Death Penalty Information Center
Search Close Menu
  • Issues
    • Issues
    • Biases & Vulnerabilities
      • Intellectual Disability
      • Mental Illness
      • Race
      • LGBTQ+ People
      • Youth
    • Policy
      • Arbitrariness How non-legal factors affect use of the death penalty
      • Clemency Death sentence reductions and pardons by state and federal executives
      • Costs The death penalty’s monetary cost to taxpayers
      • Deterrence Whether the death penalty deters future violent crime
      • Human Rights How international human rights law and treaties view the death penalty
      • Innocence People wrongfully sentenced to death
      • International How the death penalty is used in countries outside the U.S.
      • Legal Representation How the quality of defense counsel affects death penalty outcomes
      • Official Misconduct How wrongful government action affects death penalty outcomes
      • Public Opinion What the public says about the death penalty
      • Sentencing Alternatives Sentencing options for death-eligible crimes
      • US Supreme Court Supreme Court death penalty cases
  • Research
    • Research
    • Background
      • Crimes Punishable by Death
      • Fact Sheet
      • History of the Death Penalty
    • Data
      • Death Penalty Census
      • Execution Database
      • Innocence Database
      • Legislative Activity
      • Sentencing Data
    • Analysis
      • DPI Reports
    • DPI Reports Dec 19, 2024 The Death Penalty in 2024 Death Sentences and Executions Remain Near Historic Lows Amid Growing Concerns about Fairness and Innocence
  • Death Row & Executions
    • Death Row
      • Death Row Overview
      • Conditions on Death Row
      • Time on Death Row
      • Foreign Nationals
      • Native Americans
      • Women
    • Executions
      • Executions Overview
      • Upcoming Executions
      • Execution Database
      • Methods of Execution
      • Botched Executions
  • State & Federal Info
    • State & Federal Info
    • State by State
    • Federal Death Penalty
    • Military
    • Explore by State

      • Death Penalty
      • Pause on Executions
      • No Death Penalty
      AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY DC
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Links
      • College Curriculum Case narratives and resources to guide college discussions
      • DPI Podcasts DPI’s monthly podcast series where we speak with death penalty experts.
      • High School Curriculum Materials designed for high school educators and students
      • Publications & Testimony How DPI and others speak about the death penalty
      • Related Websites Links to governmental, advocacy, and legal organizations
      • Student Research Center Resources for students researching the death penalty
      • Teacher's Guide Two-week lesson plans for middle and high school classes
      • En Español Información sobre la pena de muerte en español
    • DPI Resource Fact Sheet PDF handout with facts about the Death Penalty.
  • About DPI
  • Media Contact
  • Donate

State & Federal

Alaska

Famous Cases

Nelson Charles, an Alaskan Native, was the first per­son exe­cut­ed in Juneau. He was hanged in 1939 for mur­der­ing his moth­er-in-law, and was the only man hanged in Alaska for the mur­der of a woman. Read a full descrip­tion of the Charles case here.

Milestones in Abolition/​Reinstatement

The abo­li­tion mea­sure passed by the Alaska Territorial Legislature in 1957 stat­ed sim­ply: ​“The death penal­ty is and shall here­after be abol­ished as pun­ish­ment in Alaska for the com­mis­sion of any crime.”

Other Interesting Facts

Alaska as a state has nev­er had a death penal­ty. The Territorial Legislature abol­ished cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment two years before Alaska gained statehood.

Prior to 1899, min­er’s courts han­dled legal mat­ters in Alaska. Seven peo­ple are esti­mat­ed to have been exe­cut­ed under that system.

There were only eight legal exe­cu­tions in Alaska between 1900 and 1957. Two of the men hanged were white, three were Alaska Natives, two were black and one was an immi­grant from Montenegro. Records before 1900 are poor, but it is believed that a total of sev­en per­sons were hanged in ter­ri­to­r­i­al Alaska from 1869 to 1900.

Wrangell Saint Elias National Park. Photo by Maggie Louden.

