The Condemned

Forty-three years after the Supreme Court reversed course and reinstated the death penalty, reliable data on the individuals sent to death row is maddeningly difficult to obtain. The Intercept set out to compile a comprehensive dataset on everyone sentenced to die in active death penalty jurisdictions since 1976. Our findings show that capital punishment remains as “arbitrary and capricious” as ever.

Death and Texas

The Supreme Court kick-started the death penalty in 1976, reassuring the public that capital punishment would now pass constitutional muster. Our numbers show that wasn’t true.

Liliana Segura

The Abolitionists

Abolition of the death penalty has increasingly become a bipartisan issue, with conservative lawmakers focused on its cost, while others decry the ongoing victimization of families and the risk of executing innocent people.

Liliana Segura, Jordan Smith

The Power to Kill

Prosecutors wield enormous discretion in the U.S. system — unless they decide that capital punishment is unjust. Aramis Ayala’s vision put her on a collision course with Florida’s governor, legislature, and Supreme Court.

Jordan Smith

Counting the Condemned

The U.S. has executed just 20 percent of the people sentenced to die. Forty-three percent are no longer on death row, and 32 percent of capital cases were so flawed that they required court intervention.

Liliana Segura, Jordan Smith

Project Editors: Andrea Jones, Roger Hodge. Reporters: Liliana Segura, Jordan Smith. Research: Josh Begley, Elisa Cho, Talya Cooper, Eseosa Olumhense, Miriam Pensack, Moiz Syed, John Thomason. Creative Direction: Philipp Hubert. Art Direction: Soohee Cho, Fei Liu, Ariel Zambelich. Photo Editing: Ariel Zambelich, Andrea Wise. Series Cover Illustration: Karolis Strautniekas. Research Engineer: Akil Harris. Copy Edit: Rashmee Kumar. Product Development: LJ Ruell. Software Engineering: Stephanie Harris, Carl Licata, Raby Yuson. Editor-in-Chief: Betsy Reed

Filters SVG