Entries by Death Penalty Information Center


News 

May 062025

New DPI Data Analysis: How Race Affects Capital Charging and Sentencing of 18 to 20-Year-Olds

In com­mem­o­ra­tion of the 20th anniver­sary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s land­mark deci­sion end­ing the juve­nile death penal­ty, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) has released a new report: Immature Minds in a​“Maturing Society”: Roper v. Simmons at 20, detail­ing the grow­ing sup­port for the idea that indi­vid­u­als ages 18, 19, and 20 should receive the same age-appro­pri­ate con­sid­er­a­tions that juve­niles now receive in death penal­ty cas­es. The report also reveals…

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News 

May 012025

DPIs Podcast 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context: Experts Discuss the Legacy of Roper v. Simmons

In this month’s pod­cast episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPIs Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Professors Craig Haney and Frank Baumgartner, and DPIs Staff Attorney Leah Roemer about the lega­cy of the US Supreme Court’s deci­sion in Roper v. Simmons and the legal and sci­en­tif­ic land­scape sur­round­ing the use of the death penal­ty for young adults ages 1820. Professors Baumgartner and Haney, along with fel­low researcher Karen Steele,…

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News 

Apr 302025

New DPI Report Examines the Legacy of Roper v. Simmons and Its Implications for 18- to 20-Year-Olds in Death Penalty Cases

In com­mem­o­ra­tion of the 20th anniver­sary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s land­mark deci­sion end­ing the juve­nile death penal­ty, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) today released a new report: Immature Minds in a​“Maturing Society”: Roper v. Simmons at 20, detail­ing grow­ing sup­port that indi­vid­u­als ages 18, 19, and 20 should receive the same age-appro­pri­ate con­sid­er­a­tions that juve­niles now receive in death penal­ty cas­es. > [T]here is no bright line regarding…

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News 

Apr 222025

Pope Francis, Responsible for Catholic Church’s Anti-Death Penalty Teachings, Dies at 88

On April 21, 2025, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis, 88, died fol­low­ing a series of health fail­ures. Pope Francis, the first Roman Catholic pon­tiff from Latin America, was an out­spo­ken advo­cate for abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty. In August 2018, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis for­mal­ly changed the offi­cial Catholic Church teach­ing on the death penal­ty, call­ing the prac­tice​“an attack on the invi­o­la­bil­i­ty and dig­ni­ty of the per­son,” adding that it is…

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News 

Apr 212025

A.C.L.U. Lawsuit Seeks to Prevent Transfer of Former Federally Death-Sentenced Prisoners to Supermax” Prison

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and sev­er­al oth­er orga­ni­za­tions rep­re­sent­ing a group of for­mer­ly fed­er­al­ly death-sen­­­tenced pris­on­ers filed a fed­er­al law­suit on April 16, 2025 seek­ing to pre­vent their trans­fer to the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado, known as​“ADX.” The trans­fers were threat­ened by the Department of Justice in response to President Donald Trump’s January 20th Executive Order 14164, which…

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News 

Apr 102025

A Retreat from the Harshest Punishments for Emerging Adult Defendants

To com­mem­o­rate the 20th anniver­sary of the United States Supreme Court deci­sion that end­ed the juve­nile death penal­ty, DPI will release a report exam­in­ing the lega­cy of this deci­sion and its impli­ca­tions for emerg­ing adults. This arti­cle exam­ines one area of focus in the report: recent state courts deci­sions that have extend­ed legal pro­tec­tions to emerg­ing adults ages 18 to 20. In 2012, in Miller v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court empha­sized that​“youth matters”…

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News 

Apr 092025

Paul House, Death Row Exoneree and Activist, Dies at 63

Paul​“Greg” House, who spent twen­­­ty-two years on Tennessee’s death row before his exon­er­a­tion in 2009, died at the age of 63 on March 25, 2025, from com­pli­ca­tions of pneu­mo­nia fol­low­ing years of liv­ing with mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis. His case was one of the rare cas­es to meet the strin­gent​“actu­al inno­cence” excep­tion to habeas rules that today pre­vent many oth­er peti­tion­ers from even pre­sent­ing their claims of inno­cence in court. Mr. House was sen­tenced to death in…

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News 

Mar 312025

Article of Interest: Spiritual Adviser Reflects on Relationship with Executed Death Row Prisoner

A March 25, 2025, sto­ry in Religion News Service details the spir­i­tu­al jour­ney of Rev. Hillary Taylor, a United Methodist min­is­ter who served as a spir­i­tu­al advis­er to Brad Sigmon, the South Carolina death row pris­on­er exe­cut­ed by fir­ing squad on March 7, 2025. Rev. Taylor, exec­u­tive direc­tor of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, reveals the pro­found human con­nec­tion she devel­oped with Mr. Sigmon, high­light­ing how​“he loved to share with…

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News 

Mar 112025

Former Chair of Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Parole Speaks Out Against the Death Penalty as Pending Moratorium Bills Gain Support in Legislature

Adam Luck (pic­tured), the for­mer Chairman of Oklahoma’s Board of Pardons and Parole and for­mer mem­ber of the Oklahoma Board of Corrections, is now speak­ing out against the death penal­ty in Oklahoma. Explaining his change of heart, Mr. Luck cites to his first-hand expe­ri­ence with flaws in Oklahoma’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem, includ­ing botched exe­cu­tions, and his deep Christian faith.​“Having the unique expe­ri­ence of vot­ing on the life of anoth­er human being forced me to…

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News 

Mar 102025

Georgia House of Representatives Unanimously Passes Bill to Ease Threshold to Prove Intellectual Disability Ahead of Capital Trials

On March 4, 2025, the Georgia House of Representatives, in a 172 – 0 vote, unan­i­mous­ly passed HB 123, which would pro­vide pre­tri­al hear­ings for cap­i­tal defen­dants to raise intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty claims and would low­er the stan­dard of proof for those claims from beyond a rea­son­able doubt” to a pre­pon­der­ance of evi­dence,” in line with oth­er the oth­er 26 states that still retain the death penal­ty. The bill was orig­i­nal­ly intro­duced by Republican Representative Bill Werkheiser dur­ing Georgia’s…

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