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INNOCENCE

Feb 18, 2021

DPIC Special Report: The Innocence Epidemic

A new Death Penalty Information Center analysis of 185 death-row exonerations shows most wrongful convictions are not merely accidental.
READ MORE HERE
DPIC REPORTS

Dec 16, 2020

DPIC 2020 Year End Report: Death Penalty Hits Historic Lows Despite Federal Execution Spree

In a pandemic-affected year, a 22^nd state abolished the death penalty, 5 death-row prisoners were exonerated, new death sentences were the lowest in modern history, and executions declined despite a federal execution spree.
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DPIC REPORTS

Sep 15, 2020

DPIC Report — Enduring Injustice: the Persistence of Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Death Penalty

The report examines the historical role race has played in the death penalty, its continuing pervasive impact on every stage of the death penalty process, and why the death penalty must be included in any meaningful discussion of criminal legal reform.
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FEDERAL EXECUTIONS

Jul 20, 2020

DPIC Special Report: The Federal Government Restarts Federal Executions Amid Procedural Concerns and a Pandemic

The federal government executed Daniel Lewis Lee the morning of July 14, 2020. His execution was the first conducted by the federal government in seventeen years, and it was followed closely by the executions of Wesley Ira Purkey and Dustin Lee Honken.
READ THE REPORT HERE
PODCASTS

Sep 30, 2020

New Podcast — Native American Rights Fund Lawyer Joel Williams on Tribal Sovereignty and the U.S. Death Penalty

In a new episode of Discussions With DPIC, Native American Rights Fund senior attorney Joel Williams joins DPIC executive director Robert Dunham for a conversation about tribal sovereignty and the death penalty.
LISTEN HERE
Innocence

Oct 23, 2020

DPIC Analysis: Use or Threat of Death Penalty Implicated in 19 Exoneration Cases in 2019

The use or threat of the death penalty was a factor in more than 13% of exonerations across the U.S. in 2019 and nearly 95% of those cases involved some form of major misconduct, a DPIC analysis of National Registry of Exonerations data has revealed.
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Intellectual Disability

Dec 04, 2020

DPIC Analysis — Intellectually Disabled Defendants of Color, Foreign Nationals Disproportionately Subject to the Death Penalty

A DPIC analysis of death sentences overturned because of intellectual disability has found that intellectually disabled defendants are disproportionately likely to be sentenced to death if they are Black or Latinx.
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News & Developments

Wyoming Senate Committee Passes Bill to Repeal State’s Death Penalty

A Wyoming state senate committee has advanced to the full Senate a bill to repeal the state’s death penalty. After taking testimony from witnesses including the state public defender’s office, family members of murder vic…

Lethal Injection

Mar 04, 2021

Evenly Split Indiana Supreme Court Affirms Ruling Requiring Release of Execution-Drug Records

An evenly divided Indiana Supreme Court has affirmed a trial court ruling that requires the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) to release records related to the lethal injection drugs Indiana has used in carr…

Mental Illness

Mar 03, 2021

With Overwhelming Bipartisan Support, Kentucky House Passes Bill to Ban Death Penalty for Defendants with Serious Mental Illness

In an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the Kentucky House of Representatives has approved a bill that would prohibit the death penalty for people with severe mental illness. On March 1, 2021, the House voted by a margin of

Innocence

Mar 02, 2021

As 6 Million Seek Clemency for Julius Jones, New Evidence that Another Man Confessed Points to His Innocence

As supporters of Oklahoma death-row prisoner Julius Jones submitted more than six million signatures supporting his petition for clemency, new evidence emerged that another man had committed the killing that sent…

Recent Legislative Activity

Mar 01, 2021

Legislators in South Carolina, Montana Seek to Change Execution Methods to Allow Executions to Resume

Frustrated by the inability to put prisoners to death, legislators in two states are seeking to jumpstart the execution process by changing the laws that govern how executions may be conducted. After gaining little traction in prior legislative se…

Intellectual Disability

Mar 01, 2021

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of February 22, 2021

NEWS (2/25/21) — Alabama: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit has denied habeas relief for Alabama death-row prisoner Charles Clark, who the trial court had sentenced to death based upon a non‑u…

Lethal Injection

Feb 26, 2021

Federal Bureau of Prisons Sanitized Execution Reports, Omitting Disturbing Details Observed by Media Witnesses

Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) officials repeatedly misrepresented accounts of the executions they carried out in 2020 and 2021, providing sanitized descriptions of the executions that omitted all references to dramatic body move…

Arbitrariness

Feb 25, 2021

Attorney General Nominee Merrick Garland Expresses Concerns About Death Penalty in Senate Confirmation Hearing

Expressing concerns about wrongful convictions, racially disparate impact, and arbitrariness, Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland (pictured) told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing on February 22, …

Recent Legislative Activity

Feb 24, 2021

Virginia Death Penalty Repeal Bill Gains Final Legislative Approval, Moves to Governor’s Desk

Death-penalty repeal legislation in Virginia will move to Governor Ralph Northam’s desk, after both houses approved the bill passed earlier in the session in the opposite chamber. Virginia’s legislative rules required the House of Delegates to pas…

Conditions on Death Row

Feb 23, 2021

More Information

Reports

Behind the Curtain: Secrecy and the Death Penalty in the United States

At least 18 people have been executed despite serious doubts about their guilt.
Official misconduct is the leading cause of wrongful capital convictions.

On the Issues

Henderson Hill and the North Carolina Racial Justice Act

Tweets by @DPInfoCtr

DPIC Special Report: The Innocence Epidemic

DPIC 2020 Year End Report: Death Penalty Hits Historic Lows Despite Federal Execution Spree

DPIC Report — Enduring Injustice: the Persistence of Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Death Penalty

DPIC Special Report: The Federal Government Restarts Federal Executions Amid Procedural Concerns and a Pandemic

New Podcast — Native American Rights Fund Lawyer Joel Williams on Tribal Sovereignty and the U.S. Death Penalty

DPIC Analysis: Use or Threat of Death Penalty Implicated in 19 Exoneration Cases in 2019

DPIC Analysis — Intellectually Disabled Defendants of Color, Foreign Nationals Disproportionately Subject to the Death Penalty

News & Developments

Wyoming Senate Committee Passes Bill to Repeal State’s Death Penalty

Evenly Split Indiana Supreme Court Affirms Ruling Requiring Release of Execution-Drug Records

With Overwhelming Bipartisan Support, Kentucky House Passes Bill to Ban Death Penalty for Defendants with Serious Mental Illness

As 6 Million Seek Clemency for Julius Jones, New Evidence that Another Man Confessed Points to His Innocence

Legislators in South Carolina, Montana Seek to Change Execution Methods to Allow Executions to Resume

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of February 22, 2021

Federal Bureau of Prisons Sanitized Execution Reports, Omitting Disturbing Details Observed by Media Witnesses

Attorney General Nominee Merrick Garland Expresses Concerns About Death Penalty in Senate Confirmation Hearing

Virginia Death Penalty Repeal Bill Gains Final Legislative Approval, Moves to Governor’s Desk

NEWS BRIEF — Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Death-Row Exoneree’s Solitary Confinement Lawsuit

Injustice in Virginia: The Case of the “Martinsville 7”

DPIC Special Report: The Innocence Epidemic

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of February 22, 2021