Officials in Nebraska used fentanyl to execute a death row inmate on Tuesday, marking the first time the powerful opioid has been used to carry out the death penalty in the United States.
In only the second-ever case of its kind, a pharmaceutical company sued Wednesday to stop the state of Nevada from using an untested drug in a lethal injection.
In colonial Virginia, authorities could hang settlers for a crime as small as stealing grapes or killing a neighbor's chicken. The penal code in America's first colony was, in fact, so harsh its governor eventually reduced the number of capital offenses out of fear that settlers would refuse to live there. Since then, the number and severity of crimes punishable by death in the United States have fluctuated; today, the death penalty is still legal in 31 states. Here are some of the critical turning points in the history of capital punishment in America.
What happens when suicide forestalls any possibility of justice?
Seventeen inmates in Oklahoma are awaiting set execution dates.
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Research has identified embedded racism in IQ tests. Now, prosecutors in at least eight states are using that research—to legalize more executions.
When her brother is sentenced to death for a murder he didn't commit, one woman takes on the corrosive culture of capital punishment.
Judges in Alabama frequently override jury’s sentences of life without parole to impose capital punishment.
Is lethal injection the most humane method of execution? Is there another way? Should we eliminate the death penalty altogether? Here’s some of the best reporting on the practice.
New research finds a convict is more likely to be sentenced to death if he has an untrustworthy face.
The death penalty isn't just a part of the criminal justice system where racial disparities become visible—it may also be a cause.
The expert ended up prompting a back-and-forth between Supreme Court justices, who narrowly upheld use of a lethal injection drug.
Today's Supreme Court ruling on a lethal injection drug represents a confluence of several modern challenges to capital punishment.
It’s becoming nearly impossible to find experts to defend the practice.
Years of polling show that Democrats and Republicans are increasingly turning away from the death penalty.
A new Supreme Court case could affect thousands of prisoners serving life sentences without parole for crimes they committed as teens.
A look inside the minds of those who have participated in firing squads and lethal injections.
The Supreme Court is reviewing lethal injection for the first time in seven years. Here’s what it means for the death penalty.
How the new mental health facility for California’s death row inmates reflects our nation’s ongoing ambivalence about the death penalty.
Gradual advancements in the art and science of fire investigation continue.
A report advocating death penalty reforms finds that false confessions in capital cases can be limited by recording the questioning of suspects.
Amid drug shortage, states look to shady distributors—with disastrous results.