The death penalty in the United States is sustained by a fantasy and an illusion. Americans imagine that when the state kills, it can do so in a humane manner. We’ve tried many things to turn that ...

Until this year, death penalty executions had been dwindling across the nation. The sudden spike now is unusual, experts say. Forty-six people on death row have been executed so far this year, and two ...

This story has been updated to reflect a stay of execution for one of the death row inmates previously assigned a September execution date. Tennessee will hold one of its first executions in years on ...