1/9/2023 -
On Jan. 3, 2023, Missouri executed Amber McLaughlin, who was convicted of the 2003 first-degree murder, forcible rape, and armed criminal action against Beverly Guenther. McLaughlin is thought to be the first openly transgender person executed in the United States.
12/14/2022 -
Outgoing Oregon Governor Kate Brown commuted the sentences of all death row inmates and instructed that the death chamber be dismantled.
9/8/2022 -
On Sep. 6, 2022, Circuit Court Judge Jocelyn Newman ruled that South Carolina’s plan to reinstate the firing squad and electric chair was unconstitutional. South Carolina is expected to appeal the decision.
5/24/2022 -
Find the most current information on death row inmates in the US, including the number of death row inmates, average time spent on death row before execution, the year each inmate was sentenced to death, demographic information, criminal histories, and removals from death row for reasons other than execution.
3/4/2022 -
In a 6-3 vote, the US Supreme Court upheld Tsarnaev’s death sentence. The sentence was overturned in 2020 by an appeals court, but that ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court by the Trump administration. The Biden administration, despite a federal moratorium on capital punishment, pursued the appeal after Biden took office.
9/22/2021 -
Explore the debate with updated and new questions, resources, and more.
7/23/2021 -
The US Justice Department has quietly withdrawn the death penalty in seven cases over the past several months. In each case, prosecutors were directed by the Trump Justice Department to seek the death penalty.
7/2/2021 -
Merrick Garland, JD, stated, “Serious concerns have been raised about the continued use of the death penalty across the country… Those weighty concerns deserve careful study and evaluation by lawmakers.”
5/20/2021 -
What methods of execution are used globally? Which methods other than lethal injection are authorized by US states? Find out in this new resource.
5/19/2021 -
Where in the world is the death penalty legal? Which countries have abolished the practice? Find out in this new resource.
5/17/2021 -
The state’s supply of lethal injection drugs expired in 2013.
3/24/2021 -
The first southern US state to abolish the death penalty, Virginia had, as of Mar. 24, 2021, carried out the most executions in the United States since the country’s first execution in Jamestown in 1608.
3/22/2021 -
The Trump administration requested the review, but there is no indication the Biden administration opposes the review.
1/18/2021 -
On Jan. 16, 2021, the federal government executed Dustin Higgs, the thirteenth and final prisoner executed under the Trump administration, which carried out the first federal executions since 2003.
1/13/2021 -
Lisa Montgomery, executed on Jan. 13, 2021, was the first woman to be executed by the federal government since the Dec. 18, 1953 execution of Bonnie Brown Heady, according to US Bureau of Prisons records. She was the only woman on federal death row and the eleventh person executed by the Trump administration.