--- title: U.S. Executions At Lowest Level Since 1991 description: A report says state executions and new death sentences are at their lowest levels canonical: https://time.com/4151222/executions-lowest-level/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-16T15:01:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:25:23.209Z article:section: U.S. og:title: U.S. Executions At Lowest Level Since 1991 og:description: New death sentences are also at an historic low og:url: https://time.com/4151222/executions-lowest-level/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac88fb2021c6e3fb/6988759a524fc05399df5f44/us-supreme-court-building.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Supreme Court og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. Executions At Lowest Level Since 1991 twitter:description: New death sentences are also at an historic low twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac88fb2021c6e3fb/6988759a524fc05399df5f44/us-supreme-court-building.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. Executions At Lowest Level Since 1991 by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Dec 16, 2015 3:01 PM CUT  Supreme Court Supreme CourtRyan McGinnis—Flickr RF/Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Dec 16, 2015 3:01 PM CUT State executions were are at the lowest level in 24 years in 2015, according to new figures released on Wednesday. A total of 28 executions happened this year, says a[ report by the _Death Penalty Information Center_](http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/2015YrEnd.pdf "undefined"). That’s the lowest number since 1991, where there were 14 executions. “The use of the death penalty is becoming increasingly rare and increasingly isolated in the United States,” Robert Dunham, who authored the report, said. “These are not just annual blips in statistics, but reflect a broad change in attitudes about capital punishment across the country.” The annual report also states that new death sentences imposed in 2015 are at their lowest since 1973— when states began enacting new capital sentencing statutes in response to the U.S. Supreme Court declaring all existing death penalty statutes unconstitutional. Nearly two-thirds of 2015’s new death sentences were imposed in the same 2% of counties responsible for more than half of all U.S. death sentences in the past. Texas, Missouri and Georgia accounted for 86% of executions in 2015. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4151222/executions-lowest-level/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4151222/executions-lowest-level/"},"headline":"U.S. Executions At Lowest Level Since 1991","datePublished":"2015-12-16T15:01:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:25:23.209Z","description":"A report says state executions and new death sentences are at their lowest levels","url":"https://time.com/4151222/executions-lowest-level/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac88fb2021c6e3fb/6988759a524fc05399df5f44/us-supreme-court-building.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac88fb2021c6e3fb/6988759a524fc05399df5f44/us-supreme-court-building.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Supreme Court","caption":"Supreme Court","creditText":"Ryan McGinnis—Flickr RF/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4151222/executions-lowest-level/","name":"U.S. Executions At Lowest Level Since 1991"}}]}] ```