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On this page, the Prison Policy Initiative has curated all of the research about the death penalty that we know of. For research on other criminal justice topics, see our Research Library homepage.
Lethal injection in the modern era: Cruel, unusual, and racist Reprieve, April, 2024“Black people had 220% higher odds of suffering a botched lethal injection execution than white people from 1976 to 2023.”
Death By Design: Part 1 The Wren Collective, December, 2023“In all 28 Harris County capital cases we reviewed, trial lawyers failed to uncover relevant evidence.”
Death By Design: Part 2 The Wren Collective, December, 2023“Every single attorney we interviewed in Harris County told us that there were simply not enough well-trained mitigation specialists for hire, especially those trained in mental health.”
Capital Punishment, 2021 - Statistical TablesBureau of Justice Statistics, November, 2023“Five states (Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Alabama, and Mississippi) and the BOP executed a total of 11 prisoners in 2021. Among the prisoners executed, 10 were male and 1 was female.”
A Statistical Overview of the Kentucky Death PenaltyFrank R. Baumgartner, January, 2022“Race may be the most powerful driving factor in Kentucky's death penalty. But the racial disparities laid out here, extreme as they are, are not the only flaws in the system.”
Capital Punishment, 2020Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2021“Prisoners under sentence of death on December 31, 2020 had been on death row for an average of 19.4 years.”
Death Penalty Statutes and Murder Rates: Evidence from Synthetic Controls Brett Parker, February, 2021“Applying this technique using seven states that recently abolished the death penalty and twenty-nine states that retained the punishment during the same period, I find no evidence that the presence of a capital punishment statute in a state is sufficient,”
DPIC Special Report: The Innocence Epidemic Death Penalty Information Center, February, 2021“Of the 185 exonerations that have occurred since 1973, 69.2 percent (128) have included official misconduct by police, prosecutors, or other government officials.”
Capital Punishment, 2018 - Statistical TablesBureau of Justice Statistics, September, 2020“At year-end 2018, a total of 30 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) held 2,628 prisoners under sentence of death.”
Whom the State KillsScott Phillips & Justin Marceau, July, 2020“The overall execution rate is a staggering seventeen times greater for defendants convicted of killing a white victim.”
The State of Capital PunishmentNational Conference of State Legislatures, July, 2019“Increasingly, capital punishment legislation being considered in state legislatures across the nation is focused on concerns over cost, viable methods of execution, intellectual disability, and lengthy trial and appellate procedures.”
Capital Punishment, 2017: Selected Findings Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2019“At year-end 2017, a total of 32 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) held 2,703 prisoners under sentence of death, which was 94 (3%) less than at year-end 2016.”
The Public Finance of Capital PunishmentAlex Lundberg, April, 2019“In Texas the cost of trial is borne primarily at the county level. A panel of Texas county spending over the last decade shows counties meet the expense of trial by raising property tax rates and by reducing public safety expenditure.”
The Death Penalty in 2018: Year End Report Death Penalty Information Center, December, 2018“The 25 executions carried out in 2018 marked the fourth consecutive year with fewer than 30 executions-something that had not occurred in the United States since 1988-1991.”
Judged for More Than Her Crime: A Global Overview of Women Facing the Death Penalty The Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, September, 2018“We estimate that at least 500 women are currently on death rows around the world”
Capital Punishment, 2014-2015Bureau of Justice Statistics, May, 2017“Two states accounted for 80% of the executions [in 2016]: Georgia executed nine inmates, and Texas executed seven.”
The Death Penalty in Five Florida Counties: Disproportionately Used Against Persons with Significant Mental Impairments Fair Punishment Project, January, 2017“These findings have raised a legitimate question as to whether Florida's capital punishment scheme-even one with a unanimous jury requirement- is capable of limiting application of the death penalty to the most culpable offenders.”
The Death Penalty in Five Florida Counties: Disproportionately Used Against Persons with Significant Mental Impairments Fair Punishment Project, January, 2017“These findings have raised a legitimate question as to whether Florida's capital punishment scheme-even one with a unanimous jury requirement- is capable of limiting application of the death penalty to the most culpable offenders.”
Severe Mental Illness and the Death PenaltyAmerican Bar Association, December, 2016“...[N]one of the current legal mechanisms afford adequate protection against the death penalty to those diagnosed with serious mental disorders or disabilities.”
America's Top Five Deadliest Prosecutors: How Overzealous Personalities Drive the Death Penalty The Fair Punishment Project, June, 2016“There are more than 3,100 counties, 2,400 head prosecutors, and thousands of line prosecutors in America -- yet only a tiny handful of prosecutors are responsible for a vastly disproportionate number of death sentences.”
