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DPIC Reports

Below are reports released by the Death Penalty Information Center since its incep­tion, cov­er­ing sub­jects such as race, inno­cence, politi­ciza­tion, costs of the death penal­ty, and more. When open­ing a report, please allow the report page to load ful­ly before select­ing links to sec­tions or foot­notes. Most of these reports are also avail­able in print­ed form from DPIC. For a copy of one of these reports, e‑mail DPIC. For bulk orders, please down­load our Resource Order Form.

Reports are sep­a­rat­ed into Year End Reports, In-Depth Reports, and Special Reports. In-Depth Reports are DPIC’s sig­na­ture long, thor­ough reports on major death-penal­ty issues. These include ​“The 2% Death Penalty,” exam­in­ing geo­graph­ic arbi­trari­ness in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, and ​“Behind the Curtain,” cov­er­ing secre­cy in the death penal­ty sys­tem. Special Reports are short­er, and typ­i­cal­ly address a spe­cif­ic event or ques­tion. These include DPIC’s expla­na­tion of the 2017 spate of exe­cu­tions that were sched­uled in Arkansas, and our analy­sis of the largest num­ber of exe­cu­tions per­formed on a sin­gle day.

Reports: 46 — 50

Dec 18, 2003

The Death Penalty in 2003: Year End Report

The death penal­ty con­tin­ued its recent attri­tion in 2003, with exe­cu­tions, death sen­tences, and the death row pop­u­la­tion all low­er than a few years ago. Public sup­port for the death penal­ty dropped to its low­est lev­el in 25 years. At the same time, exon­er­a­tions from death row helped spur leg­isla­tive reforms in the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment system.

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Dec 17, 2002

The Death Penalty in 2002: Year End Report

In 2002, the death penal­ty con­tin­ued to come under increas­ing scruti­ny and its use became more geo­graph­i­cal­ly iso­lat­ed with­in the United States. Executions occurred almost exclu­sive­ly in the South, and one state, Texas, account­ed for three times as many as the total in the West, Midwest, and Northeast states combined.

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Dec 12, 2001

The Death Penalty in 2001: Year End Report

Throughout 2001, grow­ing con­cerns about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment were reflect­ed in a series of leg­isla­tive changes to restrict the death penal­ty, and exe­cu­tions declined sharply for the sec­ond straight year. For the first time since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed, the num­ber of peo­ple on death row also appears to be decreasing.

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Dec 19, 2000

The Death Penalty in 2000: Year End Report

The year 2000 was per­haps the most sig­nif­i­cant sin­gle year affect­ing death penal­ty opin­ion in United States his­to­ry. A broad change in the way the American pub­lic views cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was pre­cip­i­tat­ed by a steady sequence of eye-open­ing events, includ­ing releas­es from death row, reports on the unfair­ness of the process, and gov­ern­men­tal action to lim­it or halt the death penalty.

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Dec 01, 1999

The Death Penalty in 1999: Year End Report

The num­ber of exe­cu­tions in the U.S. in 1999 was the high­est for any year since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1976. There were 98 exe­cu­tions, one-third of them in Texas. This 44% increase in exe­cu­tions from last year is part­ly the result of a large num­ber of old­er cas­es fac­ing an expe­dit­ed fed­er­al and state appeals process.

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