Executions Overview

Upcoming Executions

Jan 24, 2023

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) has reset the state’s exe­cu­tion sched­ule, slow­ing down the pace at which the 25-per­son exe­cu­tion spree it autho­rized in July 2022 would move for­ward. The order, issued January…

Executions Overview

Jan 17, 2023

Tennessee will not resume exe­cu­tions until it fix­es sys­temic prob­lems with the admin­is­tra­tion of its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col, Governor Bill Lee has announced. ​“It’s a very impor­tant issue that has to be done correctly,…

Executions Overview

Oct 11, 2022

The South Carolina Supreme Court will hear argu­ment one month soon­er on the state’s appeal of a tri­al court rul­ing that declared two of its statu­to­ri­ly meth­ods of exe­cu­tion — death by elec­tric chair and fir­ing squad — unconstituti…

Race

Sep 12, 2022

A new study of the Texas death penal­ty, released as the state was con­duct­ing its 400^th mod­ern-era exe­cu­tion in a case involv­ing a white vic­tim, has doc­u­ment­ed over­whelm­ing racial dis­par­i­ties in the Lone Star state’s cap­i­tal punish…

Executions Overview

Sep 09, 2022

A South Carolina tri­al court has issued an injunc­tion pre­vent­ing the state from car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions using a fir­ing squad or the elec­tric chair, rul­ing that those meth­ods vio­late the state’s con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­hi­bi­tion against “…

Arbitrariness

Aug 24, 2022

In the August 2022 Discussions With DPIC pod­cast, for­mer Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and for­mer U.S. Magistrate Judge Andy Lester (pic­tured), two of the co-chairs of the bipar­ti­san Oklahoma Death Penalty…

Executions Overview

Aug 18, 2022

A deci­sion on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of South Carolina’s new­ly adopt­ed exe­cu­tion meth­ods now rests in the hands a tri­al court judge after lawyers for death-row pris­on­ers and the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) prese…

Executions Overview

Aug 16, 2022

A pri­vate autop­sy of Alabama death-row pris­on­er Joe Nathan James, Jr. sug­gests that unqual­i­fied cor­rec­tions per­son­nel sub­ject­ed him to a tor­tur­ous, hours-long exe­cu­tion process in a botched exe­cu­tion that experts …

Executions Overview

Jun 23, 2022

Tennessee exe­cu­tions could be on hold for years, as the state con­ducts an inde­pen­dent inves­ti­ga­tion into wide­spread non-com­pli­ance with its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col and lit­i­gates the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of revi­sions expect­ed to be made to…

Secrecy

May 20, 2022

After 37 years of silence, a South Carolina prison doc­tor who was in the exe­cu­tion cham­ber when eight pris­on­ers it was his duty to treat were put to death has for the first time pub­licly dis­cussed his con­flict­ing roles. I…