judiciary has carried out 555 executions since 1976, more than the next six executing states combined. The cause is not only the number of death sentences passed in the first instance, but also the fact that the two Texas appeals courts only overturn these sentences in three percent of the cases they deal with, which, along with the number of executions, is a US-wide record represents. According to a study of 6,000 death sentences between 1976 and 1995, there is a 68 percent chance nationwide that a death sentence will be overturned by a state or federal court.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly overturned death sentences imposed by Texas courts as unconstitutional, most recently in November 2004 in the case of an apparently less competent offender (Smith v. Texas, No. 04-5323). The main reason the Supreme Court rulings is usually the fact that the Texas Appeals Courts neglect the mitigating circumstances required for the constitutionality of the death penalty. Another reason is the racial discrimination practiced by prosecutors when selecting the jury by rejecting African Americans as jurors in trials against black defendants.

Currently (April 2017) 247 convicts await execution in Texas prisons (415 in July 2005). This number is only surpassed by Florida with 386 and California with 744 death row inmates (648 in July 2005), but California is much more reluctant to enforce (13 executions from 1976 to 2006). In Florida, 21 people were executed from 2010 to 2015, compared to 84 in Texas during the same period.

Shortly before the 400th execution in 30 years in Texas, on August 21, 2007 , the European Union called on then Governor Rick Perry to suspend the execution of death sentences. A third of all US executions have taken place in Texas since 1976, and the trend is rising; in 2015 it was 46%. A Perry spokesman said Texas would continue to carry out death sentences.

Executions in Texas are only carried out in the Huntsville Unit .

If the population of 2010 is compared with the executions up to January 17, 2016, Oklahoma is at the top with 2.99 executions per 100,000 inhabitants, ahead of Texas with a rate of 2.11.

Number of executions per year:

Share (%) of all executions in the US in each year (total 38%):

From 1976 to 1991 relatively few people (42) were executed by Texan standards. Under George W. Bush and Rick Perry, however, a total of 430 people were executed between 1995 and 2014, most of them in 1999 and 2000 (75 together) when Bush ran for the presidency of the United States.

Texas executed most women (6 out of 16), most foreigners (16 out of 37), and most perpetrators under 18 at the time (13 out of 22).

In County Harris alone, 126 of the people sentenced were executed. That's more than any other state. With the Counties of Dallas (56), Bexar (42) and Tarrant (40) almost half (264; 48.4%) of all executions in Texas were carried out.

In January 2016, 35-year-old James F. fought with death for 16 minutes.

Utah

The first executions in Utah took place in 1850. The first killed a Ute called Patsowits was charged with a garrote strangled, an unnamed known immigrants was beheaded. Hanging and firing squads later became common methods of execution. The electric chair was approved but never used. Utah was the first state to resume executions after the statewide moratorium expired. The first took place in 1977. Utah is the only state that still has shootings going on. However, the primary method of execution is lethal injection.

Number of executions per year:

Vermont

In Vermont there was a first attempt to abolish the death penalty as early as 1838. A corresponding bill was rejected by a narrow majority. In the 20th century, the death penalty was gradually abolished. The last execution took place in 1954. From 1965 onwards, only the murder of a law enforcement officer, prison guard or employee while performing his duties could be punished with death. In 1987 this exception was also lifted. The death penalty was thus abolished under normal criminal law, but in theory it can still be imposed for treason. A 2008 poll found that 66 percent of Vermonters are in favor of reintroducing the death penalty.

Virginia

Virginia has carried out 113 executions since 1976 as of December 2017. After Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia are the second highest and third highest number of executions, respectively. During the tenure of former Democratic Governor Mark Warner (January 2002 – January 2006), eleven death sentences were carried out through November 2005. From 2010 to 2015, 6 death sentences were carried out. This is significantly less than in Oklahoma (21), Florida (23), Missouri (19), Georgia (14) or even Texas (84). In Virginia, the number of people sentenced to death with currently four people (as of December 2017) is relatively low compared to other states that also carry out the death penalty.

Virginia almost carried out the 1,000th execution in the US in November 2005, but the candidate was pardoned because evidence important to possibly proving his innocence had been removed by a judicial officer. A few days later, this thousandth execution was carried out in the state of North Carolina.

Number of executions per year:

Washington

Five people have been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The last execution was carried out in 2010.

On February 11, 2014, Washington state governor Jay Inslee announced a moratorium on all existing death sentences. He justified this by stating that an examination lasting several months had revealed inconsistent and uneven use of the death penalty. On October 11, 2018, the state's highest court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional because it was imposed arbitrarily and with a racist bias . With the court ruling, the remaining death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.

Number of executions per year:

West Virginia

Until 1950, all death sentences in West Virginia were executed by hanging. In 1951 this method was replaced by the electric chair. The last execution took place in 1959. A total of 94 people were killed between 1899 and 1959 - all of them were men. In 1965 West Virginia abolished the death penalty. There have been several attempts to reintroduce the law, the last of which was a failure in 2011.

