The death penalty is a divisive topic that has some believing it to be cruel and unusual, while others believe it is a fate more than deserving for criminals who have caused harm to individuals and the nation. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, as of October 2023, the number of people on death row or facing capital retrials or resentencing is 2,262, which is down slightly from the previous year. Of these, 171 prisoners had their sentences reversed while they awaited retrial, leaving 2,091 still facing their death sentences.
Capital punishment is federally legal and is also legal in 27 states. Although lethal injection is the most common method of execution today, other methods like the gas chamber, electrocution, hanging, firing squad, and nitrogen hypoxia are still acceptable forms in many states. Throughout history, the more widely used procedure has evolved. What was once the predominant approach until the late 1800s – hanging – was replaced by the electric chair when it was introduced as a more humane option.
To determine the most infamous executions in U.S. history, 24/7 Tempo referred to numerous news and historical sources, as well as the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that provides data and analysis on capital punishment. We focused on executions that were either widely publicized or highly contested, with many of those put to death being notorious criminals, though some, like Bruno Hauptmann, convicted of murdering the Lindbergh baby, and Sacco and Vanzetti, accused anarchists, have been debated even decades after their deaths.
Here are the most high-profile executions in American history:
Nathan Hale
- Criminal offense: Spying for the Continental Army
- Executed: September 22, 1776
- Means: hanging
John Brown
- Criminal offense: Treason, murder, inciting slaves to riot
- Executed: December 2, 1859
- Means: hanging
38 Dakota men
- Criminal offense: Participating in the Dakota War (two were later found to be killed in error)
- Executed: December 26, 1862
- Means: hanging
Mary Surratt
- Criminal offense: Conspiracy in the Lincoln assassination
- Executed: July 7, 1865
- Means: hanging
Charles J. Guiteau
- Criminal offense: Murder of new president James A. Garfield
- Executed: June 30, 1882
- Means: hanging
Leon Frank Czolgosz
- Criminal offense: Murder of President William McKinley
- Executed: October 29, 1901
- Means: electric chair
Sacco and Vanzetti
- Criminal offense: Murder, robbery
- Executed: August 23, 1927
- Means: electric chair
Harry Pierpont
- Criminal offense: Murder, bank robbery
- Executed: October 17, 1934
- Means: electric chair
Raymond Hamilton
- Criminal offense: Murder of an Oklahoma deputy
- Executed: May 10, 1935
- Means: electric chair
Albert Fish
- Criminal offense: Murder
- Executed: January 16, 1936
- Means: electric chair
Bruno Richard Hauptmann
- Criminal offense: Murder of the Lindberg baby
- Executed: April 3, 1936
- Means: electric chair
Rainey Bethea
- Criminal offense: Sexual assault and murder of a 70-year-old woman
- Executed: August 14, 1936
- Means: Public hanging
Eddie Slovik
- Criminal offense: Desertion during WWII
- Executed: January 31, 1945
- Means: firing squad
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
- Criminal offense: Spying for the Soviet Union
- Executed: June 19, 1953
- Means: electric chair
Jack Gilbert Graham
- Criminal offense: Murder in the intentional downing of United Air Lines Flight 629 (all 44 onboard died)
- Executed: January 11, 1957
- Means: gas chamber
Charles Starkweather
- Criminal offense: Murder of 10 people
- Executed: June 25, 1959
- Means: electric chair
Gary Gilmore
- Criminal offense: Murder of two Utah college students
- Executed: January 17, 1977
- Means: firing squad
Ted Bundy
- Criminal offense: Murder of at least 30 people
- Executed: January 24, 1989
- Means: electric chair
John Wayne Gacy
- Criminal offense: Murder of at least 33 teen boys and young men
- Executed: May 10, 1994
- Means: lethal injection
William Bonin
- Criminal offense: Murder of 10 teen boys (although it’s believed there were more)
- Executed: February 23, 1996
- Means: lethal injection
Timothy McVeigh
- Criminal offense: Murder of 168 people (injuring over 600), unlawful use of explosives and weapons of mass destruction (domestic terrorism)
- Executed: June 11, 2001
- Means: lethal injection
Aileen Wuornos
- Criminal offense: Murder of seven men, armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon
- Executed: October 9, 2002
- Means: lethal injection
Stanley Tookie Williams
- Criminal offense: Murder (four counts)
- Executed: December 13, 2005
- Means: lethal injection
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