One Year Later: Race Relations and the Emanuel 9 Shooting University of South Carolina Institute for Public Service and Policy Research, June, 2016“Among blacks, 30.9% favored the death penalty, while 64.7% believed he should receive life without parole; among whites, 64.2% supported the death penalty if found guilty in this case and 29.7% felt he should be given life without parole.”
One Year Later: Race Relations and the Emanuel 9 Shooting University of South Carolina Institute for Public Service and Policy Research, June, 2016“Among blacks, 30.9% favored the death penalty, while 64.7% believed he should receive life without parole; among whites, 64.2% supported the death penalty if found guilty in this case and 29.7% felt he should be given life without parole.”
Louisiana Death-Sentenced Cases and Their Reversals, 1976-2015Frank Baumgartner and Tim Lyman, April, 2016“No matter the race of the offender, killers of whites are more than six times more likely to receive a death penalty than killers of blacks, and 14 times more likely to be executed.”
The Impact of Race, Gender, and Geography on Florida ExecutionsFrank R. Baumgartner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, January, 2016“Florida's use of the death penalty in the modern era has been marked by substantial disparities by the race and gender of the victim of the crime, and by geography.”
Lethally Deficient: Direct Appeals in Texas Death Penalty Cases Texas Defender Service, 2016“Review by the U.S. Supreme Court was not sought in 34.6% of the cases surveyed, meaning that defense lawyers waived the first opportunity for federal review in more than a third of Texas death penalty cases decided on direct appeal between 2009 and 2015.”
Battle Scars: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty Death Penalty Information Center, November, 2015“Although a definitive count has yet to be made, approximately 300 veterans are on death row today, and many others have already been executed.”
Race-Of-Victim Discrepancies in Homicides and Executions, Louisiana 1976-2015 Loyola University of New Orleans Journal of Public Interest Law, August, 2015“Black male victims comprise 61% of homicide victims in present day Louisiana, yet their killers have been executed in only 3 cases out of 12,949 homicides since Gregg v Georgia reinstated the death penalty in 1976.”
Death Sentences and Executions 2014Amnesty International, March, 2015“The USA continued to be the only country to put people to death in the region, although executions dropped from 39 in 2013 to 35 in 2014 - reflecting a steady decline in the use of the death penalty in the country over the past years.”
Designed to Break You: Human Rights Violations on Texas' Death Row Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, 2015“Every individual on Texas’ death row thus spends approximately 23 hours a day in complete isolation for the entire duration of their sentence, which, on average, lasts more than a decade.”
Capital Punishment, 2012 - Statistical Tables (Revised)Bureau of Justice Statistics, May, 2014“At yearend 2012, 35 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons held 3,033 inmates under sentence of death, which was 32 fewer than at yearend 2011.”
Irreversible Error Recommended Reforms for Preventing and Correcting Errors in the Administration of Capital Punishment The Constitution Project, May, 2014“...the system must be willing to acknowledge errors that could result in the execution of an innocent person . Each jurisdiction should adopt legislation that sets standards to facilitate the review of credible post-conviction claims of innocence.”
Victim Gender and the Death PenaltyCornell Law School, March, 2014“...our analyses suggest that victim gender continues to influence capital sentencing decisions.”
The Death Penalty in 2013: Year End Report Death Penalty Information Center, December, 2013“Public support for the death penalty reached its lowest level in 40 years.”
The 2% Death Penalty: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases At Enormous Costs to All Death Penalty Information Center, October, 2013“All of the state executions since the death penalty was reinstated stem from cases in just 15% of the counties in the U.S. All of the 3,125 inmates on death row as of January 1, 2013 came from just 20% of the counties.”
The Texas Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Texas's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, September, 2013“...since 1992, Texas has paid over $60 million to those it has wrongfully imprisoned...”
The Virginia Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Virginia's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, August, 2013“Between 1989 and 2013, at least 18 people in Virginia whose convictions were based largely on eyewitness misidentifications have been exonerated of serious violent felonies following DNA testing or the discovery of new evidence.”
A Death Before Dying: Solitary Confinement on Death Row ACLU, July, 2013“93 percent of states lock up their death row prisoners for 22 or more hours per day. Most of these prisoners live under conditions of extreme social isolation and enforced idleness.”
Death Sentences and Executions 2012Amnesty International, April, 2013“While at least 682 people were executed in 2012 - in 2011, 680 executions were recorded - the number of people recorded as sentenced to death fell from 1,923 (in 63 countries) in 2011 to 1,722 (in 58 countries) in 2012.”