Wisconsin

There was only one execution in the history of Wisconsin. In 1851 John McCaffary was found guilty of the murder of his wife and hanged in public in front of 3,000 spectators. He was pulled into the air by a rope, which resulted in a long agony. Only after 20 minutes was he officially declared dead. This gruesome form of execution helped Wisconsin become the first state to completely and permanently abolish the death penalty in 1853 (Michigan abolished it in 1847, but treason could theoretically be imposed until 1962; Rhode Island abolished it in 1852, between 1872 and 1984 but formally reintroduced). The trial of serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer led to heightened demands for the reinstatement of the death penalty in the early 1990s. Between 1991 and 1996, 22 corresponding bills were introduced, but all of them failed. According to a 2006 referendum , 55 percent of Wisconsin residents were in favor of reintroducing the death penalty.

Wyoming

The death penalty was reintroduced in Wyoming in 1977. Since then, one execution has taken place in 1992. In 1998 and 2004 there was one conviction that has not yet been carried out. Since 2004 the death penalty can no longer be imposed on young people.

Complete overview

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Number of states that executed people in a year:

Executions by state and year:

year	MO	AL	AR	AZ	CA	CO	CT	DE	FE	FL	GA	ID	IL	IN	KY	LA	MD	MS	MT	NC	NE	NM	NV	OH	OK	OR	PA	SC	SD	TN	TX	UT	VA	WA	WY	Σ
1977																																1				1
1979										1													1													2
1981														1																						1
1982																															1		1			2
1983		1								1	1					1		1																		5
1984										8th	2					5				2											3		1			21st
1985										3	3			1		1							1					1			6th		2			18th
1986		1								3	1									1								1			10		1			18th
1987		1								1	5					8th		2													6th	1	1			25th
1988										2	1					3															3	1	1			11
1989	1	4th								2	1							1					2								4th		1			16
1990	4th	1	2							4th			1			1							1		1			1			4th		3			23
1991	1									2	1					1				1								1			5		2			14th
1992	1	2	2	1	1			1		2										1					2						12	1	4th		1	31
1993	4th			2	1			2		3	2					1															17th		5	1		38
1994			5					1		1	1	1	1	1			1			1	1										14th		2	1		31
1995	6th	2	2	1				1		3	2		5			1			1	2					3		2	1			19th		5			56
1996	6th	1	1	2	2			3		2	2		1	1		1					1		1		2	1		6th			3	1	8th			45
1997	6th	3	4th	2		1				1			2	1	1	1	1				1				1	1		2			37		9			74
1998	3	1	1	4th	1					4th	1		1	1			1		1	3			1		4th			7th			20th		13	1		68
1999	9	2	4th	7th	2			2		1			1	1	1	1				4th			1	1	6th		1	4th			35	1	14th			98
2000	5	4th	2	3	1			1		6th						1				1					11			1		1	40		8th			85
2001	7th		1		1			2	2	1	4th			2						5		1	1	1	18th						17th		2	1		66
2002	6th	2			1					3	4th					1		2		2				3	7th			3			33		4th			71
2003	2	3	1						1	3	3			2						7th				3	14th						24		2			65
2004		2	1							2	2						1			4th			2	7th	6th			4th			23		5			59
2005	5	4th	1		2		1	1		1	3			5			1	1		5				4th	4th			3			19th					60
2006		1			1					4th				1				1	1	4th			1	5	4th			1		1	24		4th			53
2007		3		1							1			2										2	3			1	1	2	26th					42
2008										2	3				1			2						2	2			3			18th		4th			37
2009	1	6th								2	3			1										5	3			2		2	24		3			52
2010		5		1						1	2					1		3						8th	3						17th	1	3	1		46
2011	1	6th		4th				1		2	4th	1						2						5	2			1			13		1			43
2012				6th				1		3		1						6th						3	6th				2		15th					43
2013	2	1		2						7th	1													3	6th						16		1			39
2014	10			1						8th	2													1	3						10					35
2015	6th									2	5														1						13		1			28
2016	1	2								1	9																				7th					20th
2017	1	3	4th							3	1													2							7th	2				23
Σ	88	61	31	37	13	1	1	16	3	95	70	3	12	20th	3	28	5	21st	3	43	3	1	12	53	112	2	3	43	3	6th	545	7th	113	5	1	1465

Executed Women by State and Year

year	AL	AR	FL	GA	NC	OK	TX	VA	Σ
1984					1				1
1998			1				1		2
2000		1					1		2
2001						3			3
2002	1		1						2
2005							1		1
2010								1	1
2013							1		1
2014							2		2
2015				1					1
Σ	1	1	2	1	1	3	6th	1	16

Executed foreigners by state and year:

year	AZ	CA	FL	GA	LA	NV	OK	TX	VA	Σ
1988					1					1
1993								2		2
1995				1						1
1997			1					1	1	3
1998	1						1		1	3
1999	2	1				1		1		5
2000								1		1
2001						1	1			2
2002			1					1	1	3
2003								1		1
2004							1			1
2006			1					1		2
2008								2		2
2009								1	1	2
2011			1					1		2
2014			1					3		4th
2015									1	1
2017								1		1
Σ	3	1	5	1	1	2	3	16	5	37

