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Charted: How the U.S. Carries Out the Death Penalty
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The United States has seen a decrease in death row prisoners executed over recent decades. In 2023, 24 inmates were executed compared to 85 in 2000.
Still, the country has registered 1,589 executions carried out since 1977. This graphic breaks down the method used in all of them. All data comes from the Death Penalty Information Center, as of June 11, 2024.
Facts about the U.S. Death Penalty
All death penalty states, plus the U.S. government, use lethal injection as their primary method. Many states utilizing lethal injection have other methods available as backups.
As a result, lethal injection was the sole method of execution in most of the 27 states where the death penalty is allowed. Since 1977, 89% (1,408) of executions were carried out by lethal injection. Electrocution (10%) is the second most common method used, followed by gas (1%).
| Method | Executions since 1977 |
|---|---|
| Lethal injection | 1,408 |
| Electrocution | 163 |
| Gas | 12 |
| Hanging | 3 |
| Firing squad | 3 |
The last execution by firing squad was carried out in 2010. Billy Bailey, a convicted murderer, was the last person to be hanged, in 1996 in Delaware.
Out of the 1,589 executions, only 18 were women. Nine people have been executed so far in 2024. Eleven executions are scheduled for the remainder of 2024 (as of June 11, 2024).
How Common is the Death Penalty?
In 2023 alone, Amnesty International recorded 1,153 confirmed executions globally, taking place in 16 countries. This is a 31% increase from the 883 executions recorded the previous year.
This data doesn’t include numbers from China, likely the world’s leading executioner, because the country considers this information to be a state secret. That said, Amnesty International believes this number to be in the thousands.
Countries recording significant confirmed executions in 2023 include: Iran (853), Saudi Arabia (172), the United States (24), Iraq (16), and Yemen (15).
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