(CNN) -
Julius Jones was set to be executed Thursday in Oklahoma, but Gov. Kevin Stitt granted him clemency.
Here are the main facts about the death penalty in the United States.
As of March 24, 2021, capital punishment was legal in 27 US states. Three of those states have moratoriums imposed by governors.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 17 people were executed in the United States in 2020. The number of death sentences imposed was 18.
There are 2,591 people on death row in the United States as of December 16, 2020.
Since 1976, when the United States Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, states have executed 1,534 people (as of June 2021).
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Since 1973, there have been 185 exemptions from death row (through March 2021).
Thirty of them are from the state of Florida.
The percentage of Americans who favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder has been around 60% to 65% since 2019, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.
The poll from April 5-11, 2021 finds that 60% are in favor of the death penalty for those convicted of murder and 78% agree that there is a risk that innocent people could be executed.
READ: Countries that execute the most people, progress towards abolition and more: 5 facts about the death penalty in the world
federal government
The US government and military have 46 people awaiting execution in 2021.
The United States government has executed 16 people since 1988, when the federal death penalty statute was restored.
The first federal execution since 2003 took place in July 2020.
Women
According to the NAACP Criminal Justice Project, there are 51 women on death row in the United States as of October 1, 2020.
As of January 13, 2021, 17 women had been executed since the death penalty was reinstated.
The story of Aileen Wuornos, the Florida highway serial killer
Youth
Twenty-two people were executed between 1976 and 2005 for crimes committed when they were minors.
March 1, 2005: Roper v.
Simmons.
The Supreme Court rules that the execution of juvenile offenders is unconstitutional.
Pardons
Since 1976, 294 people have been granted clemency.
In the case of federal death row inmates, only the president has the power to grant a pardon.
Chronology
1834 - Pennsylvania becomes the first state to move executions to correctional facilities, ending public executions.
1846 - Michigan becomes the first state to abolish the death penalty for all crimes except treason.
1890 - William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electrocution.
1907-1917 - Nine states abolished the death penalty for all crimes or strictly limited it.
By 1920, five of those states had reinstated it.
1924 - The use of cyanide gas is introduced as an execution method.
June 29, 1972 - Furman v.
Georgia.
The Supreme Court effectively annuls 40 laws on the death penalty and suspends the death penalty.
1976 - Gregg vs. Georgia.
The death penalty is reinstated.
January 17, 1977 - A 10-year moratorium on the death penalty ends with the execution of Gary Gilmore by firing squad in Utah.
1977 - Oklahoma becomes the first state to adopt lethal injection as a means of execution.
December 7, 1982 - Charles Brooks becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection.
1984 - Velma Barfield of North Carolina becomes the first woman to be executed since the death penalty was reinstated.
1986 - Ford vs. Wainwright.
The execution of the insane is prohibited.
1987 - McCleskey vs. Kemp.
Racial disparities are not recognized as a constitutional violation of "equal protection of the law" unless intentional racial discrimination can be demonstrated against the accused.
1988 - Thompson vs. Oklahoma.
Executions of offenders under the age of 15 at the time of committing their crimes are declared unconstitutional.
1996 - The last execution by hanging takes place in Delaware, with the death of Billy Bailey.
US federal government restores the death penalty and schedules the execution of 5 prisoners
January 31, 2000 - Illinois Governor George Ryan declares a moratorium on executions.
Since 1976, Illinois has been the first state to block executions.
2002 - Atkins vs. Virginia.
The Supreme Court rules that the execution of defendants with mental disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments.
January 2003 - Before leaving office, Governor Ryan grants clemency to the remaining 167 inmates on Illinois death row, due to the flawed process that led to the death sentences.
June 12, 2006 - The Supreme Court rules that those sentenced to death can challenge the use of lethal injection as a method of execution.
December 17, 2007 - New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signs a law that abolished the death penalty in the state.
The death sentences of eight men are commuted to life sentences without parole.
April 16, 2008 - In a 7-2 ruling, the US Supreme Court upholds the use of lethal injection.
