This is a list of the last executions in the United States for the crimes stated.
Crime | Convict | Race | Age | Date | Location | Jurisdiction |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Robbery | James Coburn [1] [2] | White | 38 | 4 September 1964 | Alabama | State |
Rape | Ronald Wolfe [3] | White | 33 | 8 May 1964 | Missouri | State |
Aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury by an inmate serving a life sentence for murder | Rudolph Wright [4] [5] | Black | 31 | 11 January 1962 | California | State |
Kidnapping | Billy Monk [6] [7] [8] [9] | White | 26 | 21 November 1960 | California | State |
Burglary with intent to ravish | Ross McAfee [10] [11] [12] [13] | Black | 39 | 22 November 1957 | North Carolina | State |
Espionage | Ethel and Julius Rosenberg | White | 35 (Julius) and 37 (Ethel) | 19 June 1953 | New York | Federal |
Desertion | Eddie Slovik [14] | White | 24 | 31 January 1945 | Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France (Firing squad) | Military |
Burglary | Frank Bass [15] [16] [17] [18] | Black | 23 | 8 August 1941 | Alabama | State |
Train robbery | Black Jack Ketchum | White | 37 | 26 April 1901 | New Mexico | Federal (New Mexico Territory) |
Arson | George Hughes, George Smith, and Asbury Hughes [19] | White | 21 (George Hughes), 30 (George Smith) and 22 (Asbury Hughes) | 1 August 1884 | Alabama | State |
Stealing, treason, and conduct unbecoming a slave | Amy Spain [20] | Black | 17 | 10 March 1865 | South Carolina | Military (Confederate States) |
Conspiracy to commit murder | Five unnamed Yuki men [21] | Native | Unknown | 21 July 1863 | California | State |
Piracy | Nathaniel Gordon [Note 1] | White | 30 | 21 February 1862 | New York | Federal |
Slave revolt | Caesar, Sam, and Sanford (slaves) | Black | Unknown | 19 October 1860 | Alabama | State |
Treason | William Bruce Mumford [Note 2] | White | 42 | 7 June 1862 | Union-occupied New Orleans | Military |
Aiding a runaway slave | Starling Carlton | White | Unknown | 1859 | South Carolina | State |
Theft | Jake (slave) | Black | Unknown | 3 December 1855}} | Alabama | State |
Horse theft (Grand Larceny) | Theodore Velenquez [22] | Hispanic | Unknown | 30 January 1852 | California | State |
Forgery | Ray | White | Unknown | 6 March 1840 | South Carolina | State |
Counterfeiting | Thomas Davis [23] | White | 60 | 11 October 1822 | Alabama | State |
Bestiality | Joseph Ross [24] [Note 3] [25] | White | Unknown | 1785 | Pennsylvania | State |
Concealing the birth/death of an infant | Hannah Piggen [26] | Unknown | Unknown | 1785 | Massachusetts | State |
Adultery | Mary Latham and John Britton [27] | White | 18 (Lantham) | 21 March 1643 | Massachusetts | State |
From 1930 to 1967, 3859 criminals were executed, sorted in the following table: [28]
Crime | Total executions | Blacks | Whites | Other races |
---|---|---|---|---|
Murder | 3334 | 1630 | 1664 | 40 [Note 4] |
Rape | 455 | 405 | 48 | 2 [Note 5] |
Armed robbery [Note 6] | 25 | 19 | 6 | 0 |
Kidnapping | 20 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
Burglary | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
Sabotage | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
Aggravated assault by a life-term prisoner | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
Espionage [Note 7] | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Total | 3859 | 2066 | 1751 | 42 |
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide.
In the United States, capital punishment is a legal penalty throughout the country at the federal level, in 27 states, and in American Samoa. It is also a legal penalty for some military offenses. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. It is usually applied for only the most serious crimes, such as aggravated murder. Although it is a legal penalty in 27 states, 20 states currently have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other seven, as well as the federal government, being subject to different types of moratoriums.
