A Crash Course in Indiana's Death Penalty: Just the Facts

In the coming years, there will hopefully be a great deal of discussion about the death penalty and ideally this blog can serve as one of the forums for that discussion. However, for a discussion to be effective, it must be based on facts and not rely upon conventional wisdom, which can often be distorted or downright false. So, for the sake of forging a common starting point, the following are some of the basic facts about Indiana's death penalty (more in our website's Educate Yourself section):

• Indiana has executed 19 individuals since the 1977 reinstatement of Indiana's death penalty. This makes Indiana the 14th highest executing state in this time period.
• 2 individuals have been exonerated from Indiana's death row.
• 3 individuals have had their sentences commuted from a death sentence to life without parole.
• There are currently 12 defendants under a sentence of death in Indiana.
• It ultimately costs 34%-37% more to execute an individual than to imprison them for the entirety of their natural life.
• 94% of capital defendants could not afford their own attorney.

This sampling of facts, along with the others found on our site, should help individuals on all sides of this issue come to the table with a better understanding of what is at stake and what some of the issues are.