DPI 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 DPI. 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 DPI’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 DPI’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 14, 2006
The Death Penalty in 2006: Year End Report
The use of the death penalty in the U.S. continued to decline in 2006, consistent with a pattern over the past six years. Executions dropped to their lowest level in 10 years as many states grappled with problems related to wrongful convictions and the lethal injection process. The number of death sentences and the size of death row are also decreasing. And for the first time, the Gallup Poll reported that more people supported a sentence of life without parole over…
Read MoreDec 15, 2005
The Death Penalty in 2005: Year End Report
The year 2005 may be remembered as the year that life without parole became an acceptable alternative to the death penalty in the U.S. Texas became the 37th out of 38 death penalty states to adopt this option for its juries. New York’s legislature did not restore the death penalty after it was found unconstitutional, leaving life without parole as the punishment for capital murder. Across the country, the number of death sentences dropped to record lows and some of…
Read MoreOct 18, 2005
Blind Justice: Juries Deciding Life and Death With Only Half the Truth
Blind Justice, the most recent report to be released by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), is the first to focus on the problems of the death penalty from the perspective of jurors. While jurors have always occupied an esteemed position in the broader criminal justice system in the United States, in capital cases the responsibility of jurors is even more critical as they decide whether defendants should live or die. Even with this unique authority in capital…
Read MoreDec 15, 2004
The Death Penalty in 2004: Year End Report
By every measure, the death penalty in the U.S. has been in decline since 1999 and the evidence from 2004 continues that trend. Whether examining death sentences, executions, the size of death row or public support, capital punishment numbers have dropped in a way not seen in…
Read MoreSep 01, 2004
Innocence and the Crisis in the American Death Penalty
This report catalogs the emergence of innocence as the most important issue in the long-simmering death penalty debate. The sheer number of cases and the pervasive awareness of this trend in the public’s consciousness have changed the way capital punishment is perceived around the country. The steady evolution of this issue since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 has been accelerated in recent years by the development of DNA technology, the new gold…
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