The Death Penalty in 2012: Year End Report Death Penalty Information Center, December, 2012“The number of new death sentences in 2012 was the second lowest since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.”
Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2012: The Year in Review Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, December, 2012“Seven of the new death row inmates in 2012 are African-American, one is Hispanic, and one is a white female. Over the last five years, nearly 75% of all death sentences in Texas have been imposed on people of color - 46% African-American and 28% Hispanic.”
The Missouri Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Missouri's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, April, 2012“Of those sixty-eight inmates who were executed...Fifty-two ...were sentenced to death for murdering a white victim, while sixteen were sentenced to death for murdering an African-American victim.”
Continued Majority Support for Death Penalty More Concern among Opponents about Wrongful Convictions Pew Research Center, January, 2012“Public opinion about the death penalty has changed only modestly in recent years, but there continues to be far less support for the death penalty than there was in the mid-1990s.”
A Stubborn Legacy: The Overwhelming Importance of Race in Jury Selection in 173 Post-Batson North Carolina Capital Trials Michigan State University College of Law, 2012“Over the twenty-year period we examined, prosecutors struck eligible black venire members at about 2.5 times the rate they struck eligible venire members who were not black.”
The Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Kentucky's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, December, 2011“Kentucky does not require the accreditation of its forensic laboratories, MEO, or any of the 120 county coroner offices.”
Capital Punishment, 2010- Statistical TablesBureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2011“Of those under sentence of death at yearend, 55% were white and 42% were black. The 388 Hispanic inmates under sentence of death accounted for 14% of inmates with a known ethnicity. 98% of inmates under sentence of death were male, and 2% were female.”
The Racial Geography of the Federal Death PenaltyWashington Law Review Association, December, 2010“Federal death sentences are sought disproportionately where the expansion of the venire from the county to the district level has a dramatic demographic impact on the racial make-up of the jury.”
Comparing Homicides to Capital Cases East Baton Rouge Parish, 1990-2008 Timothy Lyman, November, 2010([T]here is a less than one-in-ten-thousand chance that the prosecuted cases were a racially random sample drawn from the homicide group.)
The Death Penalty in 2007: Year End Report Death Penalty Information Center, December, 2007“Almost all (86%) of the executions in 2007 were in the South, and 62% of the executions took place in one state, Texas. Executions have declined 57% since 1999.”
The Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Pennsylvania's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, October, 2007“The study found that defendants were more than twice as likely to receive the death penalty when the jury was composed of six or more white male jurors...”
The Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Ohio's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, September, 2007“...the chances of a death sentence in Hamilton County are 2.7 times higher than in the rest of the state, 3.7 times higher than in Cuyahoga County, and 6.2 times higher than in Franklin County.”
Who Survives on Death Row? An Individual and Contextual Analysis American Civil Liberties Union, August, 2007“The findings show that despite efforts to transcend an unfortunate racial past, residues of this fierce discrimination evidently still linger, at least when the most morally critical decision about punishment is decided.”
The Persistent Problem of Racial Disparities in the Federal Death PenaltyAmerican Civil Liberties Union, June, 2007“[M]odern Attorneys General seek the death penalty at far higher rates if the victim is White, and White federal defendants are far more likely to have their death charges reduced to life sentences through plea bargaining.”
Prisoner-assisted homicide: more 'volunteer' executions loom Amnesty International, May, 2007“Race and mental health appear to be the strongest predictors of who will waive their appeals - most”
The Tennessee Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Tennessee's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, March, 2007“Often, however, jury instructions are poorly written and poorly conveyed, which confuses jurors about the applicable law and the extent of their responsibilities.”
The Indiana Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Indiana's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, February, 2007“...white offenders received harsher sentences for murder than offenders belonging to racial or ethnic minority groups”
New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commision ReportNew Jersey Death Penalty Study Commision, January, 2007“There is no compelling evidence that the New Jersey death penalty rationally serves a legitimate penological intent.”
Death Penalty on the DeclineAmnesty International, 2007“The Annual Death Penalty Statistics... show a worldwide trend towards abolition with an encouraging 25 per cent decrease in executions and death sentences in 2006.”(Overview of wold trends, includes links to facts and statistics.)
The Death Penalty in 2006: Year End Report Death Penalty Information Center, December, 2006“Executions dropped to their lowest level in 10 years as many states grappled with problems related to wrongful convictions and the lethal injection process.”
Capital Punishment, 2005Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2006“Of those under sentence of death, 56% were white, 42% were black, and 2% were of other races. Fifty-two women were under sentence of death in 2005, up from 47 in 1995.”
