What to Know Series

DPI’s ​“What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on specific aspects of the death penalty. Why it matters: More than 100 citizens of other countries are under sentences of death in the United States, and in nearly every reported case, arresting authorities failed to promptly inform them of their treaty right to consular assistance. Article 36 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations…

Why it matters: State laws permitting judges to override jury decisions and the imposition of death sentences based on non-unanimous jury verdicts have contributed to Alabama and Florida’s high death sentencing rates — with nearly 20% of Alabama’s death-sentenced population on death row because of judicial override. Between 1976 and 2017, elected Alabama judges overrode jury sentencing decisions 112 times. In 91% of those cases, judges overruled jury decisions of life to impose death sentences.

DPI’s ​“What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on specific aspects of the death penalty. Why it matters: More than 600 capital convictions or death sentences have been overturned or led to exonerations because of prosecutorial misconduct, and researchers say the true scope of the problem is likely far greater. DPI has identified more than 600 instances in which a capital conviction or death…

DPI’s ​“What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on specific aspects of the death penalty. Why it matters: The death penalty is an irreversible punishment, and the United States has convicted, condemned, and in some cases executed people despite credible evidence of their innocence. 203 people have been exonerated from death row since 1973, across 30 states. A peer-reviewed study estimated…