By Samuel Strom, J.D. | Legally reviewed by FindLaw Staff | Last reviewed November 22, 2024
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Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the government-sanctioned execution of a criminal defendant following the conviction of a capital offense. A capital offense is a crime punishable by death. Now, 27 states allow the use of the death penalty for certain criminal offenses.
Capital punishment is controversial in the United States. Debates around the death penalty include its morality, costs, and politics. Also, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued several landmark rulings about capital punishment.
This article provides an overview of capital punishment laws throughout the United States. Choose a state from the map or the list below for state-specific laws. The links provide state-specific information on the types of crimes for which the state may impose capital punishment and the effect of a defendant's mental incapacity in a capital offense case.
The death penalty is perhaps the oldest form of punishment in the world. The Code of Hammurabi, which dates back to about 1750 B.C., imposed the death penalty for over 20 offenses. The code is famous for the concept of "an eye for an eye," meaning the punishment should fit the crime.
The first execution in American history happened in 1608 in the Jamestown colony in what is now the state of Virginia. There, the colonists executed Captain George Kendall by firing squad for spying on the colony on Spain's behalf.
Other colonies imposed the death penalty in the years before the Revolutionary War. The Death Penalty Information Center notes that in the mid-1600s, the New York Colony imposed the death penalty for striking one's mother or father or "denying the 'true God.'" The infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692 resulted in 20 executions for witchcraft in modern-day Massachusetts.
In the early 1900s, most states had capital offenses on the books. But by the mid-1900s, support for the death penalty in the United States began to wane. Around that time, the U.S. Supreme Court issued several decisions that changed the country's legal landscape about capital punishment.
The Supreme Court issued two landmark decisions on the death penalty in the 1970s.
In 1972, the Court said that the death penalty, as instituted at that time, was arbitrary, discriminatory, and violated the Eighth Amendment's protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The Court's ruling banned the death penalty nationwide.
The Court's decision in Furman v. Georgia prompted states to propose new state laws on capital punishment. All told, 34 states drafted or amended their death penalty laws. Generally, states limited the discretion of judges and juries on sentencing guidelines in capital cases. These guidelines allowed the fact-finders to consider mitigating and aggravating factors during sentencing.
In 1976, the Supreme Court approved these discretionary guidelines in Gregg v. Georgia. Also, the Court said that the death penalty was not cruel and unusual punishment. The decision effectively reinstated the states' ability to impose capital punishment.
For more information about the history of the death penalty in America, read FindLaw's History of Death Penalty Laws article.
A majority of U.S. states have the death penalty, including Florida and Texas. But some states that allow capital punishment through statute have banned its use through moratoriums or actions by governors.
Other states, like New Jersey, have abolished the death penalty. In 2007, a New Jersey state commission conducted research on the state's use of the death penalty. It concluded that a sentence of death did not serve a legitimate penological interest, and its use did not justify the risk of executing an innocent person.
The commission recommended that the state abolish the state's death penalty. New Jersey's legislature abolished it in 2007. It also commuted all death row inmates' sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
In a few states, death penalty statutes remain on the books, but the states have placed moratoriums on their use (e.g., California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania). In some cases, the state legislature can either revise or rewrite the death penalty statute if it chooses to make it the law.
The methods of execution in some states remain a controversial element of death penalty statutes. State laws differ on acceptable methods of execution.
For example, Georgia's Supreme Court ruled that the electric chair was cruel and unusual punishment. But states like Alabama and Arkansas allow inmates to choose the electric chair as their method of execution.
As another example, New Hampshire law allows lethal injection as its method of execution. But, state law allows the Department of Corrections to hang a person on death row if the state cannot get the requisite lethal substance. (Note that New Hampshire abolished the death penalty in 2019. But the law is not retroactive. So inmates sentenced to death before the state abolished capital punishment did not retroactively receive a commutation.)
Learn more about capital punishment laws and methods of execution in the following table.
| States with lethal injection | Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire*, New Mexico*, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, U.S. military, U.S. federal government *New Hampshire and New Mexico both abolished the death penalty. The acts were not retroactive. People sentenced to death in those states before they passed their respective laws still face execution. |
|---|---|
| Electrocution | Alabama, Arkansas*, Florida, Kentucky**, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma***, South Carolina, Tennessee *Execution by electrocution is only available in Arkansas if a final and unappealable court order invalidates the use of a lethal injection. **Only people convicted of a capital offense before March 31, 1998, may elect the electric chair as their execution method. ***The electric chair is only available in Oklahoma if the use of lethal injection is found unconstitutional. |
| Lethal gas | Alabama, Arizona*, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma**, Wyoming*** *Only people convicted of a capital crime that happened before Nov. 23, 1992, may elect a lethal gas execution in Arizona. **The use of lethal gas is only available in Oklahoma if the use of lethal injections and the electric chair are both found unconstitutional. ***The use of lethal gas is only available in Wyoming if the use of lethal injections is found unconstitutional. |
| Firing squad | Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah* *Utah authorizes a death row inmate to elect execution by firing squad if the drugs required for lethal injection are unavailable. |
Note: State laws often change. Contact a criminal defense attorney in your state or conduct your own legal research to verify the state law(s) you are researching.
Although several states have abolished the death penalty recently, there are still many jurisdictions and states with it on their books. If law enforcement has arrested you and you are now involved in a capital case, contact a criminal defense attorney immediately. Their legal advice and representation could make the difference between an acquittal and death row.
Get tailored advice and ask your legal questions. Many attorneys offer free consultations.