In the U.S. state of California, capital punishment is not allowed to be carried out as of March 2019, because executions were halted by an official moratorium ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. Before the moratorium, executions had been frozen by a federal court order since 2006, and the litigation resulting in the court order has been on hold since the promulgation of the moratorium. Thus, there will be a court-ordered moratorium on executions after the termination of Newsom's moratorium if capital punishment remains a legal penalty in California by then.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Ohio, although all executions have been suspended indefinitely by Governor Mike DeWine until a replacement for lethal injection is chosen by the Ohio General Assembly. The last execution in the state was in July 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was executed via lethal injection for murder.
Robert Alton Harris was an American car thief, burglar, kidnapper and murderer who was executed at San Quentin State Prison in 1992 for the 1978 murders of two teenage boys in San Diego. His execution was the first in the state of California since 1967.
Caryl Whittier Chessman was a convicted robber, kidnapper and serial rapist who was sentenced to death for a series of crimes committed in January 1948 in the Los Angeles area. Chessman was charged with 17 counts and convicted under a loosely interpreted "Little Lindbergh law" – later repealed, but not retroactively – that defined kidnapping as a capital offense under certain circumstances. His case attracted worldwide attention, and helped propel the movement to end the use of capital punishment in the state of California.
Yellow Mama is the electric chair of the U.S. state of Alabama. It was used for executions from 1927 to 2002.
The People of the State of California v. Robert Page Anderson, 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628, was a landmark case in the state of California that outlawed capital punishment for nine months until the enactment of a constitutional amendment reinstating it, Proposition 17.
Capital punishment in Australia has been abolished in all jurisdictions since 1985. Queensland abolished the death penalty in 1922. Tasmania did the same in 1968. The Commonwealth abolished the death penalty in 1973, with application also in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Victoria did so in 1975, South Australia in 1976, and Western Australia in 1984. New South Wales abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955, and for all crimes in 1985. In 2010, the Commonwealth Parliament passed legislation prohibiting the re-establishment of capital punishment by any state or territory. Australian law prohibits the extradition or deportation of a prisoner to another jurisdiction if they could be sentenced to death for any crime.
Capital punishment for juveniles in the United States existed until March 2, 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in Roper v. Simmons. Prior to Roper, there were 71 people on death row in the United States for crimes committed as juveniles.
Capital punishment in Alabama is a legal penalty. Alabama has the highest per capita capital sentencing rate in the United States. In some years, its courts impose more death sentences than Texas, a state that has a population five times as large. However, Texas has a higher rate of executions both in absolute terms and per capita.
In the state of California, a heavily modified version of the common law felony murder rule is codified in California Penal Code § 189.
Capital punishment in New Jersey is currently abolished, after Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine signed a law repealing it in 2007. Before this, capital punishment was used and at least 361 people have been executed.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of North Carolina.
Brian Keith Baldwin was an African-American man from Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America, who was executed in 1999 in Alabama. Many believe that he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced for the 1977 murder of a young white woman in Monroe County of that state. The only evidence against Baldwin in the murder was his own confession, which he later retracted. He said that it was coerced by the local police in Wilcox County, Alabama, where he was arrested; they beat and tortured him under interrogation. A 1985 letter by his co-defendant Edward Dean Horsley surfaced in 1996, after Horsley had been executed for first-degree murder in the case. He wrote that he had acted alone in the rape and murder of Naomi Rolon, and that Baldwin had not known of her death.
Doyle Lee Hamm was an American death row inmate in Alabama, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1987 murder of Patrick Cunningham, whom he killed while committing a robbery. While on death row, Hamm developed lymphatic cancer, which made it difficult to impossible to achieve the venous access necessary to administer the drugs used in lethal injections. Despite months of warning by Hamm's attorney and human rights observers and a decades' long legal battle, the Alabama Department of Corrections attempted to execute Hamm on February 22, 2018. The unsuccessful execution attempt lasted nearly three hours and drew international attention. In March 2018, Hamm and the state of Alabama reached a confidential settlement, the terms of which precluded a second execution attempt, giving Hamm a de facto sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, although his sentence was not formally commuted. Hamm remained in prison until his death from cancer-related complications in 2021.
James Emery Paster and Stephen Albert McCoy were American serial killers who murdered at least three people in Texas between 1980 and 1981. Both were sentenced to death and executed at the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas, via lethal injection. Prior to Emery's execution, he confessed to two other murders in the Houston area, but he was never tried for either of these killings. McCoy was executed in May 1989, in what was considered a botched execution. Emery was executed in September 1989.
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