History of the Death Penalty In Missouri
In 1976 the United State Supreme Court in Gregg v. Georgia essentially reversed Furman v. Georgia and reinstated the death penalty. In 1975, Missouri passed Section 565.020 R.S. Mo which authorized the use of the death penalty in capital murder cases.
In 2005, the United States Supreme Court banned imposing the death penalty against minors (a person under the age of 18) in the Missouri case of Roper v. Simmons.
Since 1976, 120 people have been sentenced to death. Of those 120 people, 66 have been executed. Three have been exonerated. Three have had their death sentence commuted to life in prison without possibility of parole. Two are awaiting resentencing. And 46 currently await execution.
Since 1995, Missouri has consistently ranked in the top 5 states in either the number of persons executed or the number of people executed per 100,000 population (per capita) except for the years 2002 and 2003. We are currently ranked 4th Nationally for most executions.