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Capital punishment is a legal penalty. In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. [b] [1] It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses.
Capital punishment is legal in some U.S. states and not legal in others. In some states it has been officially or effectively put on hold as a result of gubernatorial actions. The map and table below indicate the legal or effective status, methods, and recent history of capital punishment in each of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Mar 3, 2022 · Learn about the legal status, trends, and demographics of capital punishment in the US. Find out how the death penalty is administered, who goes to death row, and how they leave it.
May 14, 2024 · New DPIC Report Traces Ohio’s History of Racial Violence to the Modern Use of Capital Punishment in the State.
- Six-in-ten U.S. adults strongly or somewhat favor the death penalty for convicted murderers, according to the April 2021 survey. A similar share (64%) say the death penalty is morally justified when someone commits a crime like murder.
- A majority of Americans have concerns about the fairness of the death penalty and whether it serves as a deterrent against serious crime. More than half of U.S. adults (56%) say Black people are more likely than White people to be sentenced to death for committing similar crimes.
- Opinions about the death penalty vary by party, education and race and ethnicity. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are much more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to favor the death penalty for convicted murderers (77% vs. 46%).
- Views of the death penalty differ by religious affiliation. Around two-thirds of Protestants in the U.S. (66%) favor capital punishment, though support is much higher among White evangelical Protestants (75%) and White non-evangelical Protestants (73%) than it is among Black Protestants (50%).
May 15, 2024 · Learn about the origins, evolution, and current status of capital punishment in the U.S. from colonial times to the present. Explore charts, timelines, videos, and news articles on the history of the death penalty.
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Find out which states have the death penalty, which ones have abolished it, and which ones have a gubernatorial hold on executions. Compare execution numbers, death row population, and murder rates for each state, and access relevant websites and sources.
