When was the most recent execution?
The last and most recent federal execution was of Dustin Higgs, who was executed on January 16, 2021.
“Alabama's execution of Joe Nathan James Jr. took longer than any lethal injection in recorded US history, and may even be the longest execution ever using any method,” the group said. “Subjecting someone to 3 hours of pain and suffering is the definition of cruel & unusual punishment.”
The U.S. military executed 160 American servicemen between 1942 and 1961. There have been no military executions since 1961, although the death penalty is still a possible punishment for several crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
1,548 people have been executed in the U.S. since 1973.
...
2022.
No. | 1 |
---|---|
Date of execution | November 29, 2022 |
Name | Kevin Johnson Jr. |
Date of birth | September 23, 1985 |
State | Missouri |
When European settlers came to the new world, they brought the practice of capital punishment. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. Kendall was executed for being a spy for Spain.
Lethal injection is usually considered to be the most painless and humane form of execution.
...
Countries with the Most Confirmed Executions in 2019.
Country | |
---|---|
China | |
Number | 251+ |
Saudi Arabia | |
Number | 184 |
Carey Dean Moore spent 38 years on death row by the time of his execution in 2018. He was sentenced to death in 1980 for the murders of two cab drivers. In 1991, a federal appellate court reversed his death sentence and sent his case back for resentencing. He was again resentenced to death.
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 15 offenses can be punishable by death, though many of these crimes — such as desertion or disobeying a superior commissioned officer's orders — carry the death penalty only in time of war.
Does the U.S. military still execute?
Only a few individuals are on the military death row, which is based at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. All were convicted of murder. There have been no executions in the modern era of the death penalty.
For the record, the U.S. Army "does not keep any official, or unofficial for that matter, record of confirmed kills," said Wayne V. Hall, a spokesman for the Army. Similarly, U.S. Special Operations Command treats that tally as "unofficial," said Ken McGraw, a spokesman for the command.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences determined that at least 4% of people on death penalty/death row were and are likely innocent.
State/Rank | |
---|---|
1. Oklahoma | |
3. Delaware* | |
2019 Population | 973,764 |
Cumulative Executions: 1976-September 1, 2020 | 16 |
George Stinney | |
---|---|
Born | George Stinney Jr.October 21, 1929 Pinewood, South Carolina, U.S. |
Died | June 16, 1944 (aged 14) South Carolina Penitentiary, Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. |
Cause of death | Execution by electrocution |
Resting place | Calvary Baptist Church Cemetery, Paxville, South Carolina, U.S. |
Critics of the electric chair dispute whether the first jolt of electricity reliably induces immediate unconsciousness as proponents often claim. Witness testimony, botched electrocutions (see Willie Francis and Allen Lee Davis), and post-mortem examinations suggest that execution by electric chair is often painful.
Is capital punishment moral? Capital punishment is often defended on the grounds that society has a moral obligation to protect the safety and welfare of its citizens. Murderers threaten this safety and welfare. Only by putting murderers to death can society ensure that convicted killers do not kill again.
Study Concludes Death Penalty is Costly Policy
The study counted death penalty case costs through to execution and found that the median death penalty case costs $1.26 million. Non-death penalty cases were counted through to the end of incarceration and were found to have a median cost of $740,000.
William Kemmler | |
---|---|
Portrait of Kemmler | |
Born | William Francis Kemmler May 9, 1860 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Died | August 6, 1890 (aged 30) Auburn, New York |
Cause of death | Botched execution by electrocution |
State | Death Penalty Law Status | Last Execution |
---|---|---|
Florida | Active | 2019 |
Missouri | Active | 2022 |
Georgia | Active | 2020 |
Alabama | Active | 2022 |
Does Russia have the death penalty?
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Russia, but is not used due to a moratorium and no death sentences or executions have occurred since 2 August 1996.
Lethal injection avoids many of the unpleasant effects of other forms of execution: bodily mutilation and bleeding due to decapitation, smell of burning flesh in electrocution, disturbing sights or sounds in lethal gassing and hanging, the problem of involuntary defecation and urination.
Much to the surprise of many who, logically, would assume that shortening someone's life should be cheaper than paying for it until natural expiration, it turns out that it is actually cheaper to imprison someone for life than to execute them. In fact, it is almost 10 times cheaper!
The Supreme Court has ruled in the past that inmates may propose another method of execution if they could show such outcomes, even if the method is not currently authorized by the state carrying out their sentences.
Saudi Arabia has a criminal justice system based on a form of Shari'ah reflecting a particular state-sanctioned interpretation of Islam. Execution is usually carried out by beheading with a sword and hanging but may occasionally be performed by shooting or firing squad. Saudi Arabia performs public executions.
Capital punishment in China is a legal penalty. It is commonly applied for murder and drug trafficking, although it is also a legal penalty for various other offenses. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Japan. It is applied in practice only for aggravated murder, although it is also a legal penalty for certain crimes against the state, such as treason and military insubordination, as well as kidnapping resulting in death.
Sentencing laws vary across the world, but in the United States, the reason people get ordered to serve exceptional amounts of prison time is to acknowledge multiple crimes committed by the same person. “Each count represents a victim,” says Rob McCallum, Public Information Officer for the Colorado Judicial Branch.
Paul Geidel Jr. | |
---|---|
Died | May 1, 1987 (aged 93) Beacon, New York, U.S. |
Known for | The longest-serving prison sentence in United States history, that ended upon his release (parole). (time served – 68 years 296 days) |
Conviction(s) | Second-degree murder |
Criminal penalty | 20 years to life |
...
