WDA’s Death Penalty Assistance Project (DPAP) is a resource for attorneys, investigators, mitigation specialists, and support staff who represent capital defendants. The Death Penalty Assistance Center transitioned from its previous home at TDA/PDA to the Washington Defender Association in September of 2015. Cindy Arends Elsberry leads this the project.

In 2018, the Washington Supreme Court found that the death penalty is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner in Washington and, as a result, it is unconstitutional. See State v. Gregory, 158 Wn.2d 759, 147 P.3d 1201 (2018). Despite efforts to repeal the death penalty statute, it remains on the books at RCW 10.95.