The Death Penalty

The basics

In Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court struck down death sentences imposed under laws that left juries with unlimited discretion¹. On July 2, 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia, the Court upheld a revised Georgia law that required juries to find specific aggravating circumstances before imposing death¹.

The Court has since set limits. States may not execute people who were under 18 at the time of the crime or who have an intellectual disability², and in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008) the Court held that the death penalty may not be imposed for the rape of a child when the crime did not result, and was not intended to result, in the victim's death¹⁷.

Twenty-seven states, the federal government, and the military have the death penalty, and 23 states have abolished it³. Governors in four of the states that keep it have paused executions³. Since 1976, the United States has carried out 1,682 executions⁸. In 2025, Florida carried out 19, the most of any state that year⁹.

Federal policy has shifted. The executive order signed January 20, 2025, notes that on December 23, 2024, the previous president commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row¹³. The order directs the attorney general to pursue the death penalty in eligible federal cases and to seek to overrule Supreme Court precedents that limit it¹³.

Key terms

Capital felony

The most serious crime under Texas law; when the state seeks death, the punishment is either death or life without parole¹⁶.

Aggravating factor

A circumstance a jury must find before a death sentence is allowed, a requirement upheld in Gregg v. Georgia¹.

Clemency

A governor's power to reduce a sentence; in Texas, the governor can commute a death sentence only if a majority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends it¹².

Reprieve

A temporary delay of an execution; the Texas governor may grant one reprieve of up to 30 days without a board recommendation¹².

In Texas

Texas carried out 602 executions from December 7, 1982, through September 23, 2026, more than any other state⁴⁸. It executed five people in 2025 and six in 2026 through September 23⁵. There are 162 people on Texas death row, and three more executions are scheduled for October and November 2026⁶⁷.

Tarrant County cases have produced 48 executions, the third most of any Texas county after Harris and Dallas, including two in 2026⁴. Thirteen people now on death row were sentenced in Tarrant County⁶.

Recent cases have focused on changing science. On October 9, 2025, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed the scheduled October 16 execution of Robert Roberson, who was convicted in his daughter's 2002 death based on shaken baby evidence, and sent his claims back to the trial court¹⁰. As of July 2026, an Anderson County judge was weighing the parties' briefs, including whether new evidence can be considered, and will make a recommendation to the appeals court¹¹. No recommendation had been reported as of September 2026.

How people see it

The strongest case for each view, in terms its supporters would recognize. We don't pick a side.

Questions to ask a candidate

• Should Texas keep, expand, limit, or end the death penalty?
• What safeguards should be required before an execution when new scientific evidence emerges?
• Should district attorneys seek the death penalty more often, less often, or about the same?
• Should the governor have more power to grant clemency without a board recommendation?