Policy Issues

Innocence

The death penalty carries the inherent risk of executing an innocent person. Since 1973, at least 200 people who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated.

DPIC Database: Innocence Database

DPIC Database: Innocence Database

A Death Penalty Information Center database of every death-row exoneration since 1972.

DPIC Analysis: Causes of Wrongful Convictions

DPIC Analysis: Causes of 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 DPIC Offers

DPIC 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. DPIC 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

Sep 09, 2024

Article of Interest: Author John Grisham Says Texas Plans to Execute Robert Roberson, An Innocent Man

Best-sell­ing author of The Innocent Man and for­mer crim­i­nal defense lawyer John Grisham nev­er, not once” believed that any of the hun­dreds of clients he rep­re­sent­ed were wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed. In a September 5, 2024, op-ed, Mr. Grisham writes that he just assumed the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem always got it right. Now, writ­ing for the sec­ond time about Robert Roberson’s case, Mr. Grisham acknowl­edges that was a wrong assump­tion.” He argues that Robert Roberson is inno­cent because the…

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News

Sep 06, 2024

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Concedes Constitutional Errors in Marcellus Williams’ Conviction and Death Sentence, Urges the Court to Vacate His Conviction

On August 28, 2024, a St. Louis County Circuit Court judge held an evi­den­tiary hear­ing for Marcellus Williams (pic­tured), who has long main­tained his inno­cence in the 1998 mur­der of Felicia Gayle. At this hear­ing, the office of St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney (PA) Wesley Bell con­ced­ed that the pri­or admin­is­tra­tion, under Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCullogh, com­mit­ted con­sti­tu­tion­al errors con­tribut­ing to Mr. Williams’ unre­li­able con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. These errors include the…

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News

Aug 22, 2024

Missouri Supreme Court Blocks Marcellus Williams from Entering Plea to Avoid Execution After State Reveals Mishandled Evidence

On August 21, 2024, Marcellus Williams (pic­tured), who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on September 24, 2024, agreed to enter an Alford plea in exchange for a sen­tence of life with­out parole. This agree­ment would have ensured that Mr. Williams, who has always main­tained his inno­cence in the 1998 mur­der of Felicia Gayle, would not be exe­cut­ed. But hours after Judge Bruce F. Hilton accept­ed the plea agree­ment, Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the Missouri Supreme Court to block the deal,…

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News

Aug 21, 2024

City in Oklahoma Agrees to Pay $7.15 Million to Glynn Simmons, Exonerated After 48 Years in Prison

On August 14, the Associated Press report­ed that the city of Edmond, Oklahoma agreed to pay $7.15 mil­lion to Glynn Simmons, the longest-incar­cer­at­ed inno­cent per­son in the United States. Mr. Simmons spent 48 years in prison, includ­ing two years on death row, before he was released last July. Mr. Simmons was offi­cial­ly exon­er­at­ed by a judge in December 2023 and received $175,000 from the state of Oklahoma, the max­i­mum amount allowed for wrong­ful con­vic­tions under state law. Officials…

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News

Aug 15, 2024

Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board Recommends Clemency for Prisoner Scheduled for September Execution

On August 7, 2024, Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board vot­ed 3 – 2 to rec­om­mend clemen­cy for 52-year-old Emmanuel Littlejohn, who is cur­rent­ly sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on September 26. The final deci­sion to grant clemen­cy, reduc­ing Mr. Littlejohn’s death sen­tence to life with­out parole, rests with Governor Kevin Stitt, who has only grant­ed clemen­cy once dur­ing his…

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