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The death penalty in 2021 was defined by two competing forces: the continuing long-term erosion of capital punishment across most of the country, ... Home PolicyIssues Arbitrariness Costs Deterrence Innocence IntellectualDisability International Juveniles MentalIllness Race Representation SentencingAlternatives Victims'Families Facts&Research FactSheet Clemency CrimesPunishablebyDeath DPICReports HistoryoftheDeathPenalty InnocenceDatabase MurderRates PublicOpinion RecentLegislativeActivity Religion SentencingData StudentResearchCenter UnitedStatesSupremeCourt Executions ExecutionsOverview UpcomingExecutions ExecutionDatabase MethodsofExecution BotchedExecutions LethalInjection DeathRow DeathRowOverview ConditionsonDeathRow ForeignNationals NativeAmericans TimeonDeathRow Women State&FederalInfo StatebyState FederalDeathPenalty Military About Staff&BoardofDirectors AboutUs DPICintheMedia DPICTestimony PressReleases WorkforDPIC FortheMedia Resources Publications&Testimony RelatedWebsites DPICPodcasts DPICReports NewVoices EnEspañol ForEducators FactSheet Donate DPICREPORTSDec16,2021 TheDeathPenaltyin2021:YearEndReport Thedeathpenal­tyin2021wasdefinedbytwocom­pet­ingforces:thecon­tin­u­inglong-termero­sionofcap­i­talpun­ish­mentacrossmostofthecoun­try,andextremecon­ductbyout­lierjuris­dic­tionstocon­tin­uetopur­suedeathsen­tencesandexecutions. READMORE DPICREPORTSSep15,2020 DPICReport — EnduringInjustice:thePersistenceofRacialDiscriminationintheU.S.DeathPenalty Thereportexam­inesthehis­tor­i­calroleracehasplayedinthedeathpenal­ty,itscon­tin­u­ingper­va­siveimpactoneverystageofthedeathpenal­typrocess,andwhythedeathpenal­tymustbeinclud­edinanymean­ing­fuldis­cus­sionofcrim­i­nallegalreform. READMORE INNOCENCEFeb18,2021 DPICSpecialReport:TheInnocenceEpidemic AnewDeathPenaltyInformationCenteranaly­sisof185death-rowexon­er­a­tionsshowsmostwrong­fulcon­vic­tionsarenotmere­lyaccidental. READMOREHERE VIRGINIAMar24,2021 DPICStatement — VirginiaAbolishestheDeathPenalty Readthestate­mentbyRobertDunham,ExecutiveDirectoroftheDeathPenaltyInformationCenter,onVirginia’sabo­li­tionofcap­i­talpunishment. READTHESTATEMENT TexasMay20,2021 DPICStatement — TexasConductsExecutionWithoutMediaWitnesses Readthestate­mentbyRobertDunham,ExecutiveDirectoroftheDeathPenaltyInformationCenter,onTexas’sexe­cu­tionofQuintinJoneswith­outanymediawit­ness­espresent. READTHESTATEMENT ❮ 1 2 3 4 5 ❯ News&Developments MoreStories  /  MoreNews UnitedStatesSupremeCourt Feb28,2022 JudgeKetanjiBrownJacksonNominatedtoU.S.SupremeCourt PresidentJoeBidenhasnom­i­nat­edfed­er­alappealscourtjudgeKetanjiBrownJackson(pic­tured)toserveasa U.S.SupremeCourtjus­tice,ful­fill­inghiscam­paignpledgetoselectanAfricanAmericanwomanforthe C… NewsBrief Feb26,2022 TwoDeath-RowPrisonerswithInnocenceClaimsDieonDeathRow,TwoDays Apart. Twodeath-rowpris­on­erswhohavelongassert­edtheirinno­cence,oneinNorthCarolinaandtheoth­erinAlabama,havediedofcan­cerontheirstate’sdeathrows.CarlMoseley,who was … Innocence Feb25,2022 NewDPICPodcast:JuliusJones’LongRoadOnandOffOklahoma’sDeathRow,andWhatComesNextinHis Case IntheFebruary2022episodeofDiscussionswithDPIC,fed­er­alpub­licdefend­er,AmandaBass,andJusticeforJuliusadvo­cateCeceJones-Davis(pic­tured)speakwithDeathPenaltyInformationCenterManagin… Deterrence