Executed perpetrators who were under 18 at the time of the crime:

year	MO	GA	LA	OK	SC	TX	VA	Σ
1985						1		1
1986					1	1		2
1990			1					1
1992						1		1
1993	1	1				2		4th
1998						2	1	3
1999				1				1
2000						2	2	4th
2001						1		1
2002						3		3
2003				1				1
Σ	1	1	1	2	1	13	3	22nd

Executed offenders who have waived further legal tests (so-called "volunteers"):

year	MO	AL	AR	AZ	CA	CT	DE	FE	FL	GA	ID	IL	IN	KY	LA	MD	MT	NC	NM	NV	OH	OK	OR	PA	SC	SD	TN	TX	UT	VA	WA	Σ
1977																													1			1
1979																				1												1
1981													1																			1
1982																														1		1
1985													1							1								2				4th
1986																												1				1
1987																												2				2
1988																													1			1
1989																				2												2
1990	2		1									1								1								2				7th
1992							1																									1
1993				1	1		1		1																			1		1	1	7th
1994											1					1												2				4th
1995							1											1				1		2				1		1		7th
1996				1			1																1		3			2	1			9
1997																						1	1		1			2				5
1998				1								1	1					1		1		2						1			1	9
1999			1											1				1		1	1			1				4th	1	1		12
2000	1	1	1						2																							5
2001			1		1			1					1						1	1		2								1	1	10
2002		1							2													1			1					2		7th
2003	1								2																			1				4th
2004		1							1									1		2	2							2		1		10
2005		1				1			1				1								1				1			2				8th
2006																	1			1	2				1							5
2007				1																	1					1	1	1				5
2008														1											1			1				3
2009		1																										1				2
2010															1																	1
2011		1																							1							2
2012							1																			1						2
2013		1							1																					1		3
2015																												1				1
2016										1																		1				2
Σ	4th	7th	4th	4th	2	1	5	1	10	1	1	2	5	2	1	1	1	4th	1	11	7th	7th	2	3	9	2	1	30th	4th	9	3	147

Number of executions from 1976 to January 17, 2016 in relation to the resident population of the states in 2010:

Country	Residents	Executions	Executions per 100,000 population
Oklahoma	3,751,351	112	2.99
Texas	25.145.561	531	2.11
Delaware	897.934	16	1.78
Missouri	5,988,927	86	1.44
Virginia	8.001.024	111	1.39
Alabama	4,779,736	56	1.17
South carolina	4,625,364	43	0.93
Arkansas	2,915,918	27	0.93
Mississippi	2,967,297	21st	0.71
Georgia	9,687,653	60	0.62
Louisiana	4,533,372	28	0.62
Arizona	6,392,017	37	0.58
Florida	18,801,310	92	0.49
Ohio	11,536,504	53	0.46
North Carolina	9,535,483	43	0.45
Nevada	2,700,551	12	0.44
South Dakota	814.180	3	0.37
Indiana	6,483,802	20th	0.31
Montana	989.415	3	0.30
Utah	2,763,885	7th	0.25
Idaho	1,567,582	3	0.19
Wyoming	563,626	1	0.18
Nebraska	1,826,341	3	0.16
Tennessee	6.346.105	6th	0.09
Illinois	12,830,632	12	0.09
Maryland	5,773,552	5	0.09
Washington	6,724,540	5	0.07
Kentucky	4,339,367	3	0.07
Oregon	3,831,074	2	0.05
New Mexico	2,059,179	1	0.05
California	37.253.956	13	0.03
Connecticut	3,574,097	1	0.03
Pennsylvania	12,702,379	3	0.02
Colorado	5,029,196	1	0.02
new York	19.378.102		0.00
Michigan	9,883,640		0.00
Massachusetts	6,547,629		0.00
Wisconsin	5,686,986		0.00
Minnesota	5,303,925		0.00
Iowa	3,046,355		0.00
Kansas	2,853,118		0.00
West Virginia	1,852,994		0.00
Hawaii	1.360.301		0.00
Maine	1,328,361		0.00
New Hampshire	1,316,470		0.00
Rhode Island	1,052,567		0.00
Alaska	710.231		0.00
North Dakota	672.591		0.00
Vermont	625.741		0.00
District of Columbia	601.723		0.00

Number of people executed by counties with at least five death sentences that were carried out:

