With just days remaining before her scheduled execution, Christa Pike has made a special request. She has asked Tennessee officials to keep men off the team that would carry out her execution, should ...

The death penal­ty has been uncon­sti­tu­tion­al for juve­niles since 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that peo­ple under age 18 lack the impulse...

Melissa Lucio was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for the accidental death of her daughter.

Take Action for Christa Sign Christa's Petition Here Visit Mercy for Christa to Learn More Case Background Listen to the Unrestorable Podcast When Tennessee sentenced Christa Pike to death on March 30th, 1996, for a crime she committed as an eighteen-year-old, she became the youngest woman to receiv...

Governor Gavin Newsom, nearing the end of his gubernatorial tenure in January, faces demands from advocacy groups to commute California's remaining death sentences. These demands are predicated on long-standing criticisms of the state's capital punishment system, encompassing its operational dysfunc...

A first-of-its-kind law­suit chal­leng­ing California’s death penal­ty on sys­temic racial grounds has cleared an ini­tial hur­dle at the California...

Michael Highfill is asking a Travis County judge to reconsider his capital murder conviction after more than 26 years in prison.

On Wednesday, attorneys will argue their positions on the case of Michael Highfill, who, in 2000, was convicted of capital murder for the 1998 death of Luis Flores in northeast Travis County.

New evidence is challenging Highfill’s capital murder conviction after more than 26 years in prison. Prosecutors now agree he is entitled to relief.

Gov. DeWine has made clear that he opposes state executions and urged Ohio lawmakers to pass legislation abolishing the death penalty.

Solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. 115-degree heat. Jimmie Duncan is haunted by the decades he spent on death row in Angola prison — and how, even after being released, he still isn’t truly free.

The attorneys representing Rocky Myers said new information emerging from his case may finally bring the freedom he has spent decades fighting for.

Florida exe­cut­ed William Silvia on August 18, 2026, the state’s 13th exe­cu­tion of the year and the 23rd nation­al­ly. Florida has now car­ried out...

Now the fate of the convicted double murderer, whose case has attracted support from Kim Kardashian and other celebrities, is in the hands of Gov. Mike DeWine.

Alabama remains one of the nation’s most active death penalty states, yet many residents know little about how executions are carried out or the legal, ethical, and human questions surrounding them...

A Florida man convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and wounding his mother-in-law is set to be executed

DPI’s ​“What to Know” series exam­ines cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment from mul­ti­ple angles, one top­ic at a time. Each install­ment pro­vides essen­tial facts...

We speak with Keith LaMar, an artist, teacher and writer on death row in Ohio. LaMar, who has spent three decades in solitary confinement, was sentenced to death for the murder of five fellow prisoners during a 1993 prison uprising. He has always maintained his innocence. His trial was held in a remote Ohio community before an all-white jury. LaMar is one of three men on death row for whom Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued reprieves, pushing back their execution dates to 2030. “The reprieve, while good in a legal sense in giving us more time, it also increases the pressure, the harassment that I’m undergoing,” says Keith LaMar. “I’ve been undergoing consistent torture since the last reprieve,” explains LaMar, who received a previous reprieve three years ago. LaMar’s lawyer Keegan Stephan says there is “incredible new evidence” of his client’s innocence, and Amy Gordiejew, campaign manager of Justice for Keith LaMar, says he “was framed.”

Join First Light Books for an evening with Colin Asher, whose new book opens on Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter being made to perform in prison clothes, and builds from that image into a sweeping argument: that American music as we know it, from the blues to hip-hop, was shaped in no small part by pol...

#### DPI’s​“What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and...

Because of a legal statute called the law of parties, Michael Highfill received a harsher punishment than the woman who fired the fatal shots. Now, after nearly three decades of incarceration, there’s new hope for his release.

Because of a legal statute called the law of parties, Michael Highfill received a harsher punishment than the woman who fired the fatal shots. Now, after nearly three decades of incarceration, there’s...

25 people face execution in Alabama whose juries voted for life.

DPI’s ​“What to Know” series exam­ines cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment from mul­ti­ple angles, one top­ic at a time. Each install­ment pro­vides essen­tial facts...

DPI’s ​“What to Know” series exam­ines cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment from mul­ti­ple angles, one top­ic at a time. Each install­ment pro­vides essen­tial facts...

Nearly two months after the scheduled execution of Tony Carruthers was called off, the family of the death row inmate has filed a complaint against the doctor involved in the failed execution.

The state of Florida is set to execute two death row inmates on the same day for the first time in more than 60 years, now that a stay has been lifted for a former police officer who had been scheduled to die earlier his year

Observed every 10 October, the World Day Against the Death Penalty unifies the global abolitionist movement and mobilizes civil society, political leaders, lawyers, public opinion and more to support the call for the universal abolition of capital punishment. On 10 October 2026 and 2027, the World Day will be dedicated to humanizing the people affected by the Death Penalty, focusing on the stories of the human beings affected by the death penalty whose voices are too often neglected or silenced.

Jailhouse testimony can earn witnesses a lighter sentence. Is that a problem?

Ernest Suggs’ trial judge asked for a commutation of sentence, and the daughter of his alleged victim writes that she doesn’t believe he killed her mother. But Suggs remains on death row.

Dominick Occhicone is scheduled for execution in Florida on Tuesday, July 28 at 6 pm. Occhicone is nearly 81-years old and will be the oldest person executed in modern state history. He was sentenced to death for the murder of Martha Artzner and is serving a life sentence for the murder of Raymond A...

Supporters of the method say it’s foolproof – but forensic experts say it can be ‘excruciating’ amid allegations it has been intentionally botched

A new murder trial is scheduled for Richard Glossip, a former Oklahoma death row inmate who was released on bond last month after being on the brink of execution three times.

In most of the country, executions are a thing of the past. But one state has been carrying them out at a record pace.

Early last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis began signing death warrants at a faster rate than ever before. What followed was the most intense period of executions the state has carried out in more than eight decades.

The Marshall Project analyzed over 9,000 death sentences handed down since states brought the punishment back

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday that he opposes the death penalty, ending years of speculation about his views on capital punishment.

The per­cent­age of Americans who find the death penal­ty moral­ly unac­cept­able has risen to 39%, while the per­cent­age who find it accept­able has...

To put it plainly, nitrogen hypoxia kills by starving someone of the oxygen needed to sustain life

Jeffery Lee faces execution Thursday because a judge overturned a jury’s vote for a life sentence under a since-abolished procedure called judicial override.

DPI’s ​“What to Know” series exam­ines cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment from mul­ti­ple angles, one top­ic at a time. Each install­ment pro­vides essen­tial facts...

Nothing prepared me to witness the agony that my client experienced in the execution chamber.