Fifty-six people, all male, were executed in the United States in 1960, forty by electrocution, fourteen by gas chamber, one by firing squad, and one by hanging. At least one notable execution was that of kidnapper Caryl Chessman. Connecticut, for its part, would carry out its second-to-last execution. (The last overall would be in 2005).
Robert Johnson became the last person in the United States to be executed for attempted rape. Robert Harmon became the last person in the United States to be executed for an assault in which the victim did not die. He was executed for stabbing a fellow inmate while serving a life sentence for robbery. Harmon wrote to Governor Pat Brown and warned that he would continue to assault or kill fellow inmates unless he was executed. Rejecting an appeal for clemency from the American Civil Liberties Union, Governor Brown noted that Harmon had given a similar warning prior to the stabbing and concluded that he was too dangerous to be kept alive.