Search About Newsletters Donate

Death Sentence

Robert Roberson, a light-skinned man wearing a white prison uniform, looks through visitation room glass. A phone hangs on either side of the divider.
Closing Argument September 18
Robert Roberson’s Death Penalty Case Shows How Justice System Fails People With Autism
He was convicted in his daughter’s death. Those who believe he’s innocent argue his diagnosis helps explain how he ended up facing execution.
By
A light-skinned Hispanic man with close-cropped hair and tattoos on his arms uses the phone at the Polunsky Unit prison facility.
Life Inside June 24
A Death Row Prisoner’s Parting Interview
Days before his scheduled execution in Texas, Ramiro Gonzales speaks on faith, legacy — and apologizing to the family of his victim, Bridget Townsend.
By
Feature March 2, 2023
The Mercy Workers
For three decades, a little-known group of “mitigation specialists” has helped save death-penalty defendants by documenting their childhood traumas. A rare look inside one case.
By
Billie Allen, center, with his friends on federal death row who were executed, from left: Orlando Hall, Corey Johnson, Dustin Higgs, Brandon Bernard and Christopher Andre Vialva.
Life Inside April 1, 2021
Living With Survivor’s Guilt on Federal Death Row
I escaped Donald Trump’s last-minute execution spree. Now I have to find a way to keep fighting.
By Billie J. Allen
Jerry Jurek was convicted of killing 10-year-old Wendy Adams in 1973. His case went to the Supreme Court as one of several testing new death penalty laws around the country. Pictured here in 1979, left, and 2015, right.
Looking Back January 26, 2021
The Case That Made Texas the Death Penalty Capital
In an excerpt from his new book, ‘Let the Lord Sort Them,’ Marshall Project staff writer Maurice Chammah explains where a 1970s legal team fighting the death penalty went wrong.
By
The N.C. Supreme Court ordered relief for death row inmates if racial bias infected their case. One of the cases decided Friday was Rayford Burke, whom the prosecutor called “a big black bull” during closing arguments to an all-white jury.
News June 11, 2020
New Hope for People Who Claim Racism Tainted Their Death Sentence
The North Carolina state Supreme Court has upheld the controversial Racial Justice Act, which opponents repealed in 2013
By and
Life Inside April 12, 2018
Why This Judge Dreads Execution Day
“I wondered whether the system I have been a part of for so long was, simply, barbaric.”
By Mike Lynch
The lethal injection chamber at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., in 2002.
Feature December 7, 2016
In Alabama, You Can Be Sentenced to Death Even if Jurors Don’t Agree
Judges have uniquely uncommon power in the state.
By Kent Faulk
Angel Campos Nava, right, was brought to the Franklin County Courthouse in Russellville, Ala. in April, 2013.
News September 22, 2016
How Mexico Saves Its Citizens from the Death Penalty in the U.S.
A fund is designated to train, pay and advise American defense lawyers.
By
Quiz June 30, 2016
How Much Do You Know About the Death Penalty in the U.S.?
Forty years ago, we restored capital punishment.
By
About
People
Jobs
Sitemap
Funders