	1979	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	2000	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	Σ
AL Jefferson										1	1					1		2			1			1						2	1						1	1	12
AL Madison																			1				1									2					1		5
AL Mobile				1			1	1		1			1					1			1						1				1	1							10
AR Pulaski																					2			1														2	5
AZ Maricopa																	1		2	2								1			1	2	2						11
AZ Pima													1			1	1		2	3	1											1	1	1	1				13
DE Kent															1		2			2		1																	6th
DE New Castle													1	1		1	1				1	1				1						1	1						9
FL Duval					2	1	2				1		1																									1	8th
FL Hillsborough					1																			1						1		1						1	5
FL Miami-Dade				1	1	1		1							1	1							1				1					1	1	1	1				12
FL orange					1											1		1	1		1		1											2		1	1		9
FL Pinellas											1													1							1		2	1					6th
GA Bibb				1		1		1											1			1																	5
GA Cobb						1										1						1										1			1		1		6th
GA Muscogee							1	2							1								1																5
IL Cook															1	2		2																					5
IN Marion		1													1		1	1								1													5
MO Jackson														1		1				1	1		2												2	1			9
MO St. Charles																	1						1												2	1			5
MO St. Louis											1	1								3	1	2				5									2	2			17th
MO St. Louis City														1		3	1	1	2	1	1	1										1		1					13
NC Mecklenburg												1							1			1		1		1													5
NV Clark	1					1				1	1						1		1			1			1														8th
OH Cuyahoga																				1		1		1	1						1	2		1				1	9
OH Hamilton																							2		1	2				1	2	2							10
OH Summit																									1	1	1		1		1		1						7th
OK Comanche																				1		1		3		1													6th
OK Oklahoma													1							2	6th	8th	7th	6th	2	2	1		1				2	1	1				40
OK Tulsa																1	1		1		1	3			1	1		1		1	1	1	2	1	1				17th
SC Charleston																	3	1		2			1						1										8th
TX Bexar						1		1	1					1	1	3		2	1	2	2	2		1	1		2	4th	1	4th	1	3	2		1	3		2	42
TX Bowie																		1					1			1	1					1							5
TX Brazos													2	2	1				1	2			2		1									1					12
TX Cameron												1	1	1				2									1												6th
TX Collin																		1		1					1						2						1		5
TX Dallas							1							1	1	5			2	5	6th	2	3	2	1	1	2	2	6th	1	2	2	5	2	1	2		1	56
TX Denton																		1									1	2				1							5
TX El Paso							1	2																						1	1								5
TX Galveston							1								2						1	1				1													6th
TX Gregg																				1			1					1	1				1						5
TX Harris					1		4th	1	1	3	3	2	6th	7th	7th	4th	1	11	3	5	1	1	4th	4th	8th	6th	9	9	4th	6th	3	1	1	3	3	2	2		126
TX Jefferson					1	1		1			1			1		1				1			2	1	2	1							1	1					15th
TX Lubbock																1					2	3					1			1				2					10
TX McLennan														1				2	1	1	1		1											1					8th
TX Montgomery								1				1				1			1		2	2	2	3							1		2						16
TX Navarro														1				1			1				1	1								1					6th
TX Nueces							1								1			1		1		1	2	1		2						1			1	1			13
TX Potter						1	1						1		1		1	1						1			1	2	1										11
TX Smith																				1	3	1	1	1			1	1						1		2			12
TX Tarrant			1			2										1	1	4th	3	4th	3	2	1	1	2		2		2	5		2	1		1			2	40
TX Taylor																1				2	2																		5
TX Travis																		1	1	1				2		2					1								8th
VA Chesterfield													1	1						5							1												8th
VA Fairfax											1								2		1		1													1			6th
VA Hampton City												1				1		1		1					1														5
VA Pittsylvania																		1	2	1											1								5
VA Portsmouth City											1							2		1							1												5
VA Prince William													1					2	1	1	1									2									8th
VA Virginia Beach City												1		2			1	2			2																		8th
Σ	1	1	1	3	6th	10	13	11	2	6th	11	8th	17th	21st	19th	31	17th	45	29	54	43	37	37	30th	25th	30th	27	23	18th	24	21st	24	25th	21st	18th	16	7th	11	725

source

The evaluations are based on the database of Deathpenalty.org.

Death penalty in federal military criminal law

The Uniform Code of Military Justice allows the death penalty for 15 criminal offenses (10 USC §§ 886 to 934). The reintroduction of the death penalty in military criminal law came in 1984 under President Reagan . Nine inmates at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas Military Prison are currently awaiting execution. In the case of three inmates, the proceedings are still pending; Six of the inmates are African American , two of European descent and one of Asian descent; all nine inmates are men. A death sentence must be pronounced unanimously by the jury (usually at least twelve jury members). However, a death sentence can only become effective after the superior ordering the process (usually a high-ranking commander) has approved the sentence and the President of the United States has expressly confirmed it.

Before the suspension of the death penalty, John A. Bennett 's final death sentence under the UCMJ was carried out in 1961 . According to statistics from the National Law Journal , 135 people were convicted and executed between 1916 and 1999.

