Executions

Executions Overview

1584 men and women have been executed in the United States since the 1970s, although executions have declined significantly over the past two decades. Most executions have been concentrated in a few states and a small number of outlier counties.

DPIC Database: Execution Database

List of all defen­dants exe­cut­ed in the United States after 1976. Includes data such as sex, race, race of vic­tims, and method of execution

Upcoming Executions

Upcoming exe­cu­tions, stays of exe­cu­tion, and out­comes of death warrants

Executions in 2024

List of exe­cu­tions car­ried out in 2024. (For pre­vi­ous years, please see sidebar)

Outcomes of Death Warrants 2024

Outcomes of death war­rants, such as stays, reprieves, and reschedules

News & Developments


News

Jul 06, 2022

Oklahoma Court Schedules 25 Executions Between August 2022 and December 2024

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has set exe­cu­tion dates for 25 of the state’s 43 death-row pris­on­ers, sched­ul­ing near­ly an exe­cu­tion a month from August 2022 through December 2024. If car­ried out, the exe­cu­tion sched­ule, unprece­dent­ed in the state’s his­to­ry, would put to death 58% of the state’s death row, includ­ing mul­ti­ple pris­on­ers with severe men­tal ill­ness, brain dam­age, and claims of innocence.

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News

Nov 13, 2023

Alabama Schedules A Second Execution for Kenneth Smith, Using Nitrogen Gas for the First Time in U.S. History

On November 8, 2023, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey sched­uled an exe­cu­tion date for Kenneth Smith, mark­ing the first attempt by a U.S. state to use nitro­gen gas in an exe­cu­tion. Mr. Smith was con­vict­ed of the 1988 mur­der-for-hire death of Elizabeth Sennett in Jefferson County, Alabama and has been on death row for near­ly 34 years. Following the state Supreme Court’s 6 – 2 deci­sion green­light­ing Attorney General Steve Marshall’s request for an exe­cu­tion war­rant, Gov. Ivey set a 32-hour exe­cu­tion date time­frame begin­ning on January 25, 2024. Alabama pre­vi­ous­ly attempt­ed to…

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News

Aug 28, 2023

Alabama Attorney General Seeks Execution with Unprecedented, Untested Method Using Nitrogen Hypoxia

On August 25, 2023, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall asked the state Supreme Court to set a date for Kenneth Smith to be exe­cut­ed using nitro­gen hypox­ia, a method that has nev­er been used in any state. The deci­sion to use this method comes after Alabama botched sev­er­al exe­cu­tions. Since 2018, when Alabama ini­tial­ly autho­rized the use of nitro­gen hypox­ia in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, the state has been work­ing to estab­lish a pro­to­col for exe­cu­tions using this method. Alabama ini­tial­ly autho­rized nitro­gen hypox­ia amidst a short­age of lethal injec­tion drugs. Oklahoma…

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News

Aug 17, 2023

Death-Sentenced Prisoner Aubrey Trail Waives Appeals and Petitions Nebraska for Execution Date Despite Unavailability of Lethal Injection Drugs

On August 8, 2023, death-sen­tenced pris­on­er Aubrey Trail peti­tioned the state to set his exe­cu­tion date. Currently, there are 10 oth­ers on death row in Nebraska, but the state does not pos­sess the nec­es­sary lethal injec­tion drugs for any exe­cu­tions. Nebraska has not exe­cut­ed any­one in more than five years. The last per­son exe­cut­ed was Carey Dean Moore in 2018 via lethal injec­tion. Mr. Trail con­fessed to the 2017 killing of Sydney Loofe and was sen­tenced to death by a three-judge pan­el in 2021. In a let­ter to the Lincoln Star…

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News

Aug 16, 2023

Judge Orders Hearing for Idaho Prisoner Who Faced 5 Execution Dates, Claims of Repeated Psychological Torture’

Idaho U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has ruled in favor of death row pris­on­er Gerald Pizzuto, indef­i­nite­ly paus­ing his March 2023 exe­cu­tion date, and grant­i­ng him a hear­ing in his claim that the state of Idaho vio­lates his Constitutional right against cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment by repeat­ed­ly sched­ul­ing exe­cu­tion dates while know­ing the state does not have the means to car­ry it out. As Pizzuto describes it,” Judge Winmill wrote, defen­dants’ repeat­ed resched­ul­ing of his exe­cu­tion is like dry fir­ing in a mock exe­cu­tion or a game of Russian…

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News

Aug 01, 2023

8th Circuit Lift Stay of Execution for Death-Sentenced Missouri Prisoner with Schizophrenia

On July 29, 2023, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals lift­ed a tem­po­rary stay of exe­cu­tion that had been issued for Johnny Johnson, a death-sen­tenced pris­on­er in Missouri. Mr. Johnson’s attor­neys allege that he is insane and there­fore inel­i­gi­ble for exe­cu­tion. Barring a last-minute stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, Mr. Johnson will be exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion on August 1, 2023, for the 2002 killing of 6‑year-old Casey Williamson.

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News

Jul 24, 2023

Florida Man with Severe Mental Illness Waives Appeals, Faces August 3rd Execution Date

A week after Governor Ron DeSantis sched­uled his exe­cu­tion, Florida death-sen­tenced pris­on­er James Barnes (pic­tured) dis­charged his lawyers and waived his appeals. His exe­cu­tion will now pro­ceed on August 3, 2023. Since February 23, 2023, Florida has exe­cut­ed four pris­on­ers. Mr. Barnes will be the fifth pris­on­er exe­cut­ed by Florida this year and the tenth vol­un­teer executed. 

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News

Jul 07, 2023

Missouri Governor Lifts Stay of Execution for Marcellus Williams, Ending Inquiry of Innocence Claim

On June 29, 2023, Missouri Governor Mike Parson (pic­tured) lift­ed the stay of exe­cu­tion for Marcellus Williams, a death-sen­tenced pris­on­er con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing Felisha Gayle, a for­mer St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter in 1998. Governor Parson also dis­solved the Board of Inquiry, a judi­cial pan­el appoint­ed by for­mer Missouri Governor Eric Greitens to review evi­dence of inno­cence and pro­vide rec­om­men­da­tions on Mr. Williams’s appli­ca­tion for exec­u­tive clemency.

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