I am trying to find out how many states in the U.S. allow capital punishment today?

There are several places to find out this sort of information.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has a section of their website dedicated to information and statistics on capital punishment:

https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=18

The non-profit organization, the Death Penalty Information Center, also has a number of statistics available on their website: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/

Another place to locate up-to-date information regarding the death penalty would be in  the Nexus Uni database, where you might find information on recent court cases which have abolished the death penalty in certain states. You can access these databases by clicking on the Newspapers link underneath the "Find Articles" section on the library website.

If you have trouble locating the information you're looking for from these sources, stop by the Reference Desk and we'll be happy to help you.