Death Penalty Due Process Review Project

    The ABA Death Penalty Due Process Review Project conducts research and educates the public and decision-makers on the operation of capital jurisdictions’ death penalty laws and processes in order to promote fairness and accuracy in death penalty systems. The Project encourages adoption of the ABA’s Protocols on the Fair Administration of the Death Penalty; assists state, federal, and international stakeholders on death penalty issues; and develops new initiatives to support reform of death penalty processes.  

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    The Death Penalty Due Process Review Project depends on generous donations from people like you to further our mission. Please make a contribution to support our work improving the fairness and accuracy of our criminal justice system.

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    Project and Death Penalty News

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    Project Initiatives

    State Death Penalty Assessments

    From 2003 to 2013, the Project conducted a series of comprehensive assessments on the administration of capital punishment in twelve U.S. states. The Assessments give jurisdictions an objective instrument to evaluate their death penalty systems based upon uniform benchmarks in varied aspects of capital punishment. In each Assessment, the actual practices of the state are compared to standards set forth in the ABA Protocols on the Administration of Capital Punishment (2001, revised 2010).

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    Mental Illness Initiative

    Our Mental Illness Initiative works to educate legal professionals, policy makers, and the public on the subject of severe mental illness and the death penalty and to support policy reform efforts to exempt individuals with severe mental illness from the death penalty.

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    Capital Clemency Resource Initiative

    Our collaborative Capital Clemency Resource Initiative addresses the troubling lack of resources and expertise available to practitioners and decision makers in the capital clemency process and—for the first time—to provide targeted, comprehensive, and current materials to guide stakeholders through this crucial last phase of the death penalty process.

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    Project Resources

    Contact Us

    The Death Penalty Due Process Review Project can be reached by email at dueprocess@americanbar.org.

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    Leadership 2020-2021