Where the Most People Have Been Executed in the United States

Since the U.S. Supreme Court resinstated the death penalty in 1976, Wyoming has executed a single prisoner. The individual was sentenced to death for ordering the 1979 murder of a witness who was set to testify against him in court for the bombing of an attorney’s home – a crime he was in custody for at the time he ordered the murder.

The bombing, which was committed in 1977, resulted in the death of the attorney, his wife and son. The slain witness was apparently tortured before being killed, as he was found with over 100 cigarette burns and a fatal gun shot wound. The death sentence was carried out by lethal injection in the early hours of Jan. 22, 1992.

Another man was on death row in Wyoming for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of an 18-year-old woman, but prosecutors waived the death sentence in September 2021 and there are currently no inmates on death row in the state.

Colorado became the 22nd state to abolish the death penalty on March 23, 2020, when Gov. Jared Polis signed SB 20-100 into law. The bill also commuted the sentences of the state’s three death row inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Between 1976 and 2020, when the death penalty was legal in Colorado, the state executed one convict. The prisoner was sentenced to death for the 1986 kidnapping, raping, and murder of his neighbor. The method of his execution was by lethal injection in October 1997.

Notably, the perpetrator of the 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, that left 12 dead and dozens injured was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole after the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on a death sentence.

New Mexico is one of several states on this list that no longer has a death penalty. Between 1976 and the 2009 repeal of the death penalty, the state executed one prisoner. In 2001, New Mexico executed its last prisoner, in its first execution in 41 years. The convict was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1986 kidnapping and murder of a 9-year-old girl while he was out on bail for the rape of a 6-year-old girl. The method of his execution was by lethal injection.

When then Gov. Bill Richardson abolished the death penalty in New Mexico in 2009, he cited the imperfections of the justice system that result in innocent people being put to death and the overrepresentation of minority populations on death row. Upon repeal, there were two men still on death row in the state, though their sentences were commuted to life in prison a decade later by the state’s supreme court.

Connecticut has executed one person since 1976. The prisoner was a serial killer known as the Roadside Strangler who was convicted of murdering four women and girls and confessed to four additional killings. When his sentence was carried out by lethal injection in the early morning hours of June 13, 2005, he became the first person to be executed in New England in 45 years. Leading up to his execution, the prisoner attempted suicide three times, citing the oppressive living conditions of prison life.

In colonial times, Connecticut exercised the death penalty for crimes including blasphemy and witchcraft. The first person, a woman, executed for witchcraft in what is now the United States was hanged in Hartford in May 1647.

Like several other states on this list, Connecticut no longer applies the death penalty. In 2012, the state abolished the death penalty, and a 2015 Connecticut Supreme Court ruling converted the sentences of the state’s 11 death row inmates to life in prison without parole.

Though the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, capital punishment was not legal in Oregon until it was established by popular vote in 1978. Then, in 1981, the state supreme court declared the death penalty unconstitutional – only to have it reinstated by voters in 1984.

Now, for more than a decade, Oregon has had a moratorium on carrying out death sentences, imposed by two consecutive state governors. Whether or not Oregon’s Gov. elect Tina Kotek will continue the moratorium remains to be seen. As of April 1, 2022, there were 21 people on death row in the state. Oregon has executed two defendants since 1976 – one in 1996 and another in 1997.

There have been three executions in Pennsylvania since 1976, the most recent of which was in 1999. Still, Pennsylvania has one of the largest death row populations in the country, with 128 inmates sentenced to death as of April 1, 2022.

Pennsylvania has a standing moratorium on carrying out death sentences, imposed by Gov. Tom Wolf in 2015. In halting the death penalty, the governor cited concerns over the potential innocence of inmates and racial bias in prosecution and sentencing. Currently, a little over half of all death row inmates in Pennsylvania are Black, while Black Americans comprise just 12% of the state population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Despite the moratorium, courts in the state can still issue death sentences. Crimes that legally warrant a death sentence in Pennsylvania include the killing of a minor under age 12, killing a police officer, and killing a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy.

