The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2021 Death sentences between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 At the end of 2020, 2,485 individuals remained on death row in 29 states, as well as in federal and military prisons.185 The state with the largest death row population is California, with 711 inmates, followed by Florida with 347. California currently has a moratorium on executions. Eighteen death sentences were reportedly handed down in the United States in 2020, which is the lowest number of new sentences in one year since Furman v. Georgia in 1972, the year in which the Supreme Court struck down all existing capital punishments statutes in the United States. It was reported that the temporary closing of courts due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the longest period of time without a new death sentence imposed since capital punishment was reinstated after Gregg v. Georgia in 1977.186 The year 2020 was the sixth consecutive year with fewer than 30 executions and fewer than 50 new death sentences imposed. Furthermore, compared to 2019, five fewer states imposed death sentences.187 Between January 2021 and the end of the reporting period, at least four more death sentences were handed down. Executions between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 During the reporting period, 15 executions were carried out, which represents a decrease from the 24 executions that took place during the previous reporting period. Executions were carried out in two states during the reporting period, as well as by the federal government: one in Missouri, one in Texas and 13 at the federal level. All executions were carried out by lethal injection. Florida did not execute anyone for the first time since 2007.188 185 Amnesty International Global Report, 2020, op. cit., note 152, p. 13. 186 Death Penalty Information Center, op. cit., note 177, p. 10. 187 Amnesty International Global Report, 2020, op. cit., note 152, p. 18. 188 Ibid., p. 17. 46