Death Penalty Information Center

Pulling back the curtain on the death penalty for more than 35 years.

Data. Analysis. Context.

The death penalty is complicated,
but telling the truth is not.

Invest in the Evidence: Support the Death Penalty Information Center

Created Sept 25

Subscribe to our Newsletter

The Death Penalty in 2025: Majority of Capital Juries in 2025 Rejected Death Sentences Read Now

DPI Reports Read Now

Fact Sheet Download

Upcoming Executions Read Now

State by State Read Now

Latest News

Race April 30, 2026 "The Miscarriage of Batson v. Kentucky": Forty Years Since the Landmark Ruling Challenging Racial Imbalance in Jury Selection Proceedings

Victims' Families April 29, 2026 DPI Podcast 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context: Sherrerd Hartness on Victims’ Needs, Trauma, and the Limits of the Death Penalty

Religion April 28, 2026 Pope Leo XIV Calls Death Penalty “Inadmissible,” Lends Support to U.S. Abolition Efforts

Federal Death Penalty April 27, 2026 Department of Justice Releases Memo Calling for Expansion of Federal Death Penalty and New Methods

Junk Science April 24, 2026 New Resource: Forensics, “Junk Science," and the Death Penalty

Human Rights April 23, 2026 Singapore Executes Man for Cannabis Importation Amid Rising Drug-Related Executions

News April 21, 2026 What to Know: Intellectual Disability & the Death Penalty

Mental Illness April 20, 2026 Texas Death Sentence Vacated for Mentally Ill and Intellectually Disabled Man After Half-Century on Death Row—And Nearly 40 Years Without a Lawyer

Explore all news

Explore our databases

Innocence Database Since 1973, at least 202 people wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated.

Execution Database 1664 men and women have been executed in the United States since the 1970s

Death Penalty Census The Census currently lists more than 9969 sentences imposed between 1972 and January 1, 2025.

Explore the issues we report on

Clemency Read Now

Recent Legislative Activity Read Now

Methods of Execution Read Now

12:01 The Death Penalty in Context

Sherrerd Hartness on Victims’ Needs, Trauma, and the Limits of the Death Penalty

In the April 2026 episode of *12:01: The Death Penalty in Context*, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Sherrerd Hartness, a writer and...

Read Full Transcript Download

Featured Research & Reports

Arbitrariness March 16, 2026 The New York Times Editorial Board Condemns Secrecy, Arbitrariness of U.S. Death Penalty

Deterrence March 4, 2026 What to Know: Deterrence and the Death Penalty

Clemency March 2, 2026 Alabama Governor Commutes Charles Burton's Death Sentence After Calls from Broad Coalition of Supporters

Race February 25, 2026 Black History: Forty Years After Supreme Court Upheld “Death Qualification” of Juries, Data Consistently Shows Disproportionate Racial Exclusion

Lethal Injection February 23, 2026 Twenty Years Since the Last Scheduled Execution in California and a Focus on the Participation of Physicians in Executions

Year-End Reports December 15, 2025 The Death Penalty in 2025

In-Depth Reports November 10, 2025 Forgotten Service, Lasting Wounds: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty

In-Depth Reports April 30, 2025 Immature Minds in a "Maturing Society": Roper v. Simmons at 20