Leroy Nash | |
---|---|
Known for | Being one of the oldest prisoners ever |
Criminal charge | Armed robbery, murder |
Can prisoners of war be sentenced to death?
The death sentence cannot be pronounced on a prisoner of war unless the attention of the court has, in accordance with Article 87, second paragraph , been particularly called to the fact that since the accused is not a national of the Detaining Power, he is not bound to it by any duty of allegiance, and that he is in ...
Plot E. The US Army executed 98 servicemen following General Courts Martial (GCM) for murder and/or rape in the European Theatre of Operations during the Second World War.
CATEGORIES OF PRISONERS OF WAR WHO MAY BE COMPELLED TO WORK In general, Article 49 of the 1949 Convention provides that all prisoners of war, except commissioned officers, may be compelled to work.
At least 579 people, including 24 women, are known to have been executed by 18 nations in 2021 – up by 20 percent from 2020. Three countries accounted for 80 percent of all known executions in 2021: Iran (at least 314), Egypt (at least 83) and Saudi Arabia (65).
Attempted desertion also is charged as a military crime, as long as the attempt went beyond mere preparation. Desertion carries a maximum punishment of dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay, and confinement of five years.
State | Death Penalty Status | Year of Legislation or Court Ruling |
---|---|---|
Alabama | legal | 1976 |
Alaska | illegal | 1957 |
Arizona | legal | 1973 |
Arkansas | legal | 1973 |
“Most of the finest Canadian snipers proved to be Natives, whose backwoods skills, patience and acute eyesight made them ideally suited to the task,” Pegler wrote. “Canadian soldiers provided some of the best snipers of the war. Their kill rate was extraordinary.”
A meta-analysis of the effects of service on mortality found that veterans experienced about 25% lower risk of mortality than civilians (McLaughlin, Nielsen, & Waller, 2008), and this “healthy soldier” effect can last as long as 30 years (Waller & McGuire, 2011).
- MARCOS, India. ...
- Special Services Group (SSG), Pakistan. ...
- National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN), France. ...
- Special Forces, USA. ...
- Sayeret Matkal, Israel. ...
- Joint Force Task 2 (JTF2), Canada. ...
- British Special Air Service (SAS) ...
- Navy Seals, USA.
The death penalty carries the inherent risk of executing an innocent person. Since 1973, at least 190 people who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated.
Why does death row take so long?
A lengthy appeals process causes delays
Sometimes, death sentence appeals go to the nation's highest court to be decided. "The appeals process is taking longer" and that causes the decades of delays before an execution takes place, Dunham said.
Cameron Willingham
Willingham was executed in 2004 in Texas despite his consistent claims of innocence. He was convicted of murdering his three children in a 1991 house fire. Arson expert Gerald Hurst said, “There's nothing to suggest to any reasonable arson investigator that this was an arson fire.
Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 when the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty did not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, 22 people have been executed for crimes committed while they were under the age of 18.
Dustin John Higgs, Black male, executed on January 16, 2021.
Higgs was convicted in October 2000 of ordering the 1996 murder of three Maryland women after arguing with one of them in his apartment.
The last and most recent federal execution was of Dustin Higgs, who was executed on January 16, 2021.
Nineteen states have laws permitting the execution of persons who committed crimes at sixteen or seventeen. Since 1973, 226 juvenile death sentences have been imposed. Twenty-two juvenile offenders have been executed and 82 remain on death row.
At Baumetes Prison in Marseille, France, Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant convicted of murder, becomes the last person executed by guillotine.
This is a list of people executed in the United States in 2022. To date, sixteen people have been executed in the United States in 2022, all by lethal injection.
On June 23, 2000, Gary Graham was executed in Texas, despite claims that he was innocent.
Which states still have the death penalty 2022?
State | Death Penalty Law Status | Last Execution |
---|---|---|
Arizona | Active | 2022 |
Arkansas | Active | 2017 |
Louisiana | Active | 2010 |
Mississippi | Active | 2021 |
Rainey Bethea ( c. 1909 – August 14, 1936) was the last person publicly executed in the United States. Bethea, who confessed to the rape and killing of a 70-year-old woman named Lischia Edwards, was convicted of her rape and publicly hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Russia, but is not used due to a moratorium and no death sentences or executions have occurred since 2 August 1996.
Country | Number |
---|---|
Iran | 253+ |
Saudi Arabia | 149 |
Vietnam | 85+ |
Iraq | 52+ |
The death penalty carries the inherent risk of executing an innocent person. Since 1973, at least 190 people who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated.
In addition to Michigan, and its Midwestern neighbors Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, the states without the death penalty are Alaska, Hawaii, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts, where an effort to reinstate it was defeated last year.
As of April 1, 2022, three death row inmates were executed in the United States. During the previous year, there were 11 executions in the country. However, this is a significant decrease from 2000, when 85 death row inmates were executed.
Three states – Delaware, New Hampshire, and Washington – still permit hanging. Four states – Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, and South Carolina – allow for death by firing squads. (Copyright 1951 The Associated Press.
The number of people executed in India since independence in 1947 is a matter of dispute; official government statistics claim that only 57 people had been executed since independence.
The first known federal execution under this authority was conducted by U.S. Marshal Henry Dearborn of Maine on June 25, 1790. He was ordered to execute one Thomas Bird for murder on the high seas. In coordinating this, Dearborn spent money on building a gallows and coffin.