Facts & Research
In the 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court found the application of the death penalty unconstitutional, but allowed executions to resume under revised laws four years later. Today, the Court often faces questions on the constitutionality of particular aspects of the death-penalty system.
The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of whether the constitution is being followed. States may be more protective of individual rights than required under the federal constitution, but they cannot be less protective. In particular, the Supreme Court is responsible for ensuring that state use of the death penalty adheres to our fundamental rights. Court rulings can involve the methods of execution used, the competency of defense counsel, the selection of juries, the behavior of the prosecution, and many other matters protected by the right to due process.
In the earlier history of the country, the Supreme Court left much of the practice of the death penalty and other punishments to the states’ discretion, rarely ruling on whether any practice should be considered cruel and unusual. In recent decades, the Court has regularly considered multiple capital cases each term. Some of these cases arise from appeals of state rulings involving the U.S. constitution, others are result of federal decisions on both state and federal death penalty matters.
The key question for the Supreme Court is whether the death penalty itself continues to be constitutional in light of its rare use and its rejection by large segments of society. Recent revelations about the risks of executing innocent defendants, racial bias in its application, and the lengthy time inmates spend on death row, has led society to rethink its support of the death penalty. Some Justices have called for a comprehensive review of the practice. The make-up of the Court is likely to determine when such a case might be considered and how the Court will rule.
DPIC has summaries of the important death penalty cases decided by the Supreme Court in the modern era. The opinions of individual Justices on the practice of the death penalty in the U.S. are highlighted. Cases that the Court has decided to hear but have not yet been argued are previewed on the website.
Aug 05, 2021
Legal reform advocates and a committee of high-profile Supreme Court practitioners have urged the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States to recommend changes in the way the Court handles emergency applic…
Read MoreSecrecy
Aug 24, 2023
A recent law review article criticizes the U.S. Supreme Court’s use of its ‘shadow docket’ in capital cases, particularly in recent years.
Public Opinion
Jul 26, 2023
The American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section has announced its forthcoming annual report, The State of Criminal Justice 2023, examining the state of the American criminal legal system. The annual publicat…
Innocence
Jul 12, 2023
Doug Evans, the District Attorney who tried death row exoneree Curtis Flowers for murder six times, is retiring. Mr. Flowers received four death sentences, but each conviction was overturned when courts found that Evans had illegally excluded Blac…
Innocence
Jul 10, 2023
On July 5, 2023, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (pictured) filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of death row prisoner Richard Glossip’s petition for a writ of certiorari. The Innocence Project and six legal scholar…
Innocence
Jun 16, 2023
On June 15, 2023, Arizona death-sentenced prisoner Barry Jones was freed after serving 29 years for a crime that the Arizona Attorney General agreed he did not commit. Mr. Jones was sentenced to death in 1995 after being convicted of mu…
Innocence
Jun 15, 2023
On June 15, 2023, five amicus briefs were filed with the United States Supreme Court in support of Robert Roberson (pictured with his daughter, Nikki), a Texas death-sentenced prisoner who has long claimed to be innocent of causing the death of hi…
United States Supreme Court
Jun 08, 2023
In a recent interview with The Marshall Project, former United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer discussed his twenty-eight years of experience on the Court and the evolution of his view on the death penalty. He explai…
Capital Case Development
May 05, 2023
(ORDER LIST: 598 U.S.) FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2023 ORDER IN PENDING CASE 22A941 GLOSSIP, RICHARD E. V. OKLAHOMA The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Kavanaugh and by him referred to the Court is granted pending t…
Innocence
Apr 20, 2023
On April 19, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (6 – 3) in Reed v. Goertz that a Texas death row prisoner could continue his pursuit of DNA testing that a lower court had blocked. The Court held that Rodney Reed’s (pictured) civil rights…
United States Supreme Court
Feb 23, 2023
In a 5 – 4 decision in Cruz v. Arizona on February 22, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court held that John Cruz should have been able to inform his sentencing jury that if he were spared a death sentence, he never would have been eligible for pa…
