Forty-three people, all male, were executed in the United States in 1961, twenty-four by electrocution, eighteen by gas chamber, and one by hanging.
Billy Monk became the last person to be executed in the United States for a kidnapping that did not result in the victim's death. Monk raped and stabbed his victim, but did not kill her. While Victor Feguer is listed as being executed for kidnapping, he also murdered his victim.
The United States military would conduct its most recent execution this year, that of John A. Bennett. Bennett was also the last person to be executed by the military for rape, and the only person to be executed by the military for the crime of rape in peacetime.