Misjudgments

Human rights organizations view a not inconsiderable proportion of the death sentences in the USA as false convictions, which is one of the reasons why they reject the death penalty. According to Amnesty International estimates, 350 innocent people were sentenced to death in the United States between 1900 and 1985. 23 of them were only found to be innocent posthumously. Examples:

• Lena Baker , executed 1945 in Georgia , 2005 pardon
• Thomas Griffin , Meeks Griffin , executed in South Carolina in 1915 , pardon 2009

Since 1973, a total of 166 people in 28 states have been released from death row for proven innocence or serious doubts about their guilt. According to Amnesty, the causes are incompetent defense lawyers, misconduct by the judiciary and executive, or the admission of unreliable witnesses and evidence. In many cases, subsequent DNA analyzes were able to prove innocence.

A 2014 University of Michigan study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimated that over four percent of inmates sentenced to death in the United States were innocent and, if all of them remained under the death penalty, would be rehabilitated would have to. However, some of them die beforehand or do not experience the conversion to life imprisonment, which makes investigations with the aim of exoneration unlikely. The authors describe their result as a conservative, i.e. cautious estimate.

literature

history

• Richard C. Dieter: When the state kills. The death penalty in the US. In: Gunnar Köhne (Hrsg.): The future of human rights. Rowohlt-Verlag, Reinbek 1998, ISBN 3-499-22238-8 .
• David Garland: Peculiar Institution: America's Death Penalty in an Age of Abolition . Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge 2010. ISBN 0674057236
• Michael Kahr: 100 years of executions in the USA. The history of the death penalty in numbers. Kahr Media Verlag, Fürstenfeldbruck 2002, ISBN 3-935678-03-7 .
• Larry Wayne Koch, Colin Wark, John F. Galliher: The Death of the American Death Penalty: States Still Leading the Way. Northeastern University Press, Lebanon 2012, ISBN 978-1-55553-782-1 .
• Jürgen Martschukat: History of the death penalty in North America, from colonial times to the present. Beck-Verlag, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-47611-2 .
• Dominik Nagl: No Part of the Mother Country, but Distinct Dominions - Legal Transfer, State Building and Governance in England, Massachusetts and South Carolina, 1630–1769. LIT, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-643-11817-2 , pp. 230-232, pp. 499-515. on-line
• Stephen Trombley: The Execution Industry. The death penalty in the US. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek 1993, ISBN 3-498-06507-6 .

Individual cases

• Jürgen Martschukat: "With Grace and Dignity". Gary Gilmore, Death Penalty and Masculinity in the US 1970s. In: Amerikastudien / American Studies 49, 3, 2004, pp. 385–408.
• Bryan Stevenson: Without Mercy: Police violence and arbitrariness in the United States. Piper, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-492-05722-6 .

Statistical Studies

• Johan Thorstein Sellin: Capital Punishment. AMS Press Inc., Brooklyn NY 1982, ISBN 0-404-62429-4 .
• Isaac Ehrlich: The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment. A Question of Life and Death. In: The American Economic Review 65, June 3, 1975, ISSN  0002-8282 , pp. 397-417.
• Peter Passell, John B. Taylor: The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment. Another view. In: The American Economic Review 67, June 3, 1977, ISSN  0002-8282 , pp. 445-451

Legal aspects

• Carol S. Steiker, Jordan M. Steiker: Courting Death. The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment . Harvard University Press, Cambridge 2016. ISBN 9780674737426

Pros and cons

• Hugo Adam Bedau, Paul B. Cassell (Eds.): Debating the Death Penalty. Should America Have Capital Punishment? The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Case. Oxford University Press, Oxford u. a. 2005, ISBN 0-19-517980-3 .
• Stephen Nathanson: An Eye for an Eye? The immorality of Punishing by Death . 2nd edition. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham MD et al. a. 2001, ISBN 0-7425-1326-2 .

Web links

bibliography

• Books from the Lloyd Sealy Library Collections: Capital Punishment

statistics

• Death Penalty Information Center (English)
• Executions from 1976 to 2014 (English)
• Louis P. Pojman: Deterrence and the Death Penalty ( Memento of October 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Individual states

• The death penalty in Texas

Testimonials

• Interviews with eyewitnesses of executions (English)
• About Jerry Givens' transformation from "hangman" to opponent of the death penalty

History of the death penalty in the US and Europe

• Armin Heinen: The "new Europe" and the "old America". The history of the death penalty in Germany, France and the USA and the invention of the civilizing tradition of Europe

