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: 51 — 55

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…

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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…

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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…

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Oct 01, 1999

International Perspectives on the Death Penalty: A Costly Isolation for the U.S.

Western Europe has abol­ished the death penal­ty; Russia com­mut­ed the death sen­tences of all 700 of its con­demned pris­on­ers to life; and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights has called for a mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions. The num­ber of coun­tries that have stopped imple­ment­ing the death penal­ty has grown to an all-time high of…

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Dec 18, 1998

The Death Penalty in 1998: Year End Report

The num­ber of exe­cu­tions in 1998 declined slight­ly from the record num­ber in 1997. As of December 18, there were 68 exe­cu­tions in the U.S., down from 74 peo­ple exe­cut­ed last year (no more are sched­uled this year). About half of the exe­cu­tions occurred in two states: Texas and Virginia. The total num­ber of exe­cu­tions in the U.S. since 1976 reached 500. The num­ber of peo­ple on death row again moved to a record high and now stands at 3,517, though the Bureau of Justice Statistics report­ed a 19%…

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