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Reports

Posted: January 24, 2003
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Below are reports released by the Death Penalty Information Center covering subjects such as race, innocence, politicization, costs of the death penalty, and more. When opening a report, please allow the report page to load fully before selecting links to sections or footnotes.

All of these reports are available in printed form from DPIC. Bulk prices upon request, e-mail DPIC for more information.


Smart on Crime: Reconsidering the Death Penalty in a Time of Economic Crisis

(released October 20, 2009)

From the Executive Summary:

The death penalty in the U.S. is an enormously expensive and wasteful program with no clear benefits. All of the studies on the cost of capital punishment conclude it is much more expensive than a system with life sentences as the maximum penalty. In a time of painful budget cutbacks, states are pouring money into a system that results in a declining number of death sentences and executions that are almost exclusively carried out in just one area of the country. As many states face further deficits, it is an appropriate time to consider whether maintaining the costly death penalty system is being smart on crime.

The nation’s police chiefs rank the death penalty last in their priorities for effective crime reduction. The officers do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder, and they rate it as one of most inefficient uses of taxpayer dollars in fighting crime. Criminologists concur that the death penalty does not effectively reduce the number of murders.

A Crisis of Confidence: Americans' Doubts About the Death Penalty.
(released June 9, 2007)
Media Coverage Report


From the Introduction:

According to a national public opinion poll conducted in 2007, the public is losing confidence in the death penalty.  People are deeply concerned about the risk of executing the innocent, about the fairness of the process, and about the inability of capital punishment to accomplish its basic purposes.  Most Americans believe that innocent people have already been executed, that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime, and that a moratorium should be placed on all executions.






 

Blind Justice: Juries Deciding Life and Death With Only Half the Truth

(released October 18, 2005)

 

 

International Perspectives on the Death Penalty:

A Costly Isolation for the U.S.
(released October 12, 1999)

 

The Death Penalty in Black & White:

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides
(released June 4, 1998)
La Peine De Mort en Noir Et Blanc: Qui Vit, Qui Meurt, Qui Decide - translated into French by Debra Mervant

 

Innocence and the Death Penalty:

 

The Increasing Danger of Executing the Innocent

(released July 15, 1997)

Killing for Votes:

The Dangers of Politicizing the Death Penalty Process
(released October 18, 1996)

Twenty Years of Capital Punishment:

A Re-evaluation
(June 1996)

With Justice for Few:

The Growing Crisis in Death Penalty Representation
(1995)

On the Front Line:

Law Enforcement Views on the Death Penalty
(1995)

The Future of the Death Penalty in the U.S.:

A Texas-Sized Crisis
(1994)

Racial Disparities:

In Federal Death Penalty Prosecutions 1988-1994
(1994)

Innocence and the Death Penalty:

Assessing the Danger of Mistaken Executions
(1993)

Sentencing for Life:

Americans Embrace Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(1993)

Millions Misspent:

What Politicians Don't Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty

(1992, updated with additional information 1994)

Killing Justice:

Government Misconduct and the Death Penalty

(1992)

Justice on the Cheap:

The Philadelphia Story

(1992)

See the sidebar at right for DPIC Year End Reports

Chattahoochee Judicial District - The Buckle of the Death Belt:

The Death Penalty in Microcosm (1991)