Publications & Testimony

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 misconduct, including racial bias…

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) has released a new report: Immature Minds in a “Maturing Society”: Roper v. Simmons at 20, detailing the growing support for the idea that individuals ages 18, 19, and 20 should receive the same age-appropriate considerations that juveniles now receive in death penalty cases. The report also reveals troubling new data about racial…

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 lethal injection process.

In this month’s podcast episode of *12:01: The Death Penalty* *in Context*, DPI’s Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Professors Craig Haney and Frank Baumgartner, and DPI’s Staff Attorney Leah Roemer about the legacy of the US Supreme Court’s decision in *Roper v. Simmons* and the legal and scientific landscape surrounding the use of the death penalty for young adults ages 18 – 20. Professors Baumgartner and Haney, along with fellow researcher Karen Steele,…

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 brain development nor is there…

Jeffrey Hutchinson is scheduled to be executed in Florida on May 1, 2025, despite a longstanding mental illness and his attorney’s claim that he is mentally incompetent. On April 24, 2025, attorneys for the Gulf War veteran filed a motion in Bradford County Circuit Court seeking a stay of his scheduled execution and requesting an evidentiary hearing to assess their client’s competency. Mr. Hutchinson has suffered from a delusional disorder for decades, with a persistent delusion that his…

On April 24, 2025, Louisiana District Court Judge Alvin Sharp set aside Jimmie Duncan’s first-degree murder conviction and death sentence. Mr. Duncan was sentenced to death for the 1993 death of his girlfriend’s toddler largely based on faulty bite mark evidence. Judge Sharp, in a decision that came after a September 2024 evidentiary hearing, held that expert testimony presented during this hearing demonstrated the bite mark analysis used against Mr. Duncan is “no longer valid” and “not…

The Supreme Court has consistently held that “death is different”: the “qualitative difference between death and other penalties calls for a greater degree of reliability when the death sentence is imposed.” As a result, capital defendants pursue a series of mandatory and discretionary appeals to ensure that mistakes of constitutional significance are identified and corrected. However, death-sentenced prisoners in Louisiana recently argued that the state issued execution warrants before they…