There have been three executions in Montana since 1976 – all of them men who were convicted of murder. They were executed by lethal injection from 1995 to 2006. Until 1995, executions in Montana were conducted exclusively by hanging.

There are currently two death row inmates in Montana. One was convicted of kidnapping and murdering two Native American men who picked him up while hitchhiking. The other was already serving a 130-year sentence for murder when he beat a fellow inmate to death with a baseball bat in 1990 and sentenced to death for that murder. Not long after, he and seven other inmates took over a section of the prison in a riot that resulted in the deaths of five protective custody inmates.

There have been three executions in Kentucky since 1976. The first prisoner was executed by electrocution in July 1997, but the following two – one in 1999 and most recently in 2008 – were executed by lethal injection.

As of April 1, 2022, there were 27 people on death row in Kentucky – 26 men and one woman. Notably, one of the men on death row in the state, convicted of stabbing his landlord to death in 1995, may have his sentence overturned. Kentucky in 1998 adopted the Racial Justice Act, which gives judges leeway to consider the impact racial bias may have played in convictions when handing out sentences. Currently, three death row inmates in Kentucky are Black.

Idaho has executed three people since 1976. All three were men who were executed by lethal injection in 1994, 2011, and most recently, in 2012. Though there is currently one woman and several men on death row in Idaho, a shortage of lethal injection drugs in recent years has made it difficult for the state to carry out death sentences.

One of the men on Idaho’s death row was initially scheduled for execution on June 2, 2021, but the execution was deferred due to a clemency hearing. Due to his poor health, the state’s Commission of Pardons and Parole voted to reduce his sentence. However, Gov. Brad Little rejected the commission’s recommendation and the inmate has now been on death row for over three and a half decades.

A total of four people – all men – have been executed in Nebraska since 1976. The most recent defendant was executed by lethal injection in August 2018. The previous three prisoners who were executed in the state in the 1990s died by electrocution. The inmate executed in 2018 was sentenced to death in 1980 for murdering two cab drivers. Though he appealed his death sentence, which resulted in it being pushed back years, he ultimately requested an end to the appeals process to allow himself to be put to death.

There are 11 men on death row in Nebraska. Earlier this year, a 12th man on death row took his own life while in custody in August 2022. The man was originally sentenced to life in prison for murder and later sentenced to death after strangling his cell mate to death in 2017. Lawmakers in Nebraska have introduced bills to abolish the state’s death penalty in every legislative session since 1981. Still, the state’s death penalty stands – despite a lack of the lethal injection drugs necessary to carry out the sentence, as manufacturers are refusing to supply them.

Between 1976 and 2013, the year the death penalty was repealed in Maryland, five executions were held in the state. All five persons executed were men, and all five were killed by lethal injection.

Notably, Maryland is where the first death row inmate in U.S. history was exonerated by DNA evidence. Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted of raping and murdering a 9-year-old girl in 1984 and was originally sentenced to die. However, after nine years of maintaining his innocence in prison, DNA evidence found on the victim’s clothing demonstrated that he was not the killer. He was subsequently released and compensated with $300,000, much of which went to covering his legal expenses.

Washington has executed five prisoners since 1976. The first two executions, one in 1993 and another in 1994, were carried out by hanging. The following three, in 1998, 2001, and 2010, were by lethal injection.

In October 2018, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the state’s death penalty was unconstitutional on the grounds that it was issued arbitrarily and that its application was subject to racial bias. The ruling also commuted all standing death sentences in the state to life in prison.

South Dakota has executed five men since 1976 – all between the years of 2007 and 2019. The five convicts were executed by lethal injection.

The death penalty has been instated in South Dakota continuously since 1979, and the state currently has one person on death row. South Dakota’s sole death row inmate is an Alaska Native convicted of torturing and killing the resident of a home he burglarized while high on methamphetamine and LSD. In 2020, the inmate appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the court refused to hear his case.

