Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

U.N. Special Investigator Philip Alston has submitted a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva criticizing the application of the death penalty in the U.S. Alston calls for the U.S. to enact more stringent safeguards to protect the innocent, saying the current application sometimes leads to miscarriages of justice. “It is widely acknowledged that innocent people have most likely been executed in the U.S,” Alston said. “Yet, in Alabama and Texas, the 2 States that I visited, I found a…

The latest edition of Lapham’s Quarterly features essays from a wide variety of authors reflecting on crime and punishment. At least one of the articles, by Christopher Hitchens, focuses on the death penalty. In “Staking a Life,” Hitchens draws on his background in religion, morality, and government to explore why the United States continues to utilize capital punishment while many of our allies have abandoned it. “I have heard a number of suggested answers: two in particular have some…

On June 1, in the case of Bobby v. Bies, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Michael Bies had to bring his claim of mental retardation before a separate state hearing, thereby reversing the lower federal courts that held such a hearing would constitute double jeopardy. The Court held that Ohio could contest Bies’ assertion that he is mentally retarded and that this does not subject Bies to double jeopardy, despite the fact that the Ohio Supreme Court in 1996 had recognized his mental…

Former Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia has called for a full court hearing on the new evidence offered by death row inmate Troy Davis regarding his possible innocence. Davis’s attorneys have submitted a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court requesting such a hearing. Barr noted that part of the basis the lower courts have used in refusing to hold a hearing is the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, a law that he helped write. Barr, who also served as a U.S. Attorney in Georgia, wrote…

The Ride: A Shocking Murder and a Bereaved Father’s Journey from Rage to Redemption is a new book by Brian MacQuarrie that explores a parent’s grief and subsequent transformation through the story of Robert Curley in Massachusetts. Curley’s 10-year-old son, Jeffrey, was a victim of abduction and murder in 1997. The murder shocked and outraged the community of East Cambridge outside of Boston. MacQuarrie explores the father’s evolution “from grief to anger to activism against predators,” and…

On May 28, Nebraska’s Governor Dave Heineman signed a bill changing the state’s method of execution from electrocution to lethal injection. Nebraska had been without a legal method of execution since February 2008 when the state’s Supreme Court found the electric chair unconstitutional. Before executions in the state can resume, Nebraska still needs to develop procedures for lethal injections and the new law will be tested in court. Nebraska was the last state to have the electric chair as its…