Between September 2007, when the Court took the case, and April 2008, no one was executed in the United States due to the de facto moratorium that the Court imposed on executions while listening to the arguments in Baze v.
Rees.
March 18, 2009 - New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson signs a law repealing the death penalty in his state.
His actions will not affect two prisoners currently on death row: Robert Fry, who killed a woman in 2000, and Tim Allen, who killed a 17-year-old girl in 1994.
November 13, 2009 - Ohio becomes the first state to switch to a single-drug lethal injection method, rather than the three-drug method used by other states.
March 9, 2011 - Illinois Governor Pat Quinn announces that he has signed legislation eliminating the death penalty in his state, more than 10 years after the state halted executions.
March 16, 2011 - The Drug Enforcement Agency seizes Georgia's supply of thiopental, over questions from where the state obtained the drug.
US manufacturer Hospira stopped producing the drug in 2009. Countries that still produce the drug do not allow it to be exported to the United States for use in lethal injections.
May 20, 2011 - The Georgia Department of Corrections announces that pentobarbital will replace thiopental in the lethal injection process of three drugs.
Fight against the clock to save a man sentenced to death 0:47
July 1, 2011 - Lundbeck Inc., the company that makes pentobarbital (Nembutal brand), announces that it will restrict the use of its product in prisons where the death penalty applies.
November 22, 2011 - Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber imposes a moratorium on all state executions for the remainder of his term.
April 25, 2012 - Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signs SB 280, a bill that revises the penalty for capital crimes, into law.
The law takes effect immediately and replaces the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The law is not retroactive to those already on death row.
May 2, 2013- Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley signs a bill repealing the death penalty.
The law goes into effect on October 1.
January 16, 2014 - Ohio executes inmate Dennis McGuire with a new combination of drugs, due to unavailability of drugs such as pentobarbital. The state uses a combination of the drugs midazolam and hydromorphone, according to the state department of corrections. The execution process takes 24 minutes and McGuire appears to be gasping for air for 10 to 13 minutes, according to witness Alan Johnson, a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. In May 2014, an Ohio judge issued an order suspending executions in the state so authorities can further study the new lethal injection protocols. In 2015, Ohio announced that it was reinstating sodium thiopental, a drug it used in executions from 1999 to 2011.
February 11, 2014 - Washington Governor Jay Inslee announces that he will issue a moratorium on death penalty cases during his tenure.
May 22, 2014 - Tennessee becomes the first state to make death by electric chair mandatory when lethal injection drugs are not available.
July 23, 2014 - Arizona uses a new combination of lethal injection drugs to execute Joseph Woods, a convicted murderer.
After the injection, it reportedly took him nearly two hours to die.
A state review board later rules that future executions will be carried out with a three-drug formula or a single drug injection if the state can obtain pentobarbital.
September 4, 2014 - The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety issues a report on the unsuccessful execution of Clayton Lockett on April 29, 2014. Complications with the placement of an IV at Lockett played a role in the problems with his execution, according to the report.
It took 43 minutes for him to die.
#RankingCNN: The five countries with the most executions for the death penalty 0:39
December 31, 2014 - O'Malley commutes the death sentences of the last four men from the state who are scheduled to be executed.
It is one of his final acts as governor of Maryland.
January 23, 2015 - The Supreme Court agrees to hear a case involving the lethal injection protocol in Oklahoma. The inmates claim that state protocol violates the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments. In a ruling of June 29, 2015, the court upheld the use of the drug midazolam in Oklahoma in its lethal injection procedure by 5 to 4 votes.
February 13, 2015 - Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf halts all executions in his state until a task force examining capital punishment in Pennsylvania issues its final report, citing the state's "error-prone justice system. "and" inherent biases "among the reasons for the moratorium. Later, Wolf's action is upheld in court after Philadelphia District Attorney R. Seth Williams files a petition alleging that the moratorium is an unconstitutional takeover. The moratorium remains in effect after the report is released in June 2018.
March 23, 2015 - Utah Governor Gary Herbert signs legislation that makes firing squad an authorized method of death if the drugs necessary for the lethal injection are not available.