Innocent

• Brief portraits of all exonerated prisoners between 1973 and 2010 PDF

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Executions by State and Region Since 1976 Website of the Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved May 6, 2020
2. ↑ Death Row Overview Website of the Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved May 6, 2020
3. ↑ theguardian.com July 2, 2014: Former Illinois governor 'regrets' allowing state's last execution
4. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2019-05/usa-new-hampshire-todesstrafe- Abschendung
5. ↑ Death Penalty Abolished - Connecticut no longer wants to execute people
6. ↑ United States: Washington no longer executes the death penalty . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . February 12, 2014, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed January 14, 2017]).
7. ^ ^{A b} Death Penalty in America: Maryland Governor Pardons Four Detainees . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 2, 2015, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed January 14, 2017]).
8. ↑ http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf
9. ↑ Executions in the United States from 1680-1976
10. ^ ^{A b} Thad Rueter: Why Women Aren't Executed: Gender Bias and the Death Penalty , Human Rights, Fall 1996, Vol. 23, No. 4, p.10-11. online under Fall 1996 Human Rights Magazine ( December 8, 2008 memento on the Internet Archive ).
11. ↑ January 17th. In: Calendar sheet. Deutsche Welle , accessed on August 8, 2016 . 
12. ^ Sixty-Nine Percent of Americans Support Death Penalty
13. ↑ ^{a b} Fact and figures on the death penalty
14. ↑ innocenceproject.org, press release of May 11, 2007 ( Memento of July 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ Death penalty costs California $ 184 million a year, study says, latimes.com, June 20, 2011
16. ↑ EU and USA sign new extradition agreement. Deutsche Welle, October 29, 2009, accessed May 25, 2013 . 
17. ↑ Amnesty International: Good News: Death Penalty Abolished in Colorado , March 24, 2020, accessed July 3, 2020.
18. ↑ http://www.blick.ch/news/ausland/todesstrafe-zahl-der-hinrichtungen-in-usa-sinkt-deutlich-id4471431.html
19. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.taz.de/!5262109/
20. ↑ Court declares death penalty unconstitutional in Delaware. Zeit, August 3, 2016, accessed November 15, 2017 . 
21. ↑ http://www.amnesty-todesstrafe.de/files/reader_todesstrafe-in-den-usa.pdf
22. ↑ UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT (PDF; 280 kB)
23. ^ Arizona Death Row Inmate Debra Milke's Conviction Overturned
24. ↑ Harvard University Law School: America's Top Five Deadliest Prosecutors , Fair Punishment Project, June 2016
25. ^ Quartz: Just five prosecutors are responsible for 440 Americans — that's one in seven — on death row , July 7, 2016
26. ^ Death penalty for a lie - The Dieter Riechmann case ( Memento from January 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 7, 2012
27. ↑ German prisoner of death in the United States escapes execution , Focus Online, May 14th 2010, accessed 18 May 2010
28. ↑ LaGrand (Germany v. United States of America) ( Memento from June 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
29. ↑ US was in breach of international law by executing Mexican murderer and rapist, says UN official , Daily Mail, July 8, 2011
30. ↑ Texan governor enters the election race, on ARD Tagesschau ( Memento from September 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
31. ↑ Spiegel-Online August 13, 2011: US presidential election 2012. Rick Perry wants to challenge Obama
32. ↑ see for example spiegel.de August 21, 2007: EU calls for a freeze of executions in Texas .
33. ↑ Governor of Texas forbids EU criticism of the death penalty ( Memento of August 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (yahoo! News, August 22, 2007)
34. ↑ DPIC: Death Penalty for Offenses Other Than Murder ( Memento from February 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
35. ^ Court to consider death penalty for child rape , Reuters, April 13, 2008
36. ^ The New York Times, June 26, 2008: Justices Bar Death Penalty For the Rape of a Child - last accessed October 7, 2010
37. ↑ A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases, 1973–1995 ( Memento of March 3, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
38. ^ Salgado, Richard: Tribunals Organized To Convict. CBS Business Network, accessed May 19, 2010 . 
39. ^ Samuel Gross: The Risks of Death: Why Erroneous Convictions Are Common in Capital Cases . Buffalo L. Rev. 469, 494, 1996.
40. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/fbi-todesstrafe-101.html ( Memento from April 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
41. ↑ Spiegel Online US state Georgia executes death row inmate
42. ↑ Executions in the USA: What decides about life and death , article by Markus C. Schulte von Drach on sueddeutsche.de , July 7, 2008.
43. ^ Nebraska court bans the electric chair , CNN bulletin, accessed June 22, 2008
44. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Murderous Comebacks , May 29, 2014. Accessed May 31, 2014.
45. ↑ Utah reintroduces firing squads. In: Spiegel Online of March 24, 2015 (accessed December 11, 2016).
46. ↑ faz
47. ↑ ^{a b} Death Penalty Information Center - Alabama
48. ^ Richard Hartley-Parkinson: Death row inmate Doyle Lee Hamm who survived execution causing 'great pain' shows injuries. In: Metro , February 26, 2018 (accessed February 26, 2018).
49. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Alaska
50. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Arizona
51. ↑ Arizona halts executions after Joseph Wood case , bbc.com, July 25, 2014.
52. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Arkansas
53. ↑ https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/federal-death-penalty/list-of-federal-death-row-prisoners#list .
54. ^ Greg Norman: Wesley Ira Purkey executed by lethal injection, the second federal execution this week. Fox News, July 16, 2020, accessed July 17, 2020 . 
55. ↑ Death Penalty in Colorado ( Memento from January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
56. ↑ Death Penalty in Flux
57. ↑ Off for Death Penalty in Colorado , DW, March 24, 2020
58. ↑ Connecticut Senate votes for abolition of the death penalty . Retrieved April 12, 2012.
59. ↑ GOV. MALLOY ON SIGNING BILL TO REPEAL CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Governor's Office, Dannel P. Malloy, April 25, 2012, accessed April 26, 2012 . 
60. ↑ Death penalty abolished in Connecticut. Der Standard , April 26, 2012, accessed April 26, 2012 . 
61. ↑ Connecticut Supreme Court Finds Death Penalty Violates State Constitution
62. ↑ http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/connecticut_supreme_court_rules_death_penalty_unconstitutional/
63. ↑ USA: Court declares the death penalty unconstitutional in Delaware. In: Zeit Online. August 3, 2016, accessed August 3, 2016 . 
64. ^ Death Row Fact Sheet . Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
65. ↑ Freeze of execution in Florida. Announcement on the website of the Initiative against the Death Penalty eV from February 21, 2015 (accessed on February 24, 2015).
66. ↑ zeit.de September 22, 2011: Troy Davis executed despite international protests
67. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Hawaii
68. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Idaho
69. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Methods of Execution
70. ↑ Focus : Illinois Abolishes the Death Penalty , March 9, 2011.
71. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Iowa
72. ↑ California suspends the death penalty in: Nordbayerischer Kurier of March 14, 2019, p. 6.
73. ↑ Amnesty International (ed.): When the State Kills - Death Penalty in the United States . ( amnesty-todesstrafe.de [PDF]).
74. ↑ Article California Proposition 34, the End the Death Penalty Initiative (2012) , ballotpedia.org, accessed November 6, 2012
75. ↑ Death penalty opponents move closer to November ballot initiative , Los Angeles Times, March 1, 2012, accessed November 6, 2012
76. ^ Statement of Vote. (PDF (31 KiB)) California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, December 14, 2012, p. 69 , archived from the original on December 22, 2012 ; accessed on December 15, 2012 . 
77. ↑ Los Angeles Times : Federal judge rules California death penalty is unconstitutional, July 16, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2014
78. ↑ NationalJournal: Federal Judge Rules Death Penalty Unconstitutional in California, July 16, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2014
79. ↑ USA: US appeals court upholds the death penalty system in California . In: The time . November 13, 2015, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed January 14, 2017]).
80. ↑ Death penalty in the US: California wants to restart executions . In: sueddeutsche.de . November 1, 2015, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed January 14, 2017]).
81. ↑ ^{a b} Support for death penalty still very strong. But increasing preference for life in prison without parole for those convicted of capital crimes ( Memento from September 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 50 kB), press release of the Field Research Corporation, September 29, 2011
82. ↑ Here Are The Results of SurveyUSA News Poll # 19044 , surveyusa.com, accessed November 6, 2012
83. ^ ^{A b} Death Penalty Information Center - Kansas
84. ^ Kansas Legislators Ok Bill To Restore Death Penalty , Orlando Sentinel, April 10, 1994.
85. ↑ Kansas death penalty ruled unconstitutional , cnn.com, December 17, 2004.
86. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Maine
87. ^ Joe Sutton: Maryland governor signs death penalty repeal. CNN , May 2, 2013, accessed May 3, 2013 . 
88. ^ Spiegel Online - US state of Maryland: Activists cheer for the abolition of the death penalty
89. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Michigan
90. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Minnesota
91. ↑ Missouri: Governor stops execution date. Retrieved March 20, 2015 . 
92. ^ Joanne Young: Nebraska governor signs lethal-injection bill. Lincoln Journal Star , May 28, 2009, accessed May 19, 2010 . 
93. ↑ Nebraska abolishes the death penalty. In: Spiegel Online, May 21, 2015.
94. ↑ Parliament outvotes governor: Nebraska abolishes the death penalty. In: Spiegel Online . May 28, 2015, accessed June 9, 2018 . 
95. ↑ US Elections: Nebraska Death Penalty Reintroduced at diepresse.com, accessed November 9, 2016
96. ^ New Hampshire Abolishes the Death Penalty Washington Post, May 30, 2019
97. ^ New Hampshire Abolishes the Death Penalty Washington Post, May 30, 2019
98. ^ The New York Times: Death Penalty Repealed in New Jersey
99. ^ New Mexico abolishes the death penalty
