State by State

The Death Penalty Information Center pro­vides essen­tial sta­tis­tics like exe­cu­tion num­bers, death row pop­u­la­tion, and mur­der rates for each state. We also pro­vide his­tor­i­cal back­ground on the death penal­ty in each state, includ­ing abo­li­tion­ist states. Each state page also links to rel­e­vant web­sites, such as state leg­is­la­tures, groups doing death penal­ty work, and Departments of Corrections.

Hover over a state on the map to learn its death penal­ty sta­tus and year of rein­state­ment or abo­li­tion. For more in-depth infor­ma­tion on each state, click on the links below the map.

States With the Death Penalty (27)

In addition, the U.S. Government and the U.S. Military retain the death penalty.

States Without The Death Penalty (23)

In addition, the District of Columbia has abolished the death penalty. For more information about Connecticut, Delaware, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington, see the notes below.

Death Penalty States With a Gubernatorial Hold on Executions (6)

In California on Mar. 13, 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom said “I will not oversee the execution of any person while Governor...Our death penalty system has been, by all measures, a failure.”
Office of the Governor Gavin Newsom, Governor Gavin Newsom Orders a Halt to the Death Penalty in California, March 13, 2019

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced continuation of the hold on executions begun by Gov. Wolf and encouraged the legislature to approve the abolition of the death penalty. (2023)

In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown continued Gov. Kitzhaber's hold on executions and said there “needs to be a broader discussion” about the death penalty, and that the hold would continue until that discussion is resolved. She commuted all death sentences of those on death row in 2022.

In Arizona, Gov. Katie Hobbs stated: “Under my administration, an execution will not occur until the people of Arizona can have confidence that the state is not violating the law in carrying out the gravest of penalties.”
Jacques Billeaud, Arizona gov­er­nor won’t pro­ceed with exe­cu­tion set by court, Associated Press, March 3, 2023

In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine told The Associated Press on Dec. 8, 2020 that lawmakers must choose a different method of capital punishment before any inmates can be put to death in the future, and it’s "pretty clear” there won’t be any executions next year. 
https://apnews.com/article/ohio-mike-dewine-executions-2711171fd0e8c0ab87583bca99f4186e

In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee halted executions in 2022 and ordered a review of the state's execution protocol. He later announced that executions would not take place until the protocol had been fixed. “It’s a very important issue that has to be done correctly,” Lee told reporters on January 5, 2023. “And we will take the time to fix the protocol and to make certain that we don’t move forward until everything’s in place.”

In addition, the U.S. Government declared a hold on executions. See Memo FROM: THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
MORATORIUM ON FEDERAL EXECUTIONS PENDING REVIEW OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES, July 1, 2021
https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/1408636/download

Sources

In 1979, the Supreme Court of Rhode Island held that the state’s statute impos­ing a manda­to­ry death sen­tence for a pris­on­er who killed a fel­low pris­on­er was uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. The leg­is­la­ture repealed the law and removed it from the state crim­i­nal code in 1984.

In 2004, the New York Court of Appeals held that a por­tion of the state’s death penal­ty law was uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. In 2007, the court ruled that its pri­or hold­ing applied to the last remain­ing per­son on the state’s death row. The leg­is­la­ture has vot­ed down attempts to restore the statute.

In March 2009, New Mexico vot­ed to abol­ish the death penal­ty. However, the repeal was not retroac­tive, leav­ing two peo­ple on the state’s death row. The New Mexico Supreme Court vacat­ed those sen­tences on June 28, 2019 and ordered the two pris­on­ers be resen­tenced to life in prison.

In April 2012, the Connecticut leg­is­la­ture vot­ed to abol­ish the death penal­ty for future crimes. By its terms, the repeal law did not affect the sta­tus of the 11 pris­on­ers then on the state’s death row. The Connecticut Supreme Court sub­se­quent­ly ruled in August 2015 that the death penal­ty vio­lat­ed the state con­sti­tu­tion. The Court reaf­firmed that hold­ing in May 2016 and reit­er­at­ed that the state’s remain­ing death row pris­on­ers must be resen­tenced to life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole.

In March 2013, the Maryland leg­is­la­ture vot­ed to prospec­tive­ly abol­ish the death penal­ty. The bill, signed into law in May 2013, left five men on the state’s death row, one of whom sub­se­quent­ly died of nat­ur­al caus­es. On January 20, 2015, Governor Martin O’Malley com­mut­ed the sen­tences the four remain­ing death-row prisoners.

On August 2, 2016, the Delaware Supreme Court held that the state’s cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing pro­ce­dures were uncon­sti­tu­tion­al and struck down Delaware’s death penal­ty statute. In December 2016, the court ruled that its deci­sion applied to the 13 remain­ing pris­on­ers on the state’s death row. The leg­is­la­ture for­mal­ly removed the death penal­ty from state law in 2024.

On October 11, 2018, the Washington Supreme Court declared the state’s death penal­ty statute uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, say­ing that it was applied in an arbi­trary and racial­ly dis­crim­i­na­to­ry man­ner. The leg­is­la­ture for­mal­ly removed the death penal­ty from state law in 2023.

In May 2019, the New Hampshire leg­is­la­ture vot­ed to abol­ish the death penal­ty. However, the repeal was not retroac­tive, leav­ing one per­son on the state’s death row.

On March 23, 2020, Colorado prospec­tive­ly abol­ished the death penal­ty, leav­ing three peo­ple on death row. That same day, Governor Jared Polis com­mut­ed their death sentences.

In August 2019, the Oregon state leg­is­la­ture passed a new law that nar­row­ly lim­it­ed the crimes for which the death penal­ty may be imposed. The Oregon Supreme Court then ruled in October 2021 that car­ry­ing out the death penal­ty against indi­vid­u­als whose crimes were no longer statu­to­ri­ly eli­gi­ble for the death penal­ty con­sti­tut­ed dis­pro­por­tion­ate pun­ish­ment pro­hib­it­ed by the state con­sti­tu­tion. On December 13, 2022, Governor Kate Brown com­mut­ed the sen­tences of the 17 peo­ple still on the state’s death row, com­plet­ing what she described as the leg­is­la­ture’s ​“near abo­li­tion” of the death penalty.