Feb24,2022 DespiteIneffectivenessasPublic-SafetyTool,Anti-AbolitionLawmakersPushBillstoReinstateDeathPenaltyforKillingsofPoliceOfficers Despitetheabsenceofevi­dencethatthedeathpenal­typro­tectspoliceorpro­motespub­licsafe­ty,law­mak­ersinsev­er­alstatesthathaveabol­ishedcap­i­talpun­ish­menthaveintro­ducedbillstorein­statecap­i­talpun­ish­mentforthemur­dersofpoliceof… MentalIllness Feb23,2022 KentuckyandSouthDakotaAdvanceBillstoBarDeathPenaltyforPeoplewithSevereMentalIllness Billsthatwouldexemptindi­vid­u­alswithseveremen­talill­nessfromthedeathpenal­tyhavetak­enmajorstepsfor­wardintheKentuckyandandSouthDakotaleg­is­la­tures.TheKentuckyHouseofRepresentativesvot­ed o… MethodsofExecution Feb22,2022 ArizonaJewishCommunitySuestoBarStatefromExecutingPrisonerswithGasNazisUsedinHolocaust MembersoftheArizonaJewishcom­mu­ni­tyhavefiledsuittobarthestatefromexe­cut­ingpris­on­ersinitsgascham­ber,usingthesamesub­stanceemployedbytheNazisdur­ingtheHolocausttomur­dermorethanonemil­lionpeople. … Arbitrariness Feb21,2022 56ProsecutorsIssueJointStatementCallingforEndof​‘Broken’DeathPenalty Callingcap­i­talpun­ish­mentintheU.S.​“bro­ken,”56elect­edpros­e­cu­torsfromacrossthecoun­tryhaveissueda jointstate­menturg­ingcalledforsys­temicchangestoendthedeathpenal­tynation­wide.Asanini­tialstep,thepros­e­cu­torspledgedto no… NewsBrief Feb19,2022 OhioGovernorIssuesThreeMoreReprieves,ReschedulesExecutionsfor 2025 OhioGovernorMikeDeWinehasissuedreprievesofthreemoreexe­cu­tionsthathadbeensettooccurin2022,resched­ul­ingthemfor2025.Inexec­u­tiveordersissuedFebruary18,2022,DeWinehalt­edtheexe­cu­tions of  ExecutionsOverview Feb18,2022 OklahomaCountyBecomesNation’sThirdMostProlificCountyExecutionerasStatePutsIntellectuallyImpairedTeenOffenderto Death WhenOklahomaexe­cut­edGilbertPostelleonFebruary17,2022,itcamewitha dubi­ousdis­tinc­tion.Theintel­lec­tu­al­lyimpairedmanwhowas18 yearsoldatthetimeofhisoffensebecamethe44thperson … RecentLegislativeActivity Feb17,2022 EfforttoRepealandReplaceUtah’sDeathPenaltyFailson6 – 5VoteinStateHouseCommittee Ahigh-pro­fileRepublican-ledefforttoabol­ishthedeathpenal­tyinUtahhasfailedincom­mit­teebya sin­glevote.Staterep­re­sen­ta­tivesintheHouseLawEnforcementandCriminalJusticeCommitteevot­ed6 – 5onFebruary14,2022 n… MoreStories  /  MoreNews podcasts JuliusJones’LongRoadOnandOffOklahoma’sDeathRow,andWhatComesNextinHisCase reports TheDeathPenaltyin2021:YearEndReport stories 2021Legislation WebsiteGuide Anintroductiontothenavigationsystem,features,andterminologyofDPIC'swebsite. UpcomingExecutions Informationaboutscheduledexecutionsaroundthecountry Innocence Forevery8.3peo­pleexe­cut­edintheUnit­edStatesinthemod­erneraofthedeathpenal­ty,oneper­sonondeathrowhasbeenexon­er­at­ed. State-By-State StatesWithandWithouttheDeathPenalty DPICFactSheet PDFhandoutwithfactsabouttheDeathPenalty MoreInformation InnocenceDatabaseExecutionDatabase Reports BehindtheCurtain:SecrecyandtheDeathPenaltyintheUnitedStates ReadMore Facts&Trends Atleast18peoplehavebeenexecuteddespiteseriousdoubtsabouttheirguilt. Officialmisconductistheleadingcauseofwrongfulcapitalconvictions. OntheIssues HendersonHillandtheNorthCarolinaRacialJusticeAct Tweetsby@DPInfoCtr