This is a list of the last executions in the United States for the crimes stated.
Crime | Convict | Race | Age | Date | Location | Jurisdiction |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Robbery [1] | James Coburn [2] [3] | White | 38 | 4 September 1964 | Alabama | State |
Rape | Ronald Wolfe [4] | White | 33 | 8 May 1964 | Missouri | State |
Aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury by an inmate serving a life sentence for murder | Rudolph Wright [5] [6] | Black | 31 | 11 January 1962 | California | State |
Kidnapping | Billy Monk [7] [8] [9] [10] | White | 26 | 21 November 1960 | California | State |
Burglary with intent to ravish | Ross McAfee [11] [12] [13] [14] | 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 [15] | White | 24 | 31 January 1945 | Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France (Firing squad) | Military |
Burglary | Frank Bass [16] [17] [18] [19] | 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 [20] | 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 [21] | Black | 17 | 10 March 1865 | South Carolina | Military (Confederate States) |
Conspiracy to commit murder | Five unnamed Yuki men [22] | 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 [23] | Hispanic | Unknown | 30 January 1852 | California | State |
Forgery | Ray | White | Unknown | 6 March 1840 | South Carolina | State |
Counterfeiting | Thomas Davis [24] | White | 60 | 11 October 1822 | Alabama | State |
Bestiality | Joseph Ross [25] [Note 3] [26] | White | Unknown | 1785 | Pennsylvania | State |
Concealing the birth/death of an infant | Hannah Piggen [27] | Unknown | Unknown | 1785 | Massachusetts | State |
Adultery | Mary Latham and John Britton [28] | White | 18 (Lantham) | 21 March 1643 | Massachusetts | State |
From 1930 to 1967, 3859 criminals were executed, sorted in the following table: [29]
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, 19 states currently have the ability to execute death sentences, with the other 8, as well as the federal government and military, being subject to different types of moratoriums.
The U.S. state of Washington enforced capital punishment until the state's capital punishment statute was declared null and void and abolished in practice by a state Supreme Court ruling on October 11, 2018. The court ruled that it was unconstitutional as applied due to racial bias however it did not render the wider institution of capital punishment unconstitutional and rather required the statute to be amended to eliminate racial biases. From 1904 to 2010, 78 people were executed by the state; the last was Cal Coburn Brown on September 10, 2010. In April 2023, Governor Jay Inslee signed SB5087 which formally abolished capital punishment in Washington State and removed provisions for capital punishment from state law.
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.
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.
Uttecht v. Brown, 551 U.S. 1 (2007), was a case dealing with jury selection in capital cases in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that appeals courts must defer to a trial judge's decision on whether a potential juror would be able to overcome demur about capital punishment and be open to voting to impose a death sentence.
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.
James E. "Jimmy" Wilson, was an American farmhand who was convicted of violent robbery by an Alabama court in 1958 and sentenced to death. His case became a cause célèbre due to the small amount stolen ($1.95) and that Wilson, as an African-American, was convicted by an all-white jury.
Capital punishment in Romania was abolished in 1990, and has been prohibited by the Constitution of Romania since 1991.
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 Montenegro was first prescribed by law in 1798. It was abolished on 19 June 2002. The last execution, by shooting, took place on 29 January 1981, and the two last death sentences were pronounced on 11 October 2001. Montenegro is bound by the following international conventions prohibiting capital punishment : Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as Protocols No. 6 and No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 26 of the Montenegrin Constitution (2007) that outlawed the death penalty states: "In Montenegro, capital punishment punishment is forbidden”.
Andrew Reid Lackey was a prisoner executed for the October 31, 2005 murder of Charles Newman, an eighty-year-old World War II veteran. Lackey became the first person executed by the state of Alabama since October 20, 2011; executions had been partly slowed because of a legal dispute over the drugs being used. No further executions would occur in Alabama until the January 2016 execution of Christopher Brooks.
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Nigeria.
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.
Walter Hill was an American serial killer who killed five people between 1952 and 1977. He was convicted of capital murder, sentenced to death, and executed at Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama in 1997.
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