A variety of individuals are claimed to have been innocent victims of the death penalty. Newly available DNA evidence has allowed the exoneration and release of more than 20 death row inmates since 1992 in the United States, but DNA evidence is available in only a fraction of capital cases.

How many innocents have been executed in the US?

There have been 1,532 executions in the United States since 1976. “Everybody's worst fear about capital punishment is that innocent people will be wrongfully convicted and executed,” Robert Dunham, DPIC's executive director, said in an interview.

How common is it for an individual to be wrongfully convicted?

A recent Mother Jones article attempts to answer this question with help from the Innocence Project, the Center on Wrongful Convictions and experts in the field. estimate is that 1 percent of the US prison population, approximately 20,000 people, are falsely convicted.