Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

Compared to the 1990s, there has been a marked decline in death sen­tences in the U.S. since 2000. Every region of the coun­try and every state that aver­aged one or more death sen­tences per year have seen a decline in the annu­al num­ber of death sen­tences. The chart below com­pares the annu­al num­ber of death sen­tences in each state in the 1990s with the 2000s. North Carolina, California, Florida, and Texas expe­ri­enced the great­est declines in sen­tenc­ing. This issue and others are…

Two California leg­is­la­tors from oppos­ing polit­i­cal par­ties and with dif­fer­ent points of view on the death penal­ty have pro­posed cut­ting fund­ing for a new $395 mil­lion death row at San Quentin Prison. ​“The Death Row expan­sion is a bot­tom­less mon­ey pit,” said Republican state Senator Jeff Denham. Democratic Assemblyman Jared Huffman added, ​“We should use this oppor­tu­ni­ty, with the state run­ning out of cash, to…

The leg­isla­tive com­mis­sion estab­lished to exam­ine the death penal­ty in Maryland has rec­om­mend­ed abo­li­tion of the pun­ish­ment by a vote of 13 – 9. The Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment released its final report on December 12, detail­ing the rea­sons for its rec­om­men­da­tion.​“There is no good and suf­fi­cient rea­son to have the death penal­ty,” Chairman Benjamin R. Civiletti said at a news con­fer­ence. Regarding the com­mis­sion’s…

A three-judge pan­el of the US Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit in Atlanta heard argu­ments in the Troy Davis case on December 9. The judges weighed whether Davis’ new evi­dence was suf­fi­cient to mer­it a more exten­sive hear­ing and per­haps a new tri­al. One of the judges, Rosemary Barkett, said she would like to see the inno­cence claims fleshed out in a further…

A leg­isla­tive com­mit­tee cre­at­ed to study the death penal­ty in Tennessee has rec­om­mend­ed ways to ensure cap­i­tal cas­es are han­dled fair­ly and effec­tive­ly. The com­mit­tee approved a res­o­lu­tion that asks law­mak­ers to cre­ate a statewide author­i­ty whose duties would include iden­ti­fy­ing lawyers expe­ri­enced in cap­i­tal cas­es, rais­ing the stan­dard pay for such attor­neys, and mon­i­tor­ing their case­loads. Thomas Lee, a Tennessee attor­ney on the…