Utah has executed seven people, all men, since 1976, and the state has another seven men waiting on death row. Utah is the only state to execute inmates by firing squad in the modern era, and three of the last seven executions in the state were carried out that way. The remaining four were killed by lethal injection.

All of the seven men on death row are being held in the Draper Utah State Prison, and the executions of all seven have been through the appeals process. Two of those inmates are slated to die by firing squad.

There have been 12 executions in Illinois since 1976 – all in the 1990s. All of the convicts were men whose sentences were carried out with lethal injection.

After a 10 year moratorium on executions in the state, put in place by former Gov. George Ryan, Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the death penalty in March 2011. The sentences of the state’s 15 death row inmates at the time were commuted.

Nevada became the first state to use the gas chamber to execute death row inmates in 1924. However, of the 12 prisoners executed in the state since 1976, only the first, which took place in 1979, died by gas. The remaining 11 men were killed by lethal injection.

Nevada has not executed a prisoner since 2006. Earlier this year, an execution was put on hold as the drugs that were to be used for the lethal injection were set to expire before a formal death warrant could be issued. Those drugs include a combination of ketamine, fentanyl, and either potassium chloride or potassium acetate.

There are currently 65 men on death row in Nevada. All are slated to have their sentences carried out in Ely State Prison.

There have been 13 executions in California since 1976 – the first two defendants were executed in 1992 and 1993 using the gas chamber. The remaining 11 prisoners, who were executed between 1996 and 2006, died by lethal injection.

In 2019, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to dismantle the state’s death row. In the announcement, Newsom said, “The prospect of your ending up on death row has more to do with your wealth and race than it does your guilt or innocence.” Currently, the largest share of inmates on death row in the state are Black.

Due to the moratorium, male death row inmates will be relocated from San Quentin to other maximum security facilities. Women from Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla will be given the option of less restrictive housing and join rehabilitation and work programs.

Each of the 13 executions carried out in Tennessee since 1976 took place between April 2000 and February 2020. Six of the executions were done by electrocution, and seven used lethal injection.

Though there are currently 46 men and one woman on death row in Tennessee, the state has put a hold on executions for an indefinite amount of time due to breaches of protocol. The hold has been in place since Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued a reprieve to an inmate facing an imminent execution in April 2022. Since then, an independent investigation found multiple instances of noncompliance regarding executions in the state related to lethal injection drugs, including faulty testing procedures and improper storage and handling.

Though Delaware became the second state to abolish the death penalty in 1958, the state legislature reinstated capital punishment in 1961. Since the federal prohibition of executions was struck down in 1976, Delaware has executed 16 prisoners, all of whom were men whose sentences were carried out by lethal injection.

An August 2016 Delaware Supreme Court decision stated that the state’s capital sentencing procedure was a violation of citizens’ constitutional right to a trial by jury, as death sentences in Delaware are administered by judges rather than the unanimous approval of a jury. As a result, the state’s death penalty has effectively been struck down, and Delaware’s 13 death row inmates at the time had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. The last execution in the state was held on April 20, 2012.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, the federal government has executed a total of 16 inmates – and only three of those executions, including that of Timothy McVeigh, the man charged with the Oklahoma City bombing, took place before 2020. In the final months of the Trump administration, there was a surge in federal executions. From July 2020 through January 2021, the U.S. government executed 13 prisoners.

Today, the federal government has a standing moratorium on executions, imposed by Attorney General Merrick Garland on July 1, 2021. While no federal death sentence will be carried out as long as the moratorium stands, there were 44 death row inmates under federal jurisdiction as of April 1, 2022. According to Death Penalty Information Center, only one federal death row prisoner has a sentence related to terrorism. The rest were already serving sentences for their crimes at the state level, but circumstances allowed for federal prosecution as well (such as a vehicle used in a carjacking once shipped through interstate commerce).

Federal death row prisoners are typically housed at the Special Confinement Unit at the U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute in Indiana. Each federal death sentence must be authorized by the Department of Justice in consultation with the U.S. Attorney Offices.