Resources

  • Department of Corrections
  • Prosecutors
  • Public Defender’s office
  • Alaskans Against the Death Penalty
  • Victims’ ser­vices
  • University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center: Focus on the Death Penalty (archived)

News & Developments


News

Oct 26, 2023

Vic Fischer, co-sponsor of Alaska abolition bill, dies at 99

Photo used under Creative Commons license courtesy The…

Read More

News

May 16, 2018

Prosecutors Withdraw Death Penalty, Agree to Guilty Pleas in Two High Profile Cases With Multiple Victims

State and fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors have agreed to with­draw the death penal­ty in exchange for guilty pleas by defen­dants charged with mul­ti­ple killings in two unre­lat­ed high-pro­­file mur­der cas­es. On May 4, Lake County, Indiana pros­e­cu­tors dropped the death penal­ty against Darren Vann (pic­tured, left), who had killed sev­en women. On May 1, fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors announced they would not pur­sue the death penalty against…

Read More

News

Oct 16, 2014

NEW RESOURCES: Podcast Series on Each State’s Death Penalty

DPIC has recent­ly added four pod­casts to our new series on impor­tant facts about the death penal­ty in each state. Seven state pod­casts are now avail­able: Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, Alaska, and Hawaii. We expect to add new episodes each week, with two more com­ing tomorow (Oct. 17). The series has begun with states that have abol­ished the death…

Read More

News

Aug 11, 2011

NEW RESOURCES: Five New States Added to State Information Pages

DPIC is pleased to announce the addi­tion of five more states to one of our lat­est resources, the State Information Pages. Adding to the orig­i­nal 15 state pages made avail­able ear­li­er, pages for Alaska, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wisconsin may now be accessed as well. These pages pro­vide his­tor­i­cal and cur­rent infor­ma­tion on the death penal­ty for each state…

Read More

News

Jan 24, 2011

STUDIES: USA Today Investigation Reveals Prosecutorial Misconduct in Federal Cases

An in-depth inves­ti­ga­tion con­duct­ed by USA Today found 201 crim­i­nal cas­es in which fed­er­al judges deter­mined that U.S. Department of Justice pros­e­cu­tors vio­lat­ed laws or ethics rules, includ­ing the recent pros­e­cu­tion of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. The inves­ti­ga­tion looked at cas­es since 1997, when Congress enact­ed a law aimed at end­ing pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct. Some of the vio­la­tions reviewed by USA…

Read More
View More

View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: No
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 0
  • Number of Executions before 1976 (may include fed­er­al and military executions): 12
  • Current Death Row Population: N/​A
  • Women on Death Row: 0
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 0
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 0
  • Date of Reinstatement (fol­low­ing Furman v. Georgia): N/​A
  • Date of Abolition: 1957
  • Location of Death Row/​Executions: N/​A
  • Capital: Juneau
  • Region: West
  • Population: 733,391*
  • Murder Rate: 7.3
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Method of Execution: N/​A
  • Clemency Process: N/​A
  • Governor: Mike Dunleavy
Upcoming Executions

Upcoming Executions

Information about scheduled executions around the country

Innocence

Innocence

For every 8.2 peo­ple exe­cut­ed in the Unit­ed States in the mod­ern era of the death penal­ty, one per­son on death row has been exon­er­at­ed.

State-By-State

State-By-State

States With and Without the Death Penalty

DPI Fact Sheet

DPI Fact Sheet

PDF handout with facts about the Death Penalty

More Information


Innocence Database

Execution Database

Death Penalty Census Database

Death Penalty Information Center
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Biases & Vulnerabilities
      • Intellectual Disability
      • Mental Illness
      • Race
      • LGBTQ+ People
      • Youth
    • Policy
      • Arbitrariness
      • Clemency
      • Costs
      • Deterrence
      • Human Rights
      • Innocence
      • International
      • Legal Representation
      • Official Misconduct
      • Public Opinion
      • Sentencing Alternatives
      • US Supreme Court
  • Research
    • Overview
    • Background
      • Crimes Punishable by Death
      • Fact Sheet
      • History of the Death Penalty
    • Data
      • Death Penalty Census
      • Execution Database
      • Innocence Database
      • Legislative Activity
      • Sentencing Data
    • Analysis
      • DPI Reports
  • Death Row & Executions
    • Death Row
      • Overview
      • Conditions on Death Row
      • Time on Death Row
      • Foreign Nationals
      • Native Americans
      • Women
    • Executions
      • Overview
      • Upcoming Executions
      • Execution Database
      • Methods of Execution
      • Botched Executions
  • State & Federal Info
    • Overview
    • State by State
    • Federal Death Penalty
    • Military
  • About
    • About DPI
    • Staff & Board of Directors
    • Press Releases
    • Work for DPI
  • Resources
    • Overview
    • Links
      • College Curriculum
      • DPI Podcasts
      • High School Curriculum
      • Publications & Testimony
      • Related Websites
      • Student Research Center
      • Teacher's Guide
      • En Español
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Close
Subscribe to our Newsletter

Weekly updated from DPI

Get our full length featured story in your inbox weekly.

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
Donate
Death Penalty Information Center | 1701 K Street NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20006
Privacy Policy | ©2025 Death Penalty Information Center