Publications & Testimony

According to Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), there have been at least 343 exe­cu­tions in Iran in the first four months of 2025 — a 75% increase over the same peri­od in 2024, when 195 exe­cu­tions were record­ed. Secrecy remains an issue with less than 4%, or only 13 of the 343 exe­cu­tions, report­ed by offi­cial sources. In April alone, there were at least 110 exe­cu­tions, the high­est month­ly total yet this year. Trends iden­ti­fied in recent years appear to be sustained into…

The sin­gle most com­mon out­come for a death sen­tence in the mod­ern era is for it to be reversed on appeal due to a con­sti­tu­tion­al vio­la­tion. Most peo­ple whose sen­tences are reversed get resen­tenced to life in prison or less, but some pros­e­cu­tors per­sist in seek­ing new death sen­tences even after mul­ti­ple rever­sals. A Death Penalty Information Center analy­sis of the 14 peo­ple sen­tenced to death four or more times for the same crime finds that prosecutorial…

Recent atten­tion on the fed­er­al death penal­ty is high­light­ing the diverse opin­ions of vic­tims’ fam­i­lies who have lost loved ones to vio­lence. Like Americans from all walks of life, vic­tims’ fam­i­lies hold a diverse set of views on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, shaped by their indi­vid­ual faith, polit­i­cal views, and per­son­al reac­tion to being impact­ed by crime. Some sup­port the death penal­ty, and oth­ers oppose it. Some vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers are part of organizations…

On April 29, 2025, U.S. District Judge Debora K. Grasham ordered the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) to give media wit­ness­es to an exe­cu­tion​“audio and visu­al access to the prepa­ra­tion and admin­is­tra­tion of the lethal injec­tion drugs.” The rul­ing stems from a December 2024 law­suit filed by the Associated Press, The Idaho Statesman, and East Idaho News, which argued that media out­lets were being uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly pro­hib­it­ed from view­ing​“key steps” in Idaho’s…

In com­mem­o­ra­tion of the 20^th anniver­sary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s land­mark deci­sion end­ing the juve­nile death penal­ty, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) today released a new report: Immature Minds in a​“Maturing Society”: Roper v. Simmons at 20, detail­ing grow­ing sup­port that indi­vid­u­als ages 18, 19, and 20 should receive the same age-appro­pri­ate con­sid­er­a­tions that juve­niles now receive in death penal­ty cas­es. > [T]here is no bright line regarding…