States With No Recent Executions

Updated September 20, 2024

Although the United States is con­sid­ered a death penal­ty coun­try, exe­cu­tions are rare or non-exis­tent in most of the nation: more than two-thirds of U.S. states—35 out of 50—have either abol­ished the death penal­ty or have not car­ried out an exe­cu­tion in at least 10 years. An addi­tion­al 3 states have not had an exe­cu­tion in at least 5 years, for a total of 38 states with no death penal­ty or no exe­cu­tions in that time. Two addi­tion­al juris­dic­tions (the District of Columbia and the Military) have not had an exe­cu­tion in at least 10 years.

The tables below list the juris­dic­tions with no exe­cu­tions in many years. The num­ber in paren­the­ses indi­cates total exe­cu­tions since 1976.

Note: A botched exe­cu­tion where the pris­on­er sur­vives is not includ­ed in deter­min­ing when a state last car­ried out an execution.

35 states, plus 2 jurisdictions (District of Columbia and Military), with no death penalty or no executions in at least 10 years
 

37 states, plus 2 jurisdictions, with no death penalty or no executions in at least 5 years