Publications & Testimony

On December 15, 2025, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole put a hold on the exe­cu­tion of Stacey Humphreys and post­poned his clemen­cy hear­ing, orig­i­nal­ly sched­uled for December 16,​“indef­i­nite­ly.” Mr. Humphreys was to be exe­cut­ed December 17 — despite claims that his tri­al was taint­ed by what three Supreme Court jus­tices described as​“extreme juror mis­con­duct.” He was the first per­son sched­uled for exe­cu­tion in Georgia in 2025. Last week, Mr. Humphreys’ attorneys…

The Death Penalty Information Center released its Year End Report today, detail­ing the death penal­ty prac­tices of 2025. The Report notes diver­gent and con­tra­dic­to­ry trends. On one hand, pub­lic opin­ion polls record­ed his­tor­i­cal­ly low sup­port for the death penal­ty, and the high­est oppo­si­tion in 50 years. New research about death sen­tenc­ing is con­sis­tent with these find­ings. DPI found that when cap­i­tal juries were asked to choose between life and death, the majority,…

New drugs and med­ical treat­ments under­go rig­or­ous test­ing to ensure they are safe and effec­tive for pub­lic use. Under fed­er­al and state reg­u­la­tions, this test­ing typ­i­cal­ly involves clin­i­cal tri­als with human sub­jects, who face sig­nif­i­cant health and safe­ty risks as the first peo­ple exposed to exper­i­men­tal treat­ments. That is why the law requires them to be ful­ly informed of the poten­tial effects and give their vol­un­tary con­sent to participate in…

“We don’t need more death. We need more care.” — Anna Lee, vic­tim fam­i­ly mem­ber — In a December 9, 2025, opin­ion arti­cle in The Tennessean, Anna Lee, a mur­der-vic­­tim fam­i­ly mem­ber whose beloved great-uncle’s killer, Nick Sutton, was exe­cut­ed six years ago explains how the death penal­ty has not brought her fam­i­ly heal­ing or jus­tice. In the piece, Ms. Lee com­pas­sion­ate­ly describes the long-term emo­tion­al and finan­cial toll the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment system imposes…

On December 15, 2025, the Death Penalty Information Center will release its annu­al Year End Report detail­ing nation­wide death penal­ty trends, includ­ing exe­cu­tions, new death sen­tences, leg­is­la­tion, pub­lic opin­ion, and the legal chal­lenges in the Supreme Court. This arti­cle high­lights the leg­is­la­tion intro­duced this year to mod­i­fy execution protocols. This year, leg­is­la­tors in more than half of states that retain the death penal­ty pro­posed changes to their…

Glynn Simmons keeps a copy of his death war­rant, signed by the Oklahoma gov­er­nor 50 years ago, order­ing his exe­cu­tion in the elec­tric chair. He was 22 years old at the time, con­vict­ed of a mur­der he did not com­mit. Forty-eight years lat­er, after becom­ing the longest-incar­­cer­at­ed wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed per­son in U.S. his­to­ry, Mr. Simmons’ sto­ry has become cen­tral to a grow­ing con­ser­v­a­tive move­ment ques­tion­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment — one that Nan Tolson is…

The Guardian’s recent four-part series exam­ines the expe­ri­ences of women in prison around the world, with a focus on those fac­ing the death penal­ty. The series illu­mi­nates a large­ly over­looked issue with­in glob­al crim­i­nal legal sys­tems: the fail­ure to rec­og­nize how gen­der-based vio­lence shapes women’s jour­neys to incar­cer­a­tion and death row. The glob­al incar­cer­a­tion of women has reached its high­est lev­els, with more than 733,000 women and girls held in prisons…

On November 26, 2025, Jimmie Duncan was released on bail from Louisiana’s Angola prison after spend­ing 27 years on death row for a crime that a court now says nev­er occurred. Ouachita Parish District Attorney Robert Tew opposed Mr. Duncan’s release on bail and main­tains that he is guilty of rape and mur­der. Mr. Duncan’s attor­neys dis­pute this and say Judge Alvin Sharp’s bail rul­ing​“acknowl­edged the clear and con­vinc­ing evi­dence show­ing Mr. Duncan is factually innocent.” >…

Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist once explained that exec­u­tive clemen­cy is intend­ed to oper­ate as the​“fail safe” of the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem. It is the final oppor­tu­ni­ty, after all legal avenues have been exhaust­ed, for an exec­u­tive to decide whether to spare a pris­on­er from exe­cu­tion. Most grants of indi­vid­ual clemen­cy come after con­sid­er­a­tion of one or more fac­tors, includ­ing evi­dence of offi­cial mis­con­duct or oth­er unfair legal…