The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2019 2.1.1 United States At the end of the reporting period (31 March 2019), 30 states retained the death penalty, as well as the federal government and the military.73 In the United States, 20 states have abolished the death penalty and four have gubernatorial moratoria (California, Colorado, Oregon and Pennsylvania). There have been no federal executions since 2003 or executions by the military authorities since 1961.74 The United States has continued to defend its stance on the death penalty during the reporting period, emphasising at the OSCE Permanent Council the legality of the death penalty when imposed and carried out in a manner consistent with a state’s international obligations and maintaining that it is a matter for individual countries to decide.75 Death sentences between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 Approximately 2,700 American prisoners are under sentence of death in more than 30 states as of 1 October 2018, including 55 women.76 It is reported that 43 people were sentenced to death in 2018,77 the fourth consecutive year with fewer than 50 death sentences.78 Executions between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 During the reporting period, 21 executions were carried out. Eleven of these took place in Texas, three in Tennessee, two in Alabama and one in each of the following states: Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, Ohio, and South Dakota. All executions were performed with lethal injections, except for two in Tennessee which were performed by means of electrocution. More executions took place in Texas than in the previous 73  “State by State”, Death Penalty Information Center, <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/ state-by-state>. 74  Amnesty International, “Amnesty International Global Report: Death Sentences and Executions 2018”, p. 15, <https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ACT5098702019ENGLISH.PDF>. 75  “Reply to the European Union on the Death Penalty”, United States Mission to the OSCE, 29 March 2019, <https://www.osce.org/permanent-council/416090?download=true>. 76  NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., “Death Row USA. Fall 2018”, p. 1, <https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/legacy/files/pdf/DRUSAFall2018.pdf>; Death Penalty Information Center, “The Death Penalty in 2018: Year End Report”, p. 3, <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/2018YrEnd.pdf>. 77  This refers to the calendar year. “Recent Death Sentences by Name, Race, County, and Year”, Death Penalty Information Center, <https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/sentencing-data/death-sentences-byname-race-and-county>. 78  Death Penalty Information Center, “The Death Penalty in 2018: Year End Report”, op. cit., note 76, p. 2. 22