DPIC MID-YEAR REVIEW: At Midpoint of 2019, Death Penalty Use Remains Near Historic Lows

Intellectual Disability

Aug 22, 2019

In a case that rais­es con­cerns about pro­ce­dur­al imped­i­ments that pre­vent enforce­ment of con­sti­tu­tion­al rights, Florida is prepar­ing to exe­cute a man whose claim of intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abil­i­ty has nev­er been reviewed by the state or …

Innocence

Aug 21, 2019

With seri­ous doubts swirling as to vir­tu­al­ly every piece of foren­sic evi­dence in his case, Texas plans to exe­cute Larry Swearingen — who has always main­tained his inno­cence in the mur­der of Melissa Trotter — on August…

Victims' Families

Aug 20, 2019

Leaders from two of the three con­gre­ga­tions affect­ed by the October 27, 2018 shoot­ings at the Tree of Life syn­a­gogue (pic­tured) in Pittsburgh are ask­ing the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment not to seek a death sen­tence for the …

Upcoming Executions

Aug 19, 2019

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform announced on August 14, 2019 that it has launched an inves­ti­ga­tion into the Department of Justice’s plan to 

Aug 19, 2019

NEWS: Texas and Florida were sched­uled to car­ry out exe­cu­tions on August 21 and August 22. Texas exe­cut­ed Larry Swearingen on August 21, after the Texas Board of Pardons denied clemen­cy and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene.

Sentencing Alternatives

Aug 16, 2019

A life sen­tence recent­ly imposed in America’s dead­liest death-penal­ty coun­ty illus­trates the impact of Alabama’s 2017 repeal of its…

Intellectual Disability

Aug 15, 2019

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has stayed the exe­cu­tion of Texas d…

Costs

Aug 14, 2019

The high cost of meet­ing its oblig­a­tion to pro­vide con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly-man­dat­ed effec­tive rep­re­sen­ta­tion for indi­gent defen­dants in cap­i­tal cas­es con­tin­ues to gen­er­ate con­tro­ver­sy in Utah’s fourth largest coun­ty. With two cap­i­tal tri…

Religion

Aug 13, 2019

Sister Helen Prejean, the acclaimed author of Dead Man Walking, has writ­ten a new spir­i­tu­al mem­oir, River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey. The book, released August 13, 2019 by Random House pub­lish­ers, tells the st…

Mental Illness

Aug 12, 2019

Advocates from a vari­ety of back­grounds are urg­ing Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to stop the August 15, 2019 exe­cu­tion of Stephen West (pic­tured), say­ing that West did not com­mit the mur­der and urg­ing the gov­er­nor n…