Criminal Justice: Capital Punishment

The 90 Million Strong Campaign seeks to mobilize and engage the millions of Americans who oppose the death penalty to bring about an end to the practice once and for all. Working with national partners and with networks throughout the United States, we seek to dramatically increase the number of people speaking out against the death penalty by raising public awareness about its problems and connecting to policy makers and opinion leaders around the country.

We are workers, students, parents, millennials, families of murder victims, persons from all points on the political and religious spectrums, past and present law enforcement officials, and prominent civil and racial justice organizations, working to repeal capital punishment state by state. We are 90 Million Strong.

The Capital Punishment Project works toward the repeal of the death penalty in the United States through strategic litigation, advocacy, public education, and training programs for capital defense teams.

We are the ABA’s expert on issues related to legal representation in death penalty cases. Learn more about our work to educate the public, train defenders, recruit volunteers, and reform counsel systems.

This report covers the judicial use of the death penalty for the period January to December 2015. Amnesty International reports only on executions, death sentences and other aspects of the use of the death penalty, such as commutations and exonerations, where there is reasonable confirmation. In many countries governments do not publish information on their use of the death penalty, making confirmation of the use challenging.

Reports go back to 2012.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) collects data on persons held under sentence of death and persons executed during the calendar year from the state department of corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, see Captial Punishment series.

BJS also collects preliminary counts of executions during the following year to provide web users with the most recently available data, see Prisoners executed. This webpage summarizes the movement of prisoners into and out of death sentence status.

The data describe offenders' sex, race, Hispanic origin, education, marital status, age at time of arrest for the capital offense, legal status at the time of the offense, and method of removal.

The webpage also includes information on executions, trends, and time between imposition of death sentence and execution.

The Cornell Death Penalty Project has developed a number of resources to provide valuable information and assistance to attorneys representing death-sentenced inmates across the country.

The Death Penalty Information Center is a national non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. Founded in 1990, the Center promotes informed discussion of the death penalty by preparing in-depth reports, conducting briefings for journalists, and serving as a resource to those working on this issue.

The Center releases an annual report on the death penalty, highlighting significant developments and featuring the latest statistics

Equal Justice USA (EJUSA) is a national organization that works to transform the justice system from one that harms to one that heals.

Our work includes ending the death penalty, strengthening programs that help crime survivors address trauma and rebuild their lives, and promoting trauma-informed responses to violence that can save lives and help heal communities.

The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project works to prevent and correct the conviction of innocent people in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. We have one of the highest success rates in the country for exonerating those who have been wrongfully accused.

Because we believe that no amount of tinkering will rescue the death penalty from its inherent flaws, NACDL supports legislation to abolish the death penalty. In addition, NACDL supports individual state efforts to halt and study the death penalty as well as federal legislation to institute a moratorium.

Find: Habeas Assistance and Training, Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel, and the Federal Capital Habeas Project.

The Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project (FDPRCP) is a program of the Defender Services Office of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) designed to assist the federal courts, federal defenders, and appointed counsel in connection with matters relating to the defense function in federal capital cases at the trial level.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s mission is to abolish the death penalty in the United States and support efforts to abolish the death penalty worldwide.

We are the nation's oldest organization dedicated exclusively to the abolition of the death penalty. It leads a national movement against the death penalty fueled by a broad-based national constituency and more than 100 Affiliate organizations.

ProCon.org, a nonprofit nonpartisan public charity, provides professionally-researched pro, con, and related information on more than 50 controversial issues from gun control and death penalty to illegal immigration and alternative energy.

Using the fair, FREE, and unbiased resources at ProCon.org, millions of people each year learn new facts, think critically about both sides of important issues, and strengthen their minds and opinions.

The Southern Center for Human Rights was founded in 1976 by ministers and activists concerned about criminal justice issues in response to the Supreme Court's reinstatement of the death penalty that year and to the horrendous conditions in Southern prisons and jails.

The Southern Center for Human Rights represents individuals on death row at trial, on appeal, and in the post-conviction review process.

SCHR is also vigilant in defending against politicians' attempts to increase the use of the death penalty even as public skepticism grows about its use.

Moratorium on the use of the death penalty was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 18 December 2007.

In line with General Assembly resolutions calling for a phasing out of capital punishment , the UN Human Rights Office supports Member States, civil society and other stakeholders campaigning for a moratorium on the death penalty and ultimately its abolition worldwide.

SURVEY OF THE FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY SYSTEM, 1988 - 2000.

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