100. ↑ The Death Penalty in New York , p. 12 (PDF; 359 kB) accessed October 1, 2010.
101. ↑ James Dao: Death Penalty in New York Reinstated after 18 Years, accessed October 1, 2010.
102. ↑ William Glaberson: 4-3 Ruling Effectively Halts Death Penalty in New York , in: The New York Times, June 25, 2004 accessed October 1, 2010.
103. ^ Cornell University Law School: New York Court of Appeals 2007 NY Int. 135 accessed October 1, 2010.
104. ^ Brendan Scott: Gov Pulls Switch on Death Cell , New York Post, July 24, 2008 accessed October 1, 2010.
105. ^ M. Burns: North Carolina Supreme Court Overrules State Medical Board's Ban on Doctor Participation in Executions. Death Penalty Information Center, May 1, 2009; accessed May 1, 2013 . 
106. ^ NC court overturns ban on doctor participation in executions
107. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - North Dakota
108. ^ Dennis B. McGuire in the clarkprosecutor.org database (accessed January 28, 2015).
109. ^ Alan Johnson: Murderers in Ohio receive more time to live. In: Columbus Dispatch of January 10, 2015 (accessed January 11, 2015).
110. ↑ Editor's note : After botched executions, states add secrecy to the lethal injection process. In: The Washington Post, January 27, 2015 (accessed January 28, 2015).
111. ↑ Christian Rickens, dpa: Death penalty in the USA: Ohio suspends executions. In: Spiegel Online from January 31, 2015 (accessed January 31, 2015).
112. ↑ zeit.de October 20, 2015: Ohio suspends executions for two years
113. ↑ Eric Levenson, AnneClaire Stapleton: Ohio carries out first execution since 2014. In: CNN of July 26, 2017 (English, accessed August 23, 2017)
114. ^ Mark Berman: Ohio executes Ronald Phillips, resuming lethal injections after three-year break. In: The Washington Post of July 27, 2017 (accessed August 23, 2017).
115. ^ Clayton Derrell Lockett in the clarkprosecutor.org database (accessed February 12, 2015).
116. ↑ Benjamin Schulz / dpa / AP / Reuters : botched execution - murderer dies after a long agony. In: Spiegel Online of April 30, 2014 (accessed April 30, 2014).
117. ↑ AFP: Executions in Oklahoma are suspended. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of May 9, 2014 (accessed May 9, 2014).
118. ↑ Benjamin Knaack / AP / AFP: UN condemns agonizing execution of Clayton Lockett. In: Spiegel Online from May 2, 2014 (accessed May 3, 2014).
119. ^ Marc Pitzke: After scandal execution: Oklahoma executes murderers again. In: Spiegel Online from January 16, 2015 (accessed January 31, 2015).
120. ^ The Associated Press / The Hamilton Spectator, April 9, 2015, accessed April 12, 2015
121. ↑ governor of Oregon pardoned death row derstandard.at, 23 2011
122. ^ New Oregon Governor Kate Brown to extend death penalty moratorium , Reuters, February 20, 2015.
123. ↑ Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf Says Death Penalty Flawed, Imposes Moratorium , CBS-News Philly Local, February 13, 2015 (English)
124. ↑ RI governor pardons Irish was hanged in 1845 , Associated Press, June 29, 2011
125. ^ Department of Correctiong: Facts on the Death Penalty
126. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Tennessee introduces electric chair from May 23, 2014
127. ^ Basler Zeitung : EU demands moratorium on executions for the USA
128. ^ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Plea for clemency rejected: Texas executes poachers. In: SPIEGEL ONLINE. Retrieved January 14, 2017 . 
129. ↑ Hal Schindler: Taylor's Death Was Quick. . . But Some Weren't So Lucky, Executioner's Song - a Utah Reprise . In: The Salt Lake Tribune. January 28, 1996.
130. ↑ Pat Reavy: Utah has interesting history of executions . In: Deseret News. June 16, 2010.
131. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Utah
132. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Methods of Execution
133. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Vermont
134. ↑ ^{a b} Do Vermonters Support the Death Penalty? ( Memento of January 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), wcax.com, October 31, 2008.
135. ↑ Vermont - Abolishment of the death penalty except for treason
136. ↑ ^{a b} New York Times of November 30, 2005: Clemency Stops an Execution in Virginia
137. ↑ Washington abolishes the death penalty. In: tagesschau.de . October 12, 2018, accessed October 14, 2018.
138. ↑ Washington suspends the death penalty . In: Zeit Online . February 11, 2014, accessed February 12, 2014 . 
139. ↑ Quote: The death penalty is invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner. (P. 2)
140. ↑ Washington State abolishes the death penalty. In: Spiegel online . October 11, 2018.
141. ↑ www.courts.wa.gov: State V. Gregory, No. 88086-7 (PDF; 2.5 MB)
142. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - West Virginia
143. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Wisconsin
144. ^ Wisconsin Death Penalty Referendum Results
145. ^ Death Penalty Information Center - Wyoming
146. ↑ Searchable Execution Database | Death Penalty Information Center. In: www.deathpenaltyinfo.org. Retrieved January 14, 2017 . 
147. ^ Innocence Database. Retrieved July 27, 2019 (eng.). 
148. ^ Samuel R. Gross, Barbara O'Brien, Chen Hu, Edward H. Kennedy: Rate of false conviction of criminal defendants who are sentenced to death doi: 10.1073 / pnas.1306417111
149. ↑ Death penalty in the US: Four percent of those convicted are innocent. In: Spiegel Online . April 29, 2014, accessed May 1, 2014 .