The death penalty, more formally known as capital punishment, is a highly controversial topic in the United States, and is still used by the federal government, military, and in 27 out of 50 states - although not all states actually carry it out. As of 2021, 2,382 prisoners in the U.S. were under sentence of death. Of those sentenced, 97.9 percent were male, and around 40 percent of them were Black. In that same year, 84 prisoners were removed from death row, including 32 deaths occurring from natural causes. Since being reinstated in 1976, more than 30 percent of the total number of executions in the U.S. occurred in the state of Texas. The death penalty is currently abolished in 23 states. Of the remaining, Oregon, California, and Pennsylvania currently have governor-imposed moratoriums.
In 2023, the United States was ranked 20th worldwide by total number of death sentences imposed, situated directly behind Libya and Palestine. In that same year, the United States came in fourth for the number of executions carried out worldwide. In the U.S. throughout the last three decades, the yearly number of prisoners executed has spanned anywhere from 14 to 98, with 14 in 2023.
Lethal injections have been the most common method in the the country. As of August 2024, 1,413 people have been executed by lethal injection in the United States since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated. However, some states have experienced shortages of necessary drugs which has led to postponed, canceled, or even botched executions, resulting in a number of states reintroducing other methods of execution. In the occurrence that administering lethal injections is not possible, some U.S. states have allowed the use of alternative methods of execution, such as electrocution, hanging, gas chamber, and firing squad. On a federal level, no method of execution has ever been found unconstitutional.
U.S. Americans are divided on the subject of capital punishment. In 2024, when asked about their moral stance towards the death penalty, 55 percent of survey respondents from the United States considered the method of punishment to be morally acceptable, whereas 39 percent believed it to be morally wrong. The share of Americans in favor of the death penalty for convicted murderers was 53 percent in 2023, following a slow decline from 1991, which saw 76 percent in favor.
Capital punishment in the United States is not just debated within the country, but also has many critics around the world. Human rights organizations as well as politicians in the U.S. have been actively working to outlaw capital punishment across the country. It appears these efforts have seen some success, as there continue to be more countries abolishing the death penalty. As of 2022, 110 countries and territories had abolished capital punishment, which is up from 66 in 1997. The European Union has also been openly opposed to the death penalty, and has even taken measures to reduce executions in the U.S. by banning the exportation of drugs used in lethal injections.
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