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Death Sentences

The death penalty is in flux, with Congress and numerous states debating the punishment while some—Texas, most of all—keep trying to carry out executions. In Death Sentences, Marshall Project reporter Maurice Chammah and others tell the stories that you need to know about the death penalty’s past, as well as its uncertain future.

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.
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A light-skinned Hispanic man with close-cropped hair and tattoos on his arms uses the phone at the Polunsky Unit prison facility.
Death Sentences June 27
This Doctor Helped Send Ramiro Gonzales to Death Row. Now He’s Changed His Mind.
Texas plans to execute Gonzales this week even though the expert witness says he isn’t a ‘threat to society.’
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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.
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Brian Dorsey, a White man with glasses wearing a white shirt, at the Potosi Correctional Center.
Death Sentences April 3
He Faces Execution. His Lawyers May Have Earned Less Than $4 per Hour.
Some death penalty lawyers get paid the same no matter how long they work on a case. Critics say it’s a perverse incentive when a life is at stake.
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A photograph shows barbed wire and a prison tower at Holman Prison at sunset.
Death Sentences January 18
Vomiting, Seizures, Stroke: What Could Happen in the First Nitrogen Execution in the U.S.
A doctor on what’s new — and what isn’t — about the latest death penalty experiment.
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In a courtroom, a White man sits at a table peering over thick-rimmed black glasses. He is dressed in a gray-striped shirt. To his left is a woman standing in a white suit jacket and to his right is another woman, seated at the table next to him.
Death Sentences September 15, 2023
He’s Facing Execution For His Daughter’s Death. Now, Science Suggests It Was An Accident.
Robert Roberson is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to examine “shaken baby syndrome” and the state of forensic science.
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A White man in a black jacket leans his head forward as another White man, who is wearing a red cap and suit, talks to him.
Closing Argument April 22, 2023
How the Death Penalty Is Returning to Presidential Politics
Trump and DeSantis want to make it easier to execute people, and Biden could face a rush of clemency requests from federal death row.
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A group of two men and two women hug in a courtroom full of people.
Death Sentences October 31, 2022
Would a Death Sentence Help The Parkland Families Heal?
Outrage around the school shooter’s sentence reveals tensions between what some victims’ families want and the justice system’s limits.
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A black and white photo of an empty electric chair through a doorway.
Death Sentences June 29, 2022
The Supreme Court Let The Death Penalty Flourish. Now Americans are Ending It Themselves.
As Roe v. Wade ends, a look back at how the court reversed itself on capital punishment — spurring an anti-death penalty movement.
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A black and white photo shows a black chair draped with a hood which Gilmore wore during the execution. The upper right part of the chair back has bullet holes. The chair is surrounded with sandbags.
Death Sentences April 8, 2022
The Return of the Firing Squad?
With a scarcity of lethal injection drugs, South Carolina has brought back an archaic execution method. In other states, men on death row are asking for it.
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