The Next to Die

Watching death row
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scheduled to be executed by the .
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Introduction
By Gabriel Dance, The Marshall Project

Looking back, we know quite a bit about who has been put to death in the United States. We know that the last person to be executed was , who died in . We have records that show was the person to have been executed since 1976. In fact, since executions resumed that year following a four-year suspension imposed by the Supreme Court, we know many specifics including race, age, sex and other information about those who have paid the ultimate price in the criminal justice system.

But there has been no detailed, up-to-date schedule of coming executions.

The Next to Die aims to bring attention, and thus accountability, to these upcoming executions. As impartial news organizations, The Marshall Project and its journalistic partners do not take a stance on the morality of capital punishment, but we do see a need for better reporting on a punishment that so divides Americans. Whether you believe that execution is a fitting way for society to deplore the most heinous crimes, or that it is too expensive, racially biased and subject to lethal error, you should be prepared to look it in the face. Read more ↓

As with most criminal justice issues, capital punishment is primarily enforced at the state level. More than half of the states have statutes permitting and regulating the death penalty. (There is also a federal death penalty).

Several states have litigation pending against the death penalty, which has put a halt to executions, at least temporarily. Pennsylvania, a state with one of the most populous death rows, signed 19 execution warrants in 2015 but has not actually executed anyone since 1999, and the governor has declared a moratorium. Similarly in California, the state with the most inmates condemned to die, executions have been on hold since a 2006 ruling. Nebraska’s legislature repealed the death penalty in 2015, but voters later restored it.

Then there are the states that are still actively executing inmates on death row. Many operate under the cover of secrecy laws and despite a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs. The de facto leader by count alone is Texas, a state that has executed people since 1976. In all, 13 states and the federal government have executed people since 2013: Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma, Florida, Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennesee, Nebraska and South Dakota. Nevada had plans to try to do so in 2018, and South Carolina intended to in late 2020.

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History
In the modern era, the death penalty has faced legal challenges over racial bias as well as the method used to kill. While the majority of people executed since 1976 have been white, a disproportionate number have been black ( of those executed, while being only 13 percent of the population). Latinos and other races make up the remaining . The first execution since 1976 was carried out by a firing squad. Since then other means of execution have included hanging, the gas chamber, and the electric chair. Since the early 90s the dominant method has been lethal injection.
Of the 15 state and the federal prison systems The Next to Die is tracking, Texas far outpaces the others in sheer volume.
  Since 1976 In
Past Executions
There have been executions since 1976. Below are the 10 most recent.
EXTENDED CASE INFORMATION
    All since 1976 ↓
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Credits
By Gabriel Dance, Tom Meagher and Andy Rossback
The Next to Die uses data from the Death Penalty Information Center combined with reporting from The Marshall Project and our partners.
Additional research by Maya Bernstein
This project created in conjunction with