News & Developments
Innocence
Jun 30, 2022
DPIC Analysis Finds Prosecutorial Misconduct Implicated in More than 550 Death Penalty Reversals or Exonerations
An analysis by the Death Penalty Information Center has discovered rampant prosecutorial misconduct in death penalty prosecutions. DPIC’s ongoing review of death sentences imposed and overturned after the U.S. Supreme Court struck…
Arbitrariness
Jun 29, 2022
On Anniversary of Furman v. Georgia, DPIC Census of U.S. Death Sentences Details 50 Years of Arbitrariness, Bias, and Error
On the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 29, 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia that struck down all existing death penalty laws, the Death Penalty Information Center is releasing the Death Penalty Census. The census is th…
Recent Legislative Activity
Jun 28, 2022
Mississippi Gives Department of Corrections Unprecedented Discretion Over Execution Methods
Mississippi corrections officials will have unprecedented discretion in selecting how the state’s death-row prisoners will be executed under a new law that takes effect July 1, 2022. Mississippi authorizes execution by le…
United States Supreme Court
Jun 27, 2022
Supreme Court Preserves Death-Row Prisoners’ Ability to Challenge Execution Methods in Federal Civil Rights Lawsuits
In a 5 – 4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the long-standing practice of using federal civil rights suits to challenge state execution methods. The Court ruled in favor of death-row prisoner Michael Nance,…
Costs
Jun 24, 2022
Idaho Falls Will Pay $11.7 Million to Exoneree Coerced Into False Confession by Threat of the Death Penalty
The city of Idaho Falls, Idaho has agreed to a settlement of $11.7 million with an exoneree who spent 20 years in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit. Christopher Tapp (pictured, center, with St…
Lethal Injection
Jun 23, 2022
Tennessee Executions Could Be on Hold for Years Following Independent Investigation, Anticipated Court Challenges
Tennessee executions could be on hold for years, as the state conducts an independent investigation into widespread non-compliance with its execution protocol and litigates the constitutionality of revisions expected to be made to…
Arbitrariness
Jun 22, 2022
On 20th Anniversary of Atkins v. Virginia, Supreme Court Denies Petition to Review Procedural Loophole Permitting Execution of Intellectually Disabled Prisoners
On the twentieth anniversary of its landmark decision in Atkins v. Virginia prohibiting the use of the death penalty against individuals with intellectual disability, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a Florida case that c…
Innocence
Jun 21, 2022
Pennsylvania Teen Exonerated 91 Years After Sham Trial and Execution on Racially Motivated Charges that He Had Murdered a White Woman
An African-American teenager who was convicted and sentenced to death in Pennsylvania on false charges that he had murdered a white woman has been exonerated, 91 years after he was executed. On June 13, 2022, Delaw…
Innocence
Jun 17, 2022
Oklahoma Legislature Releases Independent Review of Richard Glossip Case
Oklahoma legislators announced that an independent investigation revealed strong evidence of Richard Glossip’s innocence. Glossip, who came within hours of execution in 2015, is the second prisoner the Oklahoma At…
Public Opinion
Jun 16, 2022
Percentage of Americans Who View the Death Penalty as Morally Acceptable Remains Near Record Low
The percentage of Americans who find the death penalty morally acceptable remains near a record low, according to a new poll released by the Gallup organization on June 9, 2022. 55% of respondents to Gallup’s annual Values and Bel…
