Although most nations have abolished capital punishment, it is sanctioned in the United States for certain federal and military crimes, and at the state level in 28 states, though three states have moratoriums on carrying out the penalty imposed by their governors. In 2019, the country had the sixth-highest number of executions in the world, following China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Egypt. No executions took place from 1967 to 1977, owing in part to the 1972 Furman v. Georgia U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the previous practice. Since the decision, however, there have been more than 1,500 executions, although 186 of those convicted and sentenced since ''Furman'' have been exonerated, as tabulated by the Death Penalty Information Center. In recent years the number of executions and presence of capital punishment statute on whole has trended down nationally, with several states recently abolishing the penalty.