About Us

Death Penalty Information Center

1701 K Street NW, Suite 750 | Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202 – 289-2275
Email: dpic@​deathpenaltyinfo.​org
*Please direct media inquiries to 202 – 289-4022
 

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) is a nation­al non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion whose mis­sion is to serve the media, pol­i­cy­mak­ers, and the gen­er­al pub­lic with data and analy­sis on issues con­cern­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and the peo­ple it affects. DPI does not take a posi­tion on the death penal­ty itself but is crit­i­cal of prob­lems in its application.

Founded in 1990, DPI pro­motes insight­ful dis­course on the death penal­ty by curat­ing and pre­sent­ing expan­sive, author­i­ta­tive data from cred­i­ble sources and offer­ing clear, trust­wor­thy, and time­ly infor­ma­tion and research about the his­to­ry and cur­rent appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty. DPI pro­duces ground­break­ing reports on issues such as arbi­trari­ness, costs, inno­cence, and racial dis­par­i­ties. DPI also releas­es an annu­al year-end report high­light­ing sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ments and trends. A wide vari­ety of free online resources are avail­able on DPI’s award-win­ning web­site, includ­ing search­able data­bas­es; data visu­al­iza­tions; edu­ca­tion­al cur­ric­u­la; and pod­cast series, Discussions with DPIC, which explores diverse view­points and expe­ri­ences relat­ed to capital punishment. 

DPI is fund­ed through the gen­eros­i­ty of indi­vid­ual donors and foun­da­tions, includ­ing the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center; the Fund for Nonviolence; M. Quinn Delaney; and the Tides Foundation. Read more about DPI’s Staff and Board of Directors here. If you would like to sup­port DPI’s work, please donate here.

DPI Honors and Awards

The U.S. Library of Congress select­ed DPI’s web­site for inclu­sion in its dig­i­tal archives.
 

The Giving Library includ­ed DPI on its web­site that helps donors con­nect with non-prof­its. Watch this video to learn more about DPI’s back­ground and mission.

The Death Penalty Information Center was ranked among the Top Criminal Justice Nonprofits by Philanthropedia in 2011. An expert review offered the fol­low­ing assess­ment of DPI:
 

“The Death Penalty Information Center is the pri­ma­ry infor­ma­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tions vehi­cle to edu­cate the pub­lic and shape the nation­al con­ver­sa­tion about the death penal­ty in the U.S. DPIC’s reports and research reach mil­lions of peo­ple through the media. The DPIC opens the pub­lic’s eyes to the incred­i­ble flaws that under­pin America’s death penalty.”

The Death Penalty Information Center web­site received a 5‑star edu­ca­tion­al web­site rat­ing from MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). MERLOT is a pro­gram of the California State University, in part­ner­ship with high­er edu­ca­tion insti­tu­tions, pro­fes­sion­al soci­eties, and industry.