All 20 state prisoners executed in Indiana since 1976 have been men. The state’s first three executions since the federal government reinstated capital punishment took place from 1981 to 1994 and were done by electrocution. The 17 prisoners executed since died by lethal injection.

As of April 1, 2022, there were eight men on death row in Indiana, all at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Each prisoner was convicted of murder – some of multiple murders. The victims include children and a police officer. The last execution in the state was held in 2009, partially due to a shortage of execution drugs. The length of time spent on death row among death row inmates ranges from about eight to 29 years.

The first four executions in Mississippi since 1976, between 1983 and 1989, used the gas chamber. The state did not carry out another death sentence until 2002. From 2002, all 18 executions were by lethal injection.

As of April 1, 2022, there were 35 men and one woman on death row in Mississippi. In the state’s history, seven people sentenced to death were ultimately found not guilty prior to the carrying out of their sentence. They include a mother convicted of murdering her child, when in fact, the bruises on the child initially seen as proof of child abuse were the result of her attempts to resusitate the child. As recently as May 2022, there was a 37th inmate on Mississippi’s death row, but the state converted his sentence to life in prison with no opportunity for parole.

Louisiana has executed 28 prisoners since 1976. The state has not carried out a death sentence since 2010. As is the case in much of the country where executions are carried out, the Louisiana justice system is up against a shortage of the drugs used in lethal injections as pharmaceutical companies push back against their products being used for capital punishment. Over the last two decades, 11 prisoners have died awaiting their execution date.

Louisiana is one of only 10 states with more than 60 people on death row. As of April 1, 2022, there were 61 men and one woman on death row in the state. Sentencing for the men is planned to be carried out at the Angola State Penitentiary, and the woman’s execution is to take place at the St. Gabriel Correctional Institute for Women. Until a 2008 Supreme Court decision overturned the law, offenders in Louisiana who had not committed murder were eligible for the death penalty in certain cases.

Arkansas has executed 31 prisoners since 1976 – 30 men and one woman. Those executions span from 1990 to 2017 and include a 1992 execution that then presidential candidate and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton briefly left the campaign trail to oversee.

There were 29 people on death row in Arkansas as of April 1, 2022, including three inmates who may have their sentencing reversed. One of them was sentenced to death in 2016 for killing his 6-year-old son. However, the Arkansas Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2019, and the inmate is awaiting a new trial scheduled to begin in early 2023.

The first prisoner executed in Arizona following the federal reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976 died in the gas chamber in 1992. Each of the 39 executions held since were done by means of lethal injection – including three that took place in 2022.

Death sentences in the state are carried out by lethal injection, and amid the national drug shortage of execution drugs, Arizona was caught by Food and Drug Administration officials in 2015 attempting to import illegal lethal injection drugs from India.

There have been 43 state prisoners executed in South Carolina since 1976. The first four prisoners were executed by electrocution between 1985 and 1991. The method for the majority of executions in the state since has been lethal injection. In September 2022, the South Carolina Court ruled that as a method of execution, the electric chair was unconstitutional as it violates the prohibition against cruel and unusual corporal punishment. The last time an inmate was executed in the state by the electric chair was in 2008.

Under state law, a convicted criminal is eligible for the death penalty in a number of cases, including murder via poison, dismemberment of a murder victim, the murder of a child, or murder that is committed in addition to any number of other criminal offenses, such as drug trafficking, torture, kidnapping, or sexual misconduct. There were 37 individuals on death row in South Carolina as of April 1, 2022.

A total of 43 state inmates have been executed in North Carolina since 1976, though 16 years have passed since the last death sentence was carried out in the state. Two of those prisoners were executed in the gas chamber, and the rest by lethal injection. All but one convict executed in North Carolina since 1976 have been men.

Male death row inmates in North Carolina are executed in the Raleigh Central Prison. Women sentenced to death in the state are executed in the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women, also in Raleigh.

