Entries tagged with “What to Know series”

May 13, 2026

What to Know: Jury Selection and the Death Penalty

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. Please vis­it DPI’s Discrimination in Jury Selection page for a deep­er dive into the issue. **Why it mat­ters:** Nearly four decades after the U.S. Supreme Court barred race-based juror strikes in *Batson v. Kentucky* (1986), stud­ies have found that pros­e­cu­tors in North Carolina…

Apr 21, 2026

What to Know: Intellectual Disability & the Death Penalty

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:*** In 2002, the United States Supreme Court held that exe­cut­ing indi­vid­u­als with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. (*Atkins v. Virgina)**.* Before that deci­sion, dozens of peo­ple with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties were legally executed.

Apr 07, 2026

What to Know: Race of Victim Effect and the Death Penalty

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 race of vic­tims weighs heav­i­ly in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment deci­sions. Studies con­firm that defen­dants with white vic­tims are more like­ly to be charged cap­i­tal­ly, sen­tenced to death, have those sen­tences upheld on appeal, and be exe­cut­ed. ​“The strongest…

Mar 23, 2026

What to Know: Mentally Ill Prisoners and the Death Penalty

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:** While the U.S. Supreme Court has barred the exe­cu­tion of indi­vid­u­als with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties, no such cat­e­gor­i­cal ban exists for those with severe men­tal ill­ness (SMI). Consequently, peo­ple suf­fer­ing from active psy­chosis, delu­sions, or…

Mar 09, 2026

What to Know: Costs and the Death Penalty

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. This install­ment looks at the costs asso­ci­at­ed with pur­suit of death sen­tences and exe­cu­tions. ***Why it mat­ters:*** The ques­tion at the heart of this issue is whether the assumed ben­e­fits of the death penal­ty are worth its costs and whether oth­er sys­tems might provide…

Mar 04, 2026

What to Know: Deterrence and the Death Penalty

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:*** Deterrence is among the most com­mon­ly cit­ed jus­ti­fi­ca­tions for the death penal­ty, yet decades of research have failed to pro­duce cred­i­ble evi­dence that use of the death penal­ty has an impact on homi­cide rates. ### Key Facts: — 88% of the nation’s…

Feb 19, 2026

What to Know: Race and the Death Penalty

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. **Please vis­it DPI’s new­ly revamped** **Race** **land­ing page for a deep­er dive into the issue.** ***Why it mat­ters:*** Black peo­ple in the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem are dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly rep­re­sent­ed – cur­rent­ly com­pris­ing 40% of the death row population despite…

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Feb 13, 2026

What to Know: Women and the Death Penalty

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*****:** Although women rep­re­sent just 2% of death-sen­­tenced pris­on­ers, they have unique issues and have often faced gen­der bias­es at every stage of their pros­e­cu­tion. — Fewer than 50 women are sen­tenced to death in the United States (October 2025). — Women…