The Florida Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Florida's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, September, 2006“Since 1973, the State of Florida has exonerated twenty-two death-row inmates, which is more than any other state in the nation.”
Evaluating Fairness and Accuracy in State Death Penalty Systems: The Florida Death Penalty Assessment Report American Bar Association, September, 2006“[R]esearch establishes that many Florida capital jurors do not understand their role and responsibilities when deciding whether to impose a death sentence.”
The Alabama Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Alabama's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, June, 2006“...the State of Alabama does not require that an indigent individual charged with or convicted of a capital felony be appointed counsel and provided with resources for experts and investigators at every stage of the proceedings.”
The Arizona Death Penalty Assessment Report An Analysis of Arizona's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, June, 2006“The State of Arizona provides only one to two percent of the funding for the cost of capital representation, significantly underfunding these indigent defense services.”
So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United States Human Rights Watch, April, 2006“[P]prisoners in the United States are executed by means that the American Veterinary Medical Association regards as too cruel to use on dogs and cats.”
Mandatory Justice: The Death Penalty Revisited The Constitution Project, February, 2006“[P]rovides a list of specific and innovative tactics for improving the fairness and reliability of capital punishment systems in the United States.”
The Georgia Death Penalty Report An Analysis of Georgia's Death Penalty Laws, Procedures, and Practices American Bar Association, January, 2006“...as of August 1998, fifty-five of the 119 inmates on Georgia's death row were black and of the 88 persons awaiting death penalty trial, 53 were black males, 26 were white males, 2 were black females, 4 were white females, and 3 were Hispanic males.”
Broken Justice: The Death Penalty in Alabama ACLU, October, 2005“At least 30 current death row prisoners have no lawyer. Alabama's death row occupants are overwhelmingly poor -- 95 percent are indigent -- and minority.”
Blind Justice: Juries Deciding Life and Death With Only Half the Truth Death Penalty Information Center, October, 2005“How Death Penalty Jurors are Unfairly Selected, Manipulated, and Kept in the Dark”
Common Sense Says... That people on Death Row often had the state's worst lawyers at trial. Common Sense Foundation, October, 2002“More than one in six current death row inmates was represented at trial by lawyers who have been disciplined by the North Carolina State Bar”
Dignity Denied: The Experience of Murder Victims' Family Members Who Oppose the Death Penalty Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, August, 2002
Death sentence reversals cast doubt on system Courtroom mistakes put executions on hold Howard Mintz, San Jose Mercury News, April, 2002(focuses on California and the high rate at which federal judges overturn California judges who vote for death)
Capital Punishment 2000Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2001“Thirty-seven States and Federal government held almost 3,600 inmates on death row”(This report presents the characteristics of persons under sentence of death on December 31, 2000, and of persons executed in 2000.)
No return to execution: The US death penalty as a barrier to extradition Amnesty International, November, 2001“overview of the emerging global consensus against capital punishment”(One more reason for the USA to abolish the death penalty is that its increasingly isolated resort to this punishment is undermining international cooperation on law enforcement)
Toward Greater Awareness: The American Bar Association Call for a Moratorium on Executions Gains Ground American Bar Association, August, 2001
Illusion of Control: "Consensual" executions, the impending death of Timothy McVeigh, and the brutalizing futility of capital punishment Amnesty International, June, 2001
Report to the Supreme Court Systemic Proportionality Review Project 2000-2001 Term New Jersey Supreme Court, June, 2001“there is unsettling statistical evidence indicating that cases involving killers of White victims are more likely to progress to a penalty trial than cases involving killers of African-American victims.”
Death without Justice: A Guide for Examining the Administration of the Death Penalty in the United States ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, June, 2001
Capital Punishment 1998Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 1999“Eighteen States executed 68 prisoners during 1998 -- eighty-nine executed so far this year”
Sentencing for Life: Americans Embrace Alternatives to the Death Penalty Death Penalty Information Center, 1993
Millions Misspent: What Politicians Don't Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty Death Penalty Information Center, October, 1992
Justice on the Cheap: The Philadelphia Story Death Penalty Information Center, May, 1992(comparing expenditures for death penalty defense with other PA counties)
Killing Justice: Government Misconduct and the Death Penalty Death Penalty Information Center, March, 1992
Buckle of the Death Belt: The Death Penalty in Microcosm (Chattahoochee Judicial District) Death Penalty Information Center, 1991(racial discrimination in one region of Georgia)
Death Penalty Sentencing: Research Indicates Pattern of Racial Disparities Government Accountability Office, February, 1990“Our synthesis of the 28 studies shows a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty....”