More than 70% of countries around the world have effectively abolished the death penalty, including all but one European nation. The United States, however, is an outlier, particularly among developed, democratic countries, and across the country, there are more than 2,000 people on death row.

Under the Biden administration, the federal government has had a standing moratorium on death sentences since July 1, 2021. This followed a period where executions at the federal level surged during the Trump administration.

State governments can form their own laws regarding capital punishment, and at the state level, death sentences and executions have become less common in recent years. Among the 27 states where the death penalty remains legal, its use is limited for those convicted of the most horrific crimes, such as a multiple homicide, murder of a police officer, or murder of a child.

According to Death Row U.S.A. Spring 2022, a report by the Legal Defense Fund, 20 people were on death row in Missouri as of April 1, 2022 – the 18th most among states.

Death sentences are typically handed down by a jury, and due in part to a lengthy appeals process and a shortage of lethal injection drugs, prisoners often spend years or decades on death row before sentencing is carried out. From 1976, the year the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty after a short-lived prohibition, to April 1, 2022, a total of 91 state prisoners in Missouri were executed.

 

Rank	State	Death row inmates, April 1, 2022	Executions from 1976 – April 1, 2022	Total prisoners per 100,000 people, 2020
1	California	690	13	247
2	Florida	323	99	371
3	Texas	199	573	455
4	Alabama	166	69	398
5	North Carolina	138	43	271
6	Ohio	134	56	385
7	Pennsylvania	128	3	308
8	Arizona	116	37	495
9	Nevada	65	12	361
10	Louisiana	62	28	581
11	Tennessee	47	13	328
12	Oklahoma	42	116	559
13	Georgia	41	76	433
14	Mississippi	37	22	584
15	South Carolina	37	43	304
16	Arkansas	29	31	529
17	Kentucky	27	3	414
18	Oregon	21	2	300
19	Missouri	20	91	374
20	Nebraska	12	4	269
21	Kansas	9	0	298
22	Idaho	8	3	398
23	Indiana	8	20	351
24	Utah	7	7	166
25	Montana	2	3	362
26	South Dakota	1	5	362
27	New Hampshire	1	0	172