The last execution in the US took place on May 21, 2026, when Florida put Richard Knight to death by lethal injection. He was the fourteenth person executed in the country in 2026, following 47 executions across 11 states in 2025.
The Last Federal Execution
Federal and state death penalty systems run on separate tracks, and the two most recent executions in each are years apart. The federal government’s last execution was Dustin Higgs, who was put to death by lethal injection on January 16, 2021, at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Higgs had been convicted for the 1996 kidnapping and murder of three women. His execution closed a roughly six-month period beginning in July 2020 during which the Department of Justice carried out thirteen executions, ending a 17-year federal hiatus.
Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium on federal executions in July 2021. On December 23, 2024, President Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 people then on federal death row to life without parole. Three prisoners remain under federal death sentences: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Dylann Roof, and Robert Bowers. Four service members sit on military death row under separate jurisdiction.
On February 5, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi formally lifted the Garland-era moratorium and directed the Bureau of Prisons to reinstate its lethal injection protocol using pentobarbital.1U.S. Department of Justice. Reviving the Federal Death Penalty and Lifting the Moratorium on Federal Executions The directive also ordered a review of whether other methods, including the firing squad, should be adopted. No federal execution has been scheduled since.
State Executions in 2025 and 2026
States account for nearly all current capital punishment activity. All 14 executions carried out in 2026 as of late May used lethal injection and were spread across four states: Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona.
Florida has been the most active death-penalty state by a wide margin, with more than 20 executions in 2025 and the majority of 2026 executions so far. Texas has continued at a steadier pace. South Carolina resumed executions in 2025 after a long hiatus, carrying out five that year. Indiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Tennessee each carried out at least one execution in 2025.
The 47-execution total in 2025 reversed the downward trend of the 2010s, when annual totals frequently stayed below 30.
When Each Execution Method Was Last Used
Lethal injection is the default in every state that currently carries out executions, but several other methods remain authorized and some have been used recently.
Nitrogen Hypoxia
Alabama became the first jurisdiction to execute a person by nitrogen hypoxia on January 25, 2024, when Kenneth Smith was put to death using the method.2Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. United States: UN Experts Horrified by Kenneth Smith’s Execution by Nitrogen in Alabama Since then, eight people have been executed by nitrogen gas: seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana. Five states authorize the method: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
Firing Squad
The most recent firing squad execution was Brad Sigmon, put to death by South Carolina on March 7, 2025. It was only the fourth firing squad execution since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.3Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (1976) The previous three all occurred in Utah, the last being Ronnie Lee Gardner on June 18, 2010.
Electric Chair
The electric chair was last used on February 20, 2020, when Tennessee executed Nicholas Todd Sutton.4Tennessee Department of Correction. Capital Punishment Chronology Sutton chose electrocution over Tennessee’s default lethal injection protocol, as did four other Tennessee inmates executed between 2018 and 2020. Several states still authorize electrocution as an alternative, but none has used it since.
Gas Chamber
The gas chamber has not been used since March 3, 1999, when Arizona executed Walter LaGrand using hydrogen cyanide gas.5Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. Arizona Death Penalty History A handful of states still list lethal gas as a backup.
Jurisdictions with the Longest Gaps
Several jurisdictions keep capital punishment on the books but have not carried out an execution in decades.
The U.S. military has its own death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, but has not executed a service member since April 13, 1961, when Army Private John Bennett was hanged after being convicted of rape and attempted murder. Bennett was stationed in Austria at the time of his crimes; Fort Leavenworth was the site of the execution, not the offenses.
Kansas itself has not executed anyone since 1965, when George York and James Latham were put to death in a double hanging.6Kansas Department of Corrections. Capital Punishment Information The state’s current death penalty statute was not enacted until 1994, and no one has been executed under it. New Hampshire’s last execution was in 1939, when Howard Long was hanged. The legislature repealed the state’s death penalty in 2019, though the repeal was not retroactive and one person remained on death row as of early 2025.
Several states that retain the death penalty have active gubernatorial moratoriums. California’s Governor Gavin Newsom halted executions in 2019 and ordered the San Quentin execution chamber closed.7California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. California Capital Punishment Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Ohio also have gubernatorial holds. Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine said in February 2025 that he does not anticipate any executions during his remaining time in office through 2026, even though the state has issued warrants extending through 2029.
What’s Scheduled Next
As of late May 2026, roughly 15 additional executions are scheduled through the end of the year. Tennessee has the most dates set, running from May through December. Texas, Florida, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Arizona each have at least one more scheduled. Ohio’s warrants are unlikely to proceed under the current moratorium.
No federal executions are currently scheduled. With only three inmates on federal death row and active legal challenges in at least two of those cases, the timeline for any federal execution remains uncertain.