Publications & Testimony

According to num­bers report­ed by Agence France-Presse, Saudi Arabia exe­cut­ed 303 peo­ple in 2024 — the nation’s high­est ever total, and cur­rent­ly the sec­ond high­est known exe­cu­tion total world­wide for this year. November alone saw the exe­cu­tion of more than 100 for­eign nation­als, near­ly triple the num­ber in each of the past two years. UN human rights experts expressed con­cern fol­low­ing the December 3 exe­cu­tion of three Egyptian nation­als, call­ing on the gov­ern­ment to halt the pending…

For near­ly 35 years, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) has served the pub­lic, the media, pol­i­cy­mak­ers, attor­neys, and edu­ca­tors with data and analy­sis on issues con­cern­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and the peo­ple it affects. DPI is entire­ly sup­port­ed by the gen­eros­i­ty of foun­da­tions and indi­vid­ual donors, like you. If our work is valu­able to you, please con­sid­er mak­ing a tax-deductible dona­tion here or set­ting up a recur­ring month­ly donation via…

Arizona…

Turkeys​“Peach” and​“Blossom” outside of…

In a Washington Post op-ed, Chanel Shum, a mem­ber of September 11^th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, explains her sup­port of plea agree­ments that would end decades of legal uncer­tain­ty and sen­tence three of the accused 9/​11 defen­dants to life with­out parole. Ms. Shum was start­ing preschool when her father, See Wong Shum, was killed in the September 11 terrorist…

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPI, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Beth Shelburne, a jour­nal­ist who has report­ed on the crim­i­nal legal sys­tem for over 25 years and cre­ator of the pod­cast Earwitness. Released in 2023 to crit­i­cal acclaim, Earwitness tells the sto­ry of Toforest Johnson, a death-sen­­tenced man who is fac­ing exe­cu­tion in Alabama despite strong evi­dence of his inno­cence. On November 14, 2024, Mr. Johnson filed…

Alabama is sched­uled to exe­cute Carey Grayson by nitro­gen hypox­ia on November 21, 2024, for his involve­ment with three oth­er teens in the death of a hitch­hik­er in 1994, when he was 19 years old. Mr. Grayson’ exe­cu­tion would be Alabama’s sixth exe­cu­tion in 2024, and the third by nitro­gen hypox­ia. The state acknowl­edged Mr. Grayson was not the most cul­pa­ble of the group, yet he is the only one of the four teens to face an exe­cu­tion. Mr. Grayson, and three oth­ers, were…

Robert Roberson with daugh­ter Nikki. Courtesy of the…