DPIC Reports
Below are reports released by the Death Penalty Information Center since its inception, covering subjects such as race, innocence, politicization, costs of the death penalty, and more. When opening a report, please allow the report page to load fully before selecting links to sections or footnotes. Most of these reports are also available in printed form from DPIC. For a copy of one of these reports, e‑mail DPIC. For bulk orders, please download our Resource Order Form.
Reports are separated into Year End Reports, In-Depth Reports, and Special Reports. In-Depth Reports are DPIC’s signature long, thorough reports on major death-penalty issues. These include “The 2% Death Penalty,” examining geographic arbitrariness in capital punishment, and “Behind the Curtain,” covering secrecy in the death penalty system. Special Reports are shorter, and typically address a specific event or question. These include DPIC’s explanation of the 2017 spate of executions that were scheduled in Arkansas, and our analysis of the largest number of executions performed on a single day.
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Reports
Feb 18, 2021
DPIC Special Report: The Innocence Epidemic
In 1993, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights conducted hearings on what was then a relatively unknown question: How significant was the risk that innocent people were being wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in the United States. After taking testimony from four exonerees who had been wrongfully condemned to death row, Representative Don Edwards, the subcommittee chairman, asked the Death Penalty Information Center to research the issue and compile information on how frequently these miscarriages of justice were occurring and what were the reasons why.
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May 14, 2024
Broken Promises: How a History of Racial Violence and Bias Shaped Ohio’s Death Penalty
In January 2024, Ohio lawmakers announced plans to expand the use of the death penalty to permit executions with nitrogen gas, as Alabama had just done a week earlier. But at the same time the Attorney General and the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association are championing this legislation, a bipartisan group of state legislators has introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty based on “significant concerns on who is sentenced to death and how that sentence is carried out.” The competing narratives make it more important than ever for Ohioans…
Read MoreDec 01, 2023
Compromised Justice: How A Legacy of Racial Violence Informs Missouri’s Death Penalty Today
Missouri is one of a handful of states that has consistently executed people in the last five years. In 2023, Missouri executed four people. Understanding the historical application of the death penalty in Missouri helps our understanding of how capital punishment is used today.
Read MoreDec 01, 2023
The Death Penalty in 2023: Year End Report
Only Five States Conducted Executions and Seven States Imposed New Death Sentences in 2023, the Lowest Number of States in 20 Years. Florida’s Six Executions and Five New Death Sentences Responsible for 2023 Increase. For the First Time, More Americans Believe the Death Penalty Is Administered Unfairly than Fairly.
Read MoreJun 16, 2023
Doomed to Repeat: The Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty
The historical use of capital punishment in Tennessee shows a clear connection between the extrajudicial lynchings of the 1800s and 1900s and the state sanctioned death penalty practices of today. As one lynching expert notes, “[l]ocal traditions, situations, and personalities must be considered in any attempt to explain patterns of lynching.…” This emphasis on locality parallels modern death penalty trends in Tennessee — as well as the rest of the nation — wherein death sentencing is heavily dependent on local culture, prosecutors, and perceptions. An important legacy from the lynching era and early executions…
Read MoreDec 16, 2022
The Death Penalty in 2022: Year End Report
Note: In March 2023, DPIC learned of one additional death sentence that was imposed in 2022: Leo Boatman, a white male defendant, was sentenced to death on November 9, 2022 in Bradford County, Florida, for the murder of Billy Chapman, a white male. Boatman’s death sentence brings the total to 21. The text below does not reflect that death sentence.
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