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A recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center highlights that four states accounted for the majority of executions in the United States in 2024. The report, titled "The Death Penalty in 2024: Year End Report," was released on December 19 and shows a continued decline in both executions and death sentences over the past decade.
Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, noted that "the thing that struck all of us when we were drafting this report was just how local a story the death penalty has become in the United States." She emphasized that although support for and use of the death penalty is decreasing overall, its application remains concentrated in certain states.
In 2024, ten states imposed new death sentences, with Florida leading at seven, followed by Texas with six. Alabama issued four new sentences, California three, while Arizona, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, and Tennessee each sentenced one person to death.
Executions were carried out by nine states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah. Notably, Alabama became the first state to execute using nitrogen gas. However, Alabama along with Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas accounted for 76% of all executions.
Maher suggested that elected officials might not fully recognize shifting public opinion against capital punishment. She referenced an October 2024 Gallup poll indicating a decline in support for the death penalty to 53%, a five-decade low. This trend is more pronounced among younger Americans aged 18 to 43.
“The American public doesn’t believe the death penalty can be used fairly,” Maher stated. She attributed this belief partly to high-profile cases involving potentially innocent prisoners which have garnered significant attention.
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office with plans to expand capital punishment use federally, opponents including U.S. Catholic bishops' conference and Pope Francis are urging President Joe Biden to commute existing federal death sentences. The Catholic Church's official stance opposes capital punishment as inconsistent with human life's sanctity and calls for its global abolition.
Pope Francis reiterated this position in his encyclical "Fratelli Tutti," emphasizing that “the death penalty is inadmissible” from both moral and penal justice perspectives.
