News & Developments
Apr 23, 2021
Alabama Suspends African American Judge Who Declared Death Penalty Unconstitutional, Alleging Abuse of Power and Anti-Death Penalty Bias
The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission has suspended an African-American judge who declared the state’s death penalty statute unconstitutional, accusing her of unprofessional conduct and anti-death penalty bias. In a 109…
Race
Apr 22, 2021
Commentary: Ending Capital Punishment is a Core Component of Reconceptualizing ‘Public Safety’ in an Era of Punitive Excess
As the United States undergoes an awakening on racial injustices in policing and the judicial process, commentators and public policy advocates are calling for a reimagining of public safety and criminal punishment that rejects the reflexive impos…
International
Apr 21, 2021
Amnesty International Global Report: Executions Worldwide Fewest in a Decade, Death Sentences Fall More Than One Third in 2020
Fewer executions were carried out across the world in 2020 than at any time in a decade and new death sentences fell by more than a third, according to a new report by Amnesty International. It was the third consecutive year in wh…
Mental Illness
Apr 20, 2021
Florida Bars From Medical Practice Psychiatrist Who Repeatedly Testified that Severely Mentally Ill Death-Row Prisoners Were ‘Malingering’
A controversial psychiatrist who repeatedly testified that severely mentally ill death-row prisoners were faking their symptoms and were competent to be executed has been barred from medical practice in Florida. On March 3…
Apr 19, 2021
Texas Appeals Court Overturns Death Sentence of Nation’s Longest Serving Death-Row Prisoner
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) has overturned the death sentence of the nation’s longest-serving death-row prisoner, 45 years after he was first sent to death row. In an unpublished opinion issued on April 14, 2021, the TCCA h…
Apr 19, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of April 12, 2021
NEWS (4/16/21) — Tennessee: The Tennessee Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence imposed in the May 2016 retrial of Micha…
International
Apr 16, 2021
Global Death Penalty Report: Executions for Drug Offenses Down 75% Worldwide
Executions for drug offenses plummeted worldwide during 2020, according to a new report by the global drug-policy monitor Harm Reduction International (HRI). Three countries — China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran — carried out 3…
Intellectual Disability
Apr 15, 2021
NEWS BRIEF — Tennessee Legislative Committees Approve Intellectual Disability Bill
On April 14, 2021, committees in both chambers of the Tennessee legislature voted to advance bills that would create a legal mechanism for death-row prisoners to challenge their death sentences on the grounds that they have intell…
Costs
Apr 15, 2021
Arizona DoC Paid $1.5 Million for Execution Drugs While Facing a Budget Crisis
At a time in which the Arizona Department of Corrections is facing criticism for crumbling infrastructure, substandard medical care, and understaffing, the department has spent $1.5 million to purchase the lethal-injection drug pe…
Innocence
Apr 14, 2021
Nevada State Assembly Passes Bill to Repeal Death Penalty and Resentence Death-Row Prisoners to Life
The Nevada State Assembly has passed a bill that would abolish the state’s death penalty and resentence the prisoners currently on its death row to life without parole. It was the first time any death-penalty abolition bill had be…
