Let’s read about the Great White Throne judgment in Revelation 20:11-15 from the New King James Version: “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The SEA gave up the dead who were in it, and DEATH and HADES delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then DEATH and HADES were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

If you read earlier in verses 4-6 you will see that all “believers in Christ” will live and reign with Christ for one thousand years. In verses 5-6 we read, “But THE REST OF THE DEAD did not live again until the thousand years were finished…Blessed and holy is he who has part in the FIRST RESURRECTION. Over such the SECOND DEATH has no power.” This teaches us that “the dead” who are raised to life for the Great White Throne judgment are all “unbelievers.” They will all stand before Christ (see John 5:22) to be judged. We saw that BOOKS were opened by which they will be judged. What are those books? We see that one is called “Book of Life” and that if one’s name was not written in that Book they will be “cast into the lake of fire.” I believe this book contains the names of all who “believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.” Because they believed on Christ, they were given ETERNAL LIFE (see John 3:16 and 5:24). This is why that book is called “the Book of LIFE.” How solemn it will be for everyone standing at the Great White Throne to realize that they will be damned forever for refusing to believe on Christ (see John 3:36). They will be in HELL because of UNBELIEF. Jesus said, “If you don’t believe that I am He, you will die in your in sins” (John 5:24). Unbelief is “the damning sin” that seals their doom for all eternity. The “other books” that are opened will no doubt contain a record of “all the sins that they had committed during their life” and those sins “will determine their degree of punishment in hell.” You can read about the truth of “degrees of punishment in hell” in Matthew 11:20-24 and Luke 12:47-48.

Now let’s answer your specific questions. “Before the Great White Throne judgment where will the SOULS of the dead be?” In Revelation 20:13 we read how “the SEA gave up the dead who were in it, and DEATH and HADES delivered up the dead who were in them.” When one dies, their body may be “buried at SEA” or “buried in a GRAVE” (the word DEATH in this verse speaks of the grave). Their soul/spirit left their body when they died (James 2:26a) and went into HADES, which is “not a PLACE, but a CONDITION” (the condition of being “disembodied”). We don’t know exactly WHERE they are, but we do know that their soul is “in torments” as they await the Great White Throne judgment (see Luke 16:22-23). Just prior to that judgment their body is raised from the sea or the grave, and their soul and spirit will be delivered from this condition of disembodiment by being “reunited with their body” so the whole person can stand before Christ to be judged. The obvious answer to your second question (Do the souls of sinners go straight to hell?) is, “No, their souls go to Hades until their souls are reunited with their bodies to be judged at the Great White Throne. When this occurs, it is the end of the “first death” (where the body dies and the spirit departs) and the beginning of the “second death” (where the whole person…body, soul, and spirit), is “cast into the lake of fire.”  (DO)  (660.1)