Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

(Bureau of Justice Statistics, Capital Punishment, 2010 — Statistical Tables, December 20, 2011). For infor­ma­tion on the death penal­ty in 2011, see DPIC’s Year End Report. See Death Row, Sentencing and…

Two for­mer Supreme Court Justices in Kentucky and the President of the American Bar Association called for a sus­pen­sion of exe­cu­tions in the state until its death penal­ty sys­tem is reformed. Writing in the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Justices stated, ​“The list of prob­lem­at­ic cas­es is stag­ger­ing, and review of the sys­tem is deeply trou­bling. Fairness, impar­tial­i­ty and effec­tive­ness of coun­sel have been under­mined by seri­ous flaws that reveal sys­temic problems in…

On December 20, the European Commission announced tough new restric­tions on the export of drugs that could be used for exe­cu­tions in the United States. The EC added pen­to­bar­bi­tal and sodi­um thiopen­tal — two drugs on which almost all American exe­cu­tions cur­rent­ly depend — to its list of restrict­ed prod­ucts that are tight­ly con­trolled on the grounds that they may be used for cru­el and inhu­man treat­ment or punishment. ​“The deci­sion today con­tributes to the wider EU efforts to…

On December 16, Marin County Superior Court Judge Faye D’Opal reject­ed California​’s new lethal injec­tion pro­to­cols because cor­rec­tions offi­cials failed to con­sid­er a one-drug exe­cu­tion method now in prac­tice in oth­er states. Judge D’Opal also crit­i­cized the state for ignor­ing require­ments of the law regard­ing the revi­sion of offi­cial pro­ce­dures. A fed­er­al court has also imposed a stay of exe­cu­tions while it is review­ing the state’s 3‑drug lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures. In 2006,…

On December 14, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer (pic­tured) tes­ti­fied before the state’s House Criminal Justice Committee, urg­ing law­mak­ers to over­turn the death penal­ty law he helped write as a state sen­a­tor 30 years…

On December 15 an Illinois appel­late court reversed Juan Rivera​’s (pic­tured) con­vic­tion for a mur­der com­mit­ted almost 20 years ago. The case is rem­i­nis­cent of many in Illinois that led to the state’s abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty in 2011. Rivera was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to life in prison for killing 11-year-old Holly Staker based on a con­fes­sion after near­ly 24 hours of near-con­s­tant inter­ro­ga­tion. No phys­i­cal evi­dence or wit­ness­es con­clu­sive­ly linked him…

On December 15, the Death Penalty Information Center released its latest report, ​“The Death Penalty in 2011: Year End Report,” on sta­tis­tics and trends in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the past year. The report not­ed that new death sen­tences dropped to 78 in 2011, mark­ing the first time since cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was rein­stat­ed in 1976 that the coun­try has pro­duced less than 100 death sen­tences in a year. It rep­re­sents a 75% decline since 1996, when there were…

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue vetoed the bill that would have repealed the state’s Racial Justice Act that was passed in 2009. The Act allows death row inmates to appeal their death sen­tences based on sta­tis­ti­cal stud­ies show­ing racial bias. In issu­ing the veto, the gov­er­nor, who sup­ports the death penal­ty, said, ​“I am veto­ing Senate Bill 9 for the same rea­son that I signed the Racial Justice Act two years ago: it is sim­ply unac­cept­able for racial prej­u­dice to play a…

In a recent op-ed in Oregon’s Statesman Journal, for­mer Texas Governor Mark White (pic­tured) applaud­ed Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber​’s deci­sion to grant a reprieve to death row inmate Gary Haugen and to halt all exe­cu­tions in the state. Governor White wrote, ​“I think Kitzhaber’s deci­sion is respectable and coura­geous. In Oregon, as in Texas, it is clear­ly with­in the con­sti­tu­tion­al author­i­ty of the gov­er­nor to grant reprieves and com­mu­ta­tions. With…