
DPI Database: Innocence Database
A Death Penalty Information Center database of every death-row exoneration since 1972. For every 8 people executed in the United States, one other person has been exonerated from death row.

DPI Analysis: What Lies Behind Wrongful Convictions
The Most Common Causes of Wrongful Death Penalty Convictions: Official Misconduct and Perjury or False Accusation
Overview
Given the fallibility of human judgment, there has always been the danger that an execution could result in the killing of an innocent person. Nevertheless, when the U.S. Supreme Court held the administration of the death penalty to be unconstitutional in 1972, there was barely any mention of the issue of innocence in the nine opinions issued. Although mistakes were surely made in the past, the assumption prevailed that such cases were few and far between. Almost everyone on death row was surely guilty.
However, as federal courts began to more thoroughly review whether state criminal defendants were afforded their guaranteed rights to due process, errors and official misconduct began to regularly appear, requiring retrials. When defendants were now afforded more experienced counsel, with fairly selected juries, and were granted access to scientific testing, some were acquitted and released. Since 1973, 200 former death-row prisoners have been exonerated of all charges related to the wrongful convictions that had put them on death row.
At Issue
It is now clear that innocent defendants will be convicted and sentenced to death with some regularity as long as the death penalty exists. It is unlikely that the appeals process — which is mainly focused on legal errors and not on factual determinations — will catch all the mistakes. Reforms have been begrudgingly implemented, increasing both the costs and the time that the death penalty consumes, but have not been sufficient to overcome human error. The popularity and use of capital punishment have rapidly declined as the innocence issue has gained attention. The remaining question is how many innocent lives are worth sacrificing to preserve this punishment.
What DPI Offers
DPI has led the way in highlighting the issue of innocence. Its list of exonerated individuals is presented in a searchable database, with links to more complete descriptions of each case. DPI has issued a series of reports on this issue, collecting the latest information on why so many mistakes occur. It also follows the related questions of whether innocent individuals have already been executed and whether some defendants are in fact innocent, despite not being completely exonerated in the eyes of the law.
News & Developments
News
Jul 18, 2025
District Judge Sets “Unfortunate” New Execution Date for Texas Prisoner Robert Roberson, Despite Pending Petition in Support of His Innocence Claim

On July 16, 2025, Smith County District Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set an execution date of October 16, 2025 for Robert Roberson, a man with a strong innocence claim who has a habeas corpus petition pending at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA). Judge Jackson, after hearing arguments from both defense counsel for Mr. Roberson and attorneys from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, ruled that there was no legal basis for not signing an execution order.“It doesn’t…
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Jul 17, 2025
Oklahoma Attorney General Accused in New Court Filings of Reneging on Plea Agreement in Richard Glossip’s Case
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is facing accusations that he broke a written agreement that would have freed former death row prisoner Richard Glossip from prison more than two years ago, according to court documents filed in mid-July 2025. The revelation centers on email exchanges from April 2023, where AG Drummond, in a thread with Don Knight, counsel for Mr. Glossip, agreed to a plea deal that would have resulted in Mr. Glossip’s immediate release after more…
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Jul 14, 2025
New Louisiana Legislation Will Limit Post-Conviction Appeals, Endangering Innocent Prisoners in an Attempt to Expedite Executions
Recent legislation signed by Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry drastically restricts the ability of prisoners to challenge their convictions, which those opposed to the law have argued could lead to the execution of innocent prisoners. HB 675, signed into law in June 2025, imposes strict time limits on post-conviction relief applications and introduces“abandonment” rules that cut off appeal options for prisoners who fail to meet the law’s strict deadlines. The…
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Jul 10, 2025
Federal Court Excoriates Prosecutors in Grant of Relief to Former Virginia Death-Sentenced Prisoner Who Has Always Maintained His Innocence
On July 7, 2025, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of former Virginia death-sentenced prisoner Justin Wolfe, vacating a lower court dismissal of his most recent habeas petition, and paving the way for a new hearing where Mr. Wolfe will have the opportunity to provide new evidence in support of his innocence. Mr. Wolfe was convicted and sentenced to death in 2002 for the 2001 murder-for-hire of his cannabis supplier in Northern Virginia. In his most…
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Jun 30, 2025
Hundreds Rally to Urge Commutation of California’s Death Row
On June 26, 2025, more than 200 Californians and representatives of civil rights organizations gathered at the state Capitol to urge California Governor Gavin Newsom to commute all death sentences. Speakers at the gathering called California’s death penalty statute unconstitutional and noted persistent evidence of racial bias, historic ties to lynching, ineffective protection of innocent lives, and high costs. California, home to the nation’s largest death row, is…
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