The firing squad was last used in 2010 to execute a convicted murderer, Ronnie Lee Gardner.
June 29, 2015 - The Supreme Court rules, in a 5-4 decision, that the use of the sedative midazolam in lethal injections is not a violation of the constitutional prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments.
Midazolam is one of three drugs that combine to carry the death penalty in Oklahoma.
August 2, 2016 - The Delaware Supreme Court declares state death penalty law unconstitutional.
Attorney General Matt Denn later announces that he will not appeal the decision.
November 8, 2016 - California, Nebraska and Oklahoma voters are asked to weigh in on the death penalty with referendum questions on the ballot.
In all three states, the majority vote in favor of the death penalty.
April 2017- Of the eight prisoners Arkansas had planned to execute before the state's supply of a lethal injection drug expires, four are executed: Ledell Lee, Jack Jones, Marcel Williams and Kenneth Williams.
The other four, Jason McGehee, later received clemency, and Stacey Johnson, Don Davis, and Bruce Ward, received execution deferrals that were later lifted.
April 20, 2017 - The FDA rules that imported vials of the execution drug thiopental sodium, ordered by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Arizona Department of Corrections, must be destroyed or exported within 90 days.
The FDA seized the shipment in 2015. Sodium thiopental is not approved in the United States.
April 25, 2017 - The Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission publishes a report recommending the continuation of the moratorium on the death penalty, citing the need for significant reforms.
January 25, 2019 - Ohio Governor Mike DeWine delays the execution of Warren Henness pending an official assessment of the state's enforcement system. This is in response to a January 14 federal court decision regarding the severity of his three-drug protocol. DeWine then announces that the state will have no executions until a method is established that will withstand legal scrutiny.
February 27, 2019 - The Supreme Court rules in favor of death row inmate Vernon Madison, sending his case back to state court "for further consideration of Madison's jurisdiction."
His lawyers argue that states are prohibited from executing people whose mental state prevents them from understanding the reason for the punishment.
Madison, who has dementia, can no longer remember her crime, the April 1985 murder of an Alabama police officer.
There is a 5-3 ruling by the court, as Judge Brett Kavanaugh was upheld after the case was argued.
(Chief Justice John Roberts agrees.)
March 13, 2019 - Governor Gavin Newsom signs an executive order establishing a moratorium on the death penalty in California.
Justice annuls death sentence to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, author of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing
May 30, 2019 - New Hampshire repeals the death penalty after the state legislature votes to override a veto by Governor Chris Sununu, making it the 21st state to abolish capital punishment in the United States.
July 25, 2019 - The Department of Justice announces that Attorney General William P. Barr directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to adopt an updated execution protocol and schedule the executions of five death row inmates.
The last federal execution was in 2003.
November 20, 2019 - A judge blocks the federal government from carrying out executions scheduled to begin in December, halting the Justice Department's plans to reinstate the death penalty.
December 6, 2019 - The Supreme Court denies the Trump administration's request to reverse the lower court ruling, so executions remain on hold.
March 23, 2020 - Governor Jared Polis signs legislation that abolished the death penalty, making Colorado the 22nd state to do so.
The bill repeals the death penalty for crimes charged as of July 1, 2020.
June 29, 2020 - The Supreme Court rejects a major challenge to the federal government's lethal injection protocol, paving the way for the Trump administration to begin the first federal executions after a lapse of nearly two decades.
July 14, 2020 - The Supreme Court paves the way for the resumption of the federal death penalty.
Hours later, Indiana executes Daniel Lewis Lee, a former white supremacist who killed a family of three.
March 24, 2021 - After centuries of carrying out executions, Virginia becomes the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty after Governor Ralph Northam enacted landmark legislation.
May 14, 2021- South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signs a bill allowing death row inmates to elect execution by electric chair or firing squad if lethal injection drugs are not available.
July 1, 2021 - Attorney General Merrick Garland orders a temporary halt to federal executions as senior Justice Department officials review policies and procedures for the controversial punishment.
death penalty