The US has executed 23 men this year. A look at the state of the death penalty

The United States has executed 23 men this year, with six of those executions coming during one remarkable 11-day period. At least two more executions are scheduled before the end of the year.

The cluster began on Sept. 20 with South Carolina's execution of Freddie Owens amid doubts over his guilt. Four days later on Sept. 24, two men were executed within an hour of each other: Marcellus Williams was executed in Missouri at 6:10 p.m. CT even though the prosecutors in the case and the victim's family wanted his life spared amid new evidence. And less than an hour later at 7:01 p.m. CT, Texas executed Travis James Mullis in the murder of his 3-month-old son in 2008.

Then on Sept. 26 came two more back-to-back executions. Oklahoma executed Emmanuel Littlejohn in the morning − despite a clemency board's recommendation to spare his life − and Alabama put Alan Eugene Miller to death about nine hours later using a controversial nitrogen gas method for only the second time in U.S. history.

The cluster ended with the Oct. 1 execution of Garcia Glen White in Texas. 

At 1,600 executions in the past five decades, the United States is a rarity among developed nations when it comes to the ultimate punishment, with more than 70% of nations globally having banned the practice, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In 2020, for instance, only five other countries executed more of its citizens than the United States: China, Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, according to the center. Globally in 2023, the number of people put to death jumped by 30%, making it the deadliest year in nearly a decade, according to a report released Tuesday by Amnesty International.

With the U.S. on pace to execute at least 25 prisoners this year, Paste BN looked at the states that have executed the most, which states have banned the practice, and how many innocent people have been put to death in the process.

What states still have the death penalty?

Twenty-one states have the death penalty. They are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Six states still consider the death penalty legal but have put executions on hold for various reasons, like the shaky reliability of execution drugs: Arizona, California, Oregon, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

The rest of the United States − 23 in total − do not have the death penalty, including red states like North Dakota and Alaska, and the bluest of states, like Vermont and Massachusetts.

Who is executing the most inmates?

Texas has executed the most inmates of any other state in the nation, and it's not even close. The Lone Star state has put 591 inmates to death since 1982, most recently Garcia Glen White on Oct. 1.

Texas executed eight inmates last year and five this year.

The following are the five states with the most executions since the early 1980s, according to the Death Penalty Information Center:

1. Texas, 591
2. Oklahoma, 126
3. Virginia, 113
4. Florida, 106
5. Missouri, 101

How many executions have there been in 2024?

So far this year, there have been 23 executions, six in Alabama, five in Texas, four in Missouri, three in Oklahoma, two in South Carolina, and one each in Utah, Florida, Georgia.

There are two more currently scheduled through the end of the year but more could be added.

The most recent execution this year was that of Christopher Leroy Collings in Missouri. He was executed on Dec. 3 for the rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford in the tiny Missouri village of Stella in 2007.

How many innocent people have been executed?

It's impossible to say how many innocent people have been executed but we do know that dozens and dozens of inmates have been wrongfully sentenced to death in the past five decades. Some have spent decades of their lives in prison before being exonerated.

One June 19 in Texas, the state's Court of Criminal Appeals exonerated Kerry Max Cook after he spent nearly 20 years on death row in the murder of Linda Jo Edwards. The court found him innocent, writing in its opinion that the case "is riddled with allegations of state misconduct that warrant setting aside" Cook's conviction.

At least 190 people have been exonerated from death row in the U.S. since 1973, largely Black and Latinx inmates who are wrongfully convicted at a higher rate than white people, according to the Death Penalty Information Center and the Innocence Project.

A 2014 study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimated that at least 4% of people sentenced to death are innocent.

This story has been updated with new information.

Contributing: Michael Loria