Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

A new book by Larry Koch, Colin Wark and John Galliher dis­cuss­es the sta­tus of the death penal­ty in the U.S. in light of recent leg­isla­tive activ­i­ty and court deci­sions. In The Death of the American Death Penalty, the authors exam­ine the impact of fac­tors such as eco­nom­ic con­di­tions, pub­lic sen­ti­ment, the role of elites, the media, and pop­u­la­tion diver­si­ty on the death penal­ty debate. The book high­lights the recent abo­li­tion decisions in…

On September 6, Michael Keenan (pic­tured) was released from prison after spend­ing about 20 years on Ohio​’s death row. Keenan and co-defen­­­dant Joseph D’Ambrosio, who was exon­er­at­ed in April, were con­vict­ed of the 1988 mur­der of Tony Klann. Keenan’s first con­vic­tion was over­turned in 1994, but he was retried and again sen­tenced to death. His sec­ond con­vic­tion was over­turned ear­li­er in 2012 due to pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct. Prosecutors…

In Pennsylvania–a state that has recent­ly dealt with high-pro­­­file cas­es of child sex­u­al abuse – one vic­tim of such attacks is now fac­ing exe­cu­tion. On September 6, more than two dozen child advo­cates joined for­mer jurors, the victim’s wid­ow, as well as for­mer pros­e­cu­tors and judges in urg­ing Governor Tom Corbett and the Board of Pardons to grant clemen­cy to death row inmate Terrance Williams (pic­tured). Williams suffered…

The Death Penalty Information Center’s High School Curriculum on the Death Penalty is now avail­able for stu­dents and teach­ers as a free elec­tron­ic text­book for use on the Apple iPad. This bal­anced and dynam­ic resource uses an issue of pub­lic con­cern to teach civic respon­si­bil­i­ty, research, and crit­i­cal think­ing. The e‑textbook con­tains all the fea­tures of DPIC​’s award-win­n­ing online cur­ricu­lum, includ­ing summaries of…

Although Connecticut abol­ished the death penal­ty for future offens­es in 2012, eleven inmates remained on death row. Now an unusu­al tri­al will soon begin chal­leng­ing the death sen­tences of sev­en of those inmates, not because of the leg­is­la­ture’s repeal action, but because of evi­dence of racial and geo­graph­i­cal bias­es in decid­ing those sen­tences. The inmates will prin­ci­pal­ly rely on a study by Stanford University pro­fes­sor John Donohue, who reviewed…

New Mexico abol­ished the death penal­ty for future offens­es in 2009. However, two peo­ple still face exe­cu­tion, includ­ing Timothy Allen (pic­tured), who has been on death row for near­ly 17 years. His super­fi­cial tri­al and woe­ful­ly inad­e­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion reveal sys­temic flaws in the state’s appli­ca­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The lead attor­ney in Allen’s tri­al had nev­er tried a death penal­ty case before, and failed to research Allen’s…

As many schools are begin­ning their new terms, the Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to remind you of our two edu­ca­tion­al cur­ric­u­la on the death penal­ty. Our col­lege-lev­­­el cur­ricu­lum, Capital Punishment in Context, con­tains detailed case stud­ies of four indi­vid­u­als who were sen­tenced to death in the U.S. The cur­ricu­lum pro­vides a com­plete nar­ra­tive of each case, includ­ing orig­i­nal resources such as homicide reports,…

Kansas rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1994, but no exe­cu­tions have been car­ried out since 1965. On aver­age, the state sen­tences less than one per­son to death per year. Four of those death sen­tences have been over­turned in the ear­ly round of appeals, includ­ing that of Scott Cheever, whose cap­i­tal con­vic­tion was unan­i­mous­ly reversed by the Kansas Supreme Court on August 24. No death sen­tence that has reached the state’s high­est court has been upheld.

A new book by Professor Harry M. Ward of the University of Richmond exam­ines the death penal­ty in Virginia at a time when exe­cu­tions were car­ried out for all to see. In Public Executions in Richmond, Virginia: A History, 1782 – 1907, Ward pro­vides a his­to­ry of the hang­ings and, dur­ing the Civil War, fir­ing-squad exe­cu­tions in Virginia’s cap­i­tal city. Thousands of wit­ness­es attend­ed the exe­cu­tions, which were seen as a form of entertainment.