Publications & Testimony

When Lance Shockley was executed in Missouri in October 2025, he requested the presence of his daughter, an ordained minister, in the execution chamber as his spiritual adviser. The Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) denied his request, and Mr. Shockley was executed. His case represents one example of how states have applied the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Ramirez v. Collier, a decision that acknowledged the religious rights of death-sentenced prisoners at the time of their…

In the January 2026 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Aramis Ayala, Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution. Ms. Ayala made history in 2016 as Florida’s first Black state attorney and later became the first Black woman in Florida to be nominated for state attorney general by a major party. In the podcast, she discusses her decision to not seek the death penalty, the reaction to her decision, and the evolving role of…

On January 20, 2026, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Amos Wells, a Black man in Texas who was sentenced to death in 2016 after a trial marked by racial bias and harmful stereotypes. The brief urges the Court to grant certiorari to address the continuing harm caused by the false stereotype that Black men are inherently violent. Central to Mr. Wells’ death sentence at trial was testimony about monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), often…

For updates on the September 30, 2026 failed execution attempt of Christa Pike, please see our full story here. Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, has filed a lawsuit in the Davidson County Chancery Court challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol, asserting it violates her constitutional rights and conflicts with her religious beliefs. The state’s new execution protocol relies solely on pentobarbital to induce respiratory and cardiac arrest, rather than the former…

On January 16, 2026, Chancellor I’Aesha L. Myles granted a temporary injunction ordering the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) to expand access to executions for public and media witnesses. The order was in response to a suit filed by a media coalition that includes the Associated Press, Gannett Co., Inc., Nashville Public Media, Inc., Nashville Public Radio, Scripps Media, Inc., Six Rivers Media, LLC, and TEGNA Inc.. The TDOC has faced scrutiny in recent years for its failure to…

September 30, 1953 was an eventful night for 19-year-old Tommy Lee Walker. After catching a ride home from work at 6 p.m. — he didn’t have a car — he spent a few hours with friends in Exall Park near his home in Dallas. He then visited his girlfriend Mary Louise Smith, who was nine months pregnant. It seemed like the baby would come any minute, and sure enough, Mary Louise went into labor that night. Their son Ted was born in the early hours of October 1. Yet despite the many witnesses who saw Mr.

An autopsy of Richard Djerf, who was executed in Arizona in October 2025, has renewed concerns about the state’s lethal injection execution protocol and the state’s efforts to address longstanding execution-related concerns. Mr. Djerf was convicted for the September 1993 murders of four members of the Luna family in Phoenix. The autopsy, conducted by Pinal County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. John Hu, established for the first time that medical personnel encountered significant difficulty…

[update: On February 19, 2026, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life.] If convicted, former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a possible death sentence, life imprisonment with labor, or life imprisonment without labor for his failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024. On January 13, 2026, special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk’s team recommended a death sentence for Mr. Yoon in the first insurrection trial of a South Korean head of state…

On January 17, 2006, California executed Clarence Ray Allen — the last person put to death by the state. Two decades later, California’s death row population has fallen to 580 prisoners, down from its peak near 750 in the mid-2010s. In the time since Mr. Allen’s execution, the death penalty in California has seen sustained scrutiny as concerns with racial discrimination, innocence, and costs continue to grow. Governor Gavin Newsom has placed a moratorium on executions, death-sentenced prisoners…