Executions

Life Inside April 12

“I wondered whether the system I have been a part of for so long was, simply, barbaric.”

By Mike Lynch

Feature January 18

The Volunteer

More than a year ago, Nevada death row prisoner Scott Dozier gave up his legal appeals and asked to be executed. He’s still waiting.

By Maurice Chammah

News January 17

Trump Justice, Year One: The Demolition Derby

Here are nine ways the law-and-order president has smashed Obama’s legacy.

By Justin George

News January 3

What to Know About the Death Penalty in 2018

Here are the most important places to keep an eye on.

By Maurice Chammah

Analysis October 18, 2017

A Long Decline in Executions Takes a Detour

Recent court rulings and start-stop access to lethal drugs push numbers up this year.

By Maurice Chammah and Tom Meagher

News August 30, 2017

Nevada Plans to Use Fentanyl in Upcoming Execution

Medical professionals say the state’s new lethal injection protocol “doesn’t make much sense.”

By Maurice Chammah

Commentary April 27, 2017

Ledell Lee Never Had A Chance

He was the first man executed by Arkansas in nearly 12 years. Jurors never heard his story.

Elizabeth Vartkessian

Life Inside February 16, 2017

A Mother Visits Her Son, Who’s Condemned to Die in April

‘I can’t touch him and comfort him.’

By Marilyn Shankle-Grant as told to Maurice Chammah

Crime on the Ballot November 9, 2016

The Death Penalty is Alive and Well

Voters in three states approve measures to strengthen capital punishment.

By Andrew Cohen

Commentary June 9, 2016

Poster Child

How Terrance Williams became the face of the death penalty debate in Pennsylvania.

By Andrew Cohen

Life Inside March 31, 2016

What It’s Like to Almost Get Executed

San Quentin inmate Kevin Cooper on watching the minutes tick away on his life.

By Kevin Cooper

Commentary March 30, 2016

It’s Been 40 Years Since the Supreme Court Tried to Fix the Death Penalty — Here’s How It Failed

A close look at the grand compromise of 1976.

By Evan J. Mandery

Commentary March 28, 2016

A Judge Overturned a Death Sentence Because the Prosecutor Compared a Black Defendant to King Kong

The South Carolina prosecutor is known as ‘Death Penalty Donnie.’

By Andrew Cohen

Commentary March 6, 2016

The First Time Texas Killed One of My Clients

An attorney pieces together a life cut short.

By Burke M. Butler

Feature January 14, 2016

Republican Candidates on Criminal Justice: A Primer

Their sixth debate is in Charleston, a city still recovering from last year’s church killings.

By The Marshall Project

Analysis January 12, 2016

A New Blow to Florida’s Death Penalty

The U.S. Supreme Court says state judges cannot sentence death without a jury’s mandate

By Andrew Cohen

Commentary December 17, 2015

Raphael Holiday was Put to Death, and His Lawyers Should Have Tried Harder to Stop It

Gretchen Sween was hired a month before Holiday was executed. This is what she saw.

By Gretchen Sween

News December 9, 2015

Highlights From Our Death Penalty Discussion

Journalists Liliana Segura, Gabriel Dance and Maurice Chammah took your questions about the death penalty and criminal justice reporting. Here are some of the highlights.

By Pedro Burgos

News November 19, 2015

The Unfolding Campaign to Save the Death Penalty

Supporters rally around a more efficient system of execution.

By Maurice Chammah

Commentary November 18, 2015

Five Things Wrong With Georgia’s Death Penalty

On the eve of the next execution, a look at the state’s history of bad lawyering and faulty evidence.

By Sara J. Totonchi

First & Latest September 30, 2015

Georgia Executed its First Woman in 70 Years

A closer look at why female executions are so rare.

By Simone Weichselbaum

News September 10, 2015

‘I’m Just Happy to Be Alive’

An Alabama man, wrongfully convicted, overcomes a judicial override to gain his freedom.

By Andrew Cohen

News August 31, 2015

In the Execution Business, Missouri Is Surging

Defense lawyers call it a crisis; the state says it’s just doing its job.

By Maurice Chammah

News August 26, 2015

Doubting Jennifer Herndon

An appeals lawyer who has represented more than a half-dozen men put to death in Missouri faces questions about her competency.

By Ken Armstrong

Commentary July 27, 2015

Executing ‘Idiots’

Would the Founders have protected people we execute now?

By Michael Clemente

News May 15, 2015

McVeigh, Garza, Jones, Tsarnaev

A closer look at the three federal inmates who have been executed since the 1960s.

By Eli Hager

News May 14, 2015

Would You Rather …

... die a (probably) painless death or live 50 years in solitary?

By The Marshall Project

News April 29, 2015

A Death Penalty Case, or Just Bullying?

High Court’s conservatives bridle at ‘guerilla’ tactics of ‘abolitionist’ movement.

By Andrew Cohen

Quiz April 28, 2015

Executioners vs. Veterinarians

Which do we kill more humanely, our pets or condemned prisoners?

By Andy Rossback

News March 18, 2015

Willingham Prosecutor Accused of Misconduct

State bar files charges more than 10 years after execution.

By Maurice Possley

Looking Back March 13, 2015

Broken on the Wheel

The gruesome 18th Century legal case that turned a famed philosopher into a crusader for the innocent.

By Ken Armstrong

Feature March 9, 2015

Doubts from Death Row

More questions about the Willingham case.

By Maurice Possley

Graphics December 19, 2014

By the Numbers

A guide to the latest stats in the world of criminal justice.

By Gerald Rich, Andy Rossback and Ivar Vong

News December 1, 2014

Crazy or Faking It?

The impending execution of Scott Panetti and the search for a standard of sanity.

By Maurice Chammah

Commentary November 30, 2014

What Death Penalty Opponents Don’t Get

There are fates worse than death.

By James Ridgeway and Jean Casella

The Frame November 26, 2014

Blurred Lives

A portrait series captures the toll of long prison sentences on the people who serve them.

Photographs by Amy Elkins