Publications & Testimony

A March 9, 2026, competency hearing for Andre Thomas, a death-sentenced prisoner in Texas, has been postponed to an unspecified date because of concerns that Mr. Thomas is too mentally ill to be transported to his competency hearing and he could not be re-examined by the State’s expert. Mr. Thomas was scheduled to be executed in April 2023; however, his execution date was withdrawn in March 2023, citing concerns with his severe mental illness (SMI) and competency to face execution. “In my…

After spending 32 years under a death sentence, on February 9, 2026, the Superior Court of the State of California, Alameda County vacated the conviction and sentence of Franklin Lynch and ordered a new trial under California’s Racial Justice Act (CRJA). Mr. Lynch’s attorneys argued that racial bias pervaded his trial, alleging the discriminatory use of preemptory strikes in jury selection in violation of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Batson v. Kentucky, and the use of racially discriminatory…

DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on specific aspects of the death penalty. This installment looks at the costs associated with pursuit of death sentences and executions. Why it matters: The question at the heart of this issue is whether the assumed benefits of the death penalty are worth its costs and whether other systems might provide similar benefits at less cost. It is a…

On February 18, 2026, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments in a case seeking to open executions in Indiana to press witnesses. The First Amendment challenge to Indiana’s absolute ban was initiated a year ago by a broad coalition of media outlets seeking, at that time, to witness the execution of Benjamin Ritchie. The coalition was unsuccessful in that endeavor; Mr. Ritchie’s May 20, 2025, execution would be later described by non-media…

DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on specific aspects of the death penalty. Why it matters: Deterrence is among the most commonly cited justifications for the death penalty, yet decades of research have failed to produce credible evidence that use of the death penalty has an impact on homicide rates. Key Facts: 88% of the nation’s leading criminologists said they did not…

“By continuing to shroud its executions in secrecy, Florida undermines both the integrity of its own execution process and, potentially, this Court’s ability to ensure the State’s compliance with its constitutional obligations.”
—Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a February 24, 2026 *statement* accompanying the denial of certiorari in the case of Melvin Trotter. Melvin Trotter, Ronnie Heath, and Frank Walls — the most recent of the twenty-one…

UPDATE: On March 10, 2026, two days ahead of his scheduled execution, Governor Kay Ivey granted clemency for Charles “Sonny” Burton, commuting his death sentence to a sentence of life without parole. In a statement, Gov. Ivey said, “I cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances. I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not.” In response to the…

In the February 2026 episode of DPI’s podcast, 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, Furonda Brasfield (pictured, left) and Taylor Bonner (pictured, below) speak with DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger about the racial history of the death penalty and how current data and narratives about racial justice play a role in advocacy on the death penalty. As the Death Penalty Information Center’s Racial Justice Storyteller, Ms. Bonner blends data and history to tell the story of the death penalty…

The Constitution mandates that juries be drawn from a “fair cross-section” of the community. Yet public opinion polls show that a substantial portion of the community opposes the death penalty. How, then, can the government seat a jury that will fairly decide whether to impose the death penalty and protect a defendant’s constitutional jury rights? The legal system’s longstanding answer to this question is a procedure called “death qualification,” which allows prosecutors to dismiss any…

“I am extremely concerned by the recent pace of death warrants and the speed with which the parties and involved entities must carry out their respective duties.” Florida Supreme Court Justice Jorge Labarga wrote those words in 2023, a year in which Florida conducted six executions with an average warrant period of 36 days. Such a pace was already straining the state’s judicial, legal, and prison systems. But in 2025, under the sole authority of Governor Ron DeSantis, the state tripled that…