There have been 56 inmates executed in Ohio since 1976, all killed by lethal injection, and all of them male. Those inmates include one who challenged his sentence on the ground that lethal injection would cause a severely painful death. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected his claim and he was executed in October 2008.

There are currently over 100 people on death row in Ohio, and though there were executions scheduled in the state in recent months, they have been postponed due to a limited supply of lethal injection drugs. The last execution in Ohio was carried out in July 2018. Currently, 30 executions are scheduled in Ohio from 2023 through 2026.

Alabama has executed 70 people since 1976, including two in 2022. The method of execution of the only female executed in the state in the last 47 years, in May 2002, was the electric chair. Today, lethal injection is the primary method of execution in the state, though death row inmates convicted prior to 2002 can still opt for the electric chair.

Alabama has a high error rate among convicts sentenced to death, with an average of one exoneration for every eight executions. The heavy use of the death penalty in Alabama is partially attributable to the state being the last one to abolish a law allowing judges to choose the death penalty even if a jury decides on life in prison.

Georgia has executed 76 prisoners since 1976, including one woman and two individuals who were under age 18 when they committed their crime. The most recent execution in the state was in June 2020. One prisoner was scheduled to be executed in May 2022 for the 1976 abduction and murder of two girls walking home from school. However, the day before his execution was to be carried out, a judge halted the execution and a new date has yet to be set.

Since a 2001 Georgia Supreme Court ruling found the electric chair to be in violation of the state constitution under the grounds that it is cruel and unusual punishment, every execution in Georgia has used lethal injection as the method of execution.

Since 1976, Missouri has executed 92 state prisoners. Most recently, in May 2022, the state executed a 56-year-old man convicted of a 1996 robbery and double homicide. Another man has been sentenced to death on Nov. 29, 2022, for the 2005 murder of a St. Louis police officer.

All 92 people executed in the state in the last 47 years have been men, and all have died by lethal injection. Notably, in 1999, when a prisoner was scheduled to be executed, Pope John Paul was visiting the state and made a personal plea to the governor to spare the prisoner’s life. Ultimately, the inmate’s sentence was commuted to life in prison.

Florida has executed 99 state inmates since 1976, more than all but three other states. All but two inmates who were executed were men. As of April 1, 2022, Florida also had 323 people on death row, the second most of any state.

Until 2016, judges in Florida could override a jury’s decision and sentence a convict to death. Since 2017, juries must be in unanimous agreement for a convict to be sentenced to death. Over the course of the last 49 years, a total of 30 death row inmates have been exonerated in Florida due to a wrongful conviction, the most of any state – a rate of about one exoneration for every three people executed.

Virginia is one of only three states to have executed more than 100 prisoners since 1976. These executions include one female convict and three individuals who were under age 18 when they committed their crime. The method of execution in the state until 1995 was the electric chair. From that year on, most executions were conducted using lethal injection.

In 2021, Virginia became the first Southern state to abolish the death penalty. The last execution in Virginia was held on June 7, 2017.

There have been 118 executions in Oklahoma since 1976. Unlike many states on this list that have gone years since their last execution, Oklahoma has executed seven inmates in the last 12 months. The latest execution was carried out on Nov. 17, 2022. One more execution is scheduled for 2022 and another 10 for 2023.

More executions have been carried out in Oklahoma County – home to Oklahoma City – in the last 50 years than in any other county outside of Texas. Many of those executed in the state had some sort of intellectual, mental, or developmental impairments, according to Death Penalty Information Center.

Over a third of all executions in the United States since 1976 have taken place in Texas. Texas has executed a total of 578 people over that period, including five far this year. Another six executions are scheduled for 2023.

All of the five counties nationwide that have conducted the most executions in the last 50 years are located in Texas. In Harris County alone, where Houston is located, there have been 127 executions since 1982. The state is infamous for executions, partially because until 2005, the sentence of life in prison without parole was not an option for juries. Texas was also the first state in the country to use lethal injection as a method of execution.