Twenty-seven states have the death penalty on the books, though four of them have paused executions through gubernatorial moratoriums and only a handful actually carry out sentences in any given year. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have abolished capital punishment entirely. In 2025, 47 people were executed across 11 states, and roughly 2,100 people remain on death row nationwide.
The 27 States That Authorize the Death Penalty
These states retain capital punishment as a legal sentence, typically for aggravated or first-degree murder with specific circumstances:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Wyoming
Which of These States Actually Execute People
Having the death penalty on the books and actually using it are very different things. Several of these states haven’t executed anyone in decades. Kansas hasn’t carried out an execution since 1965, Wyoming since 1992, and Montana and North Carolina since 2006. Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, and Alabama account for the bulk of executions year after year. Of the 47 executions carried out in 2025, all took place in just 11 states. Through March 2026, Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma have conducted every execution so far this year.
States with Moratoriums on Executions
Four of the 27 states keep capital punishment on the statute books but have paused all executions through governor action. A moratorium does not repeal the law or clear death row. It stops the state from carrying out sentences while the moratorium stays in effect, and a future governor can lift it at any time.
- California: Governor Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium in March 2019. California has the largest death row in the country but has not carried out an execution since 2006.
- Oregon: Oregon’s moratorium has been in place since 2011, spanning multiple governors. Governor Tina Kotek, who took office in 2023, has continued the pause.
- Pennsylvania: Governor Josh Shapiro has maintained the moratorium originally imposed by his predecessor in 2015, pledging to sign a reprieve every time an execution warrant reaches his desk.
- Ohio: Governor Mike DeWine has delayed every execution since taking office in 2019, citing problems obtaining lethal injection drugs and questions about the constitutionality of the process. No formal executive order exists, so Ohio’s moratorium is unofficial, but zero executions have been carried out during his tenure.
These moratoriums are politically fragile. They last only as long as the sitting governor chooses to maintain them, and death sentences continue to be imposed in some of these states even while executions are paused.
States That Have Abolished the Death Penalty
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have abolished capital punishment entirely. In these jurisdictions, the most severe sentence available is life in prison without the possibility of parole. Some states repealed the penalty through legislation; others had their statutes struck down by state courts.
- Michigan (1847)
- Wisconsin (1853)
- Maine (1887)
- Minnesota (1911)
- Alaska (1957)
- Hawaii (1957)
- Iowa (1965)
- West Virginia (1965)
- Vermont (1972)
- North Dakota (1973)
- Massachusetts (1984)
- Rhode Island (1984)
- New Jersey (2007)
- New York (2007)
- New Mexico (2009)
- Illinois (2011)
- Connecticut (2012)
- Maryland (2013)
- Delaware (2016)
- New Hampshire (2019)
- Colorado (2020)
- Virginia (2021)
- Washington (2023)
Michigan was the first English-speaking government in the world to abolish the death penalty, passing its law in 1846 with effect in 1847. Virginia, which has executed more people than any other state over the course of its history, became the first Southern state to abolish in 2021. Washington’s supreme court struck down the state’s death penalty in 2018 after finding it was applied in a racially arbitrary manner, and the legislature formally repealed the statute in 2023. Delaware’s supreme court declared the state’s sentencing procedures unconstitutional in 2016, and the legislature removed the death penalty from state law in 2024.1Death Penalty Information Center. State by State
Federal and Military Death Penalty
The state list is only part of the picture. The federal government maintains its own death penalty, separate from any state system, and a federal death sentence can be imposed regardless of whether the crime occurred in a state that has abolished capital punishment. The Attorney General decides whether to seek the death penalty in each eligible federal case.
Federal crimes that can carry a death sentence include certain categories of murder, such as killing a federal law enforcement officer, murder-for-hire, or murder connected to large-scale drug trafficking, as well as treason and espionage, though no one has been executed for those offenses in the modern era.2Death Penalty Information Center. Crimes Punishable by Death
The Biden administration imposed a moratorium on federal executions in 2021. In January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,” directing the Attorney General to “pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”3The White House. Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety No federal executions had been carried out as of early 2026.
The U.S. military also retains the death penalty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Capital offenses include premeditated murder, mutiny, desertion in wartime, aiding the enemy, and espionage involving major weapons systems or defense strategy.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Uniform Code of Military Justice Only a general court-martial can impose a death sentence, and no member of the military has been executed since 1961.
Who Can Be Executed
Even in states that actively use the death penalty, the Supreme Court has drawn firm constitutional lines around who is eligible and what crimes can warrant it.
Age at the Time of the Crime
No one can be sentenced to death for a crime committed before their 18th birthday. The Court established this rule in Roper v. Simmons (2005), holding that executing juvenile offenders violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.5Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Roper v. Simmons
Intellectual Disability
Executing a person with an intellectual disability is unconstitutional. In Atkins v. Virginia (2002), the Court banned the practice but left each state to define how intellectual disability is assessed. Clinical standards look for significantly below-average intellectual functioning combined with major limitations in everyday skills like communication and self-care, with onset before age 18.6Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Atkins v. Virginia Because states set their own diagnostic criteria, this has become one of the most heavily litigated areas in capital law.
Crimes That Did Not Result in a Death
The death penalty is limited to cases where someone was killed. The Court first reached this conclusion in Coker v. Georgia (1977), striking down a death sentence for the rape of an adult, and extended it in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008) to cover the rape of a child. Kennedy made clear that for any crime “against individual persons” where the victim’s life is not taken, execution is off the table.7Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Kennedy v. Louisiana The Court left open whether crimes against the state, such as treason and espionage, might still qualify, but that question remains untested.8Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Limitations on Imposition of the Death Penalty – Non-Homicide Offenses
Methods of Execution
Lethal injection is the primary execution method in every death penalty state, but the drugs involved and the backup methods authorized vary widely. Ongoing difficulty obtaining execution drugs has pushed several states to authorize alternatives.
Lethal Injection
States use one of three general approaches: a single-drug protocol (usually pentobarbital), a two-drug combination, or a three-drug sequence that includes a sedative, a paralytic agent, and a drug to stop the heart. Georgia, Missouri, and Texas use a one-drug pentobarbital protocol. Florida uses a three-drug protocol beginning with etomidate. Several states, including Indiana and Ohio, authorize lethal injection without specifying the drugs, leaving that decision to corrections officials.9Death Penalty Information Center. State-by-State Execution Protocols
Pharmaceutical companies have increasingly refused to sell drugs for use in executions, which is why protocols vary so much from state to state. Some states have turned to compounding pharmacies, and many have passed secrecy laws shielding the identity of their drug suppliers.
Nitrogen Hypoxia
Alabama became the first jurisdiction to carry out an execution using nitrogen hypoxia in January 2024, when it executed Kenneth Smith. The method replaces breathable air with pure nitrogen, causing death through oxygen deprivation. Louisiana authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an option in 2024, and Mississippi and Arkansas have passed laws allowing it as a backup method.10Death Penalty Information Center. Authorized Methods by State
Firing Squad and Other Methods
Idaho signed legislation in 2025 making the firing squad its primary execution method, effective July 1, 2026, with lethal injection as the backup, a reversal of the typical hierarchy. Utah, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Carolina also authorize the firing squad under various circumstances, usually as a fallback when lethal injection is unavailable. Electrocution remains an option in roughly a dozen states, though it is almost never chosen. Arizona still authorizes lethal gas for inmates sentenced before November 1992.11Death Penalty Information Center. Idaho Governor Signs Legislation Authorizing Firing Squad as States Primary Execution Method