<Tr> <Td> West Virginia </Td> <Td> 1965 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Wisconsin </Td> <Td> 1853 </Td> </Tr> <P> From 1976 to July 1, 2018, there were 1,477 executions, of which 1,302 were by lethal injection, 158 by electrocution, 11 by gas inhalation, 3 by hanging, and 3 by firing squad . The South had the great majority of these executions, with 1,207; there were 181 in the Midwest, 85 in the West, and only 4 in the Northeast . No state in the Northeast has conducted an execution since Connecticut, now abolitionist, in 2005 . The state of Texas alone conducted 552 executions, over 1 / 3 of the total; the states of Texas, Virginia, and Oklahoma combined make up over half the total, with 777 executions between them . 3 executions have been conducted by the federal government, the last in 2003 . Executions increased in frequency until 1999; 98 prisoners were executed that year . Since 1999, the number of executions has greatly decreased, and the 20 executions in 2016 were the fewest since 1991 . </P> <P> The death penalty was a notable issue during the 1988 presidential election . It came up in the October 13, 1988, debate between the two presidential nominees George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, when Bernard Shaw, the moderator of the debate, asked Dukakis, "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis (his wife) were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?" Dukakis replied, "No, I don't, and I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life . I don't see any evidence that it's a deterrent, and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime ." Bush was elected, and many, including Dukakis himself, cite the statement as the beginning of the end of his campaign . </P>

What method of execution is used in most states