Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

The French par­lia­ment vot­ed to amend the coun­try’s Constitution to include an explic­it ban on the death penal­ty. In a spe­cial joint ses­sion held at the Palace of Versailles (pic­tured), France’s National Assembly and Senate passed the amend­ment by a vote of 828 – 26. The death penal­ty has been out­lawed in France since 1981, but the recent­ly passed amend­ment offi­cial­ly inscribes the pro­hi­bi­tion into the constitution. ​“We are accom­plish­ing the wish of Victor Hugo in 1848, the…

In ​“Last Words From Death Row: The Walls Unit,” Norma Herrera recounts the tribu­la­tions she and her fam­i­ly suf­fered as they worked to free her broth­er, Leonel, from death row in Texas. The book doc­u­ments court events and press cov­er­age of the case and cap­tures the fam­i­ly’s efforts to assist Leonel pri­or to his exe­cu­tion in 1993, four months after the U.S. Supreme Court held in Herrera v. Collins that, in the absence of oth­er con­sti­tu­tion­al vio­la­tions, new evi­dence of inno­cence is no reason…

The Montana Senate has vot­ed to abol­ish the state’s death penal­ty law. Supporters of the mea­sure not­ed that the death penal­ty does not deter crime, is expen­sive, increas­es the suf­fer­ing of vic­tims’ fam­i­lies who must endure a lengthy manda­to­ry appeals process, and is not applied fair­ly or accurately. ​“It’s not right. You can’t do it fair­ly, you can’t do it with equi­ty, you can’t do it with jus­tice,” said Democratic Senator Steve Gallus. Among the Republican Senators who supported…

The Indiana Death Penalty Assessment Team, under the aus­pices of the American Bar Association, has called for a halt to exe­cu­tions in the state because of con­cerns about the arbi­trari­ness of the state’s death penalty. ​“The seem­ing­ly ran­dom process of charg­ing deci­sions, plea agree­ments, and jury rec­om­men­da­tions is just part of a death penal­ty sys­tem that has apt­ly been called Indiana’s ​‘oth­er lot­tery’,” the group not­ed in its report. The sev­en-mem­ber Indiana pan­el was organized…

MARYLAND GOVERNORS CALL FOR ABOLITION OF DEATH…

Former Connecticut state pros­e­cu­tor and legal ana­lyst Susan Filan recent­ly stat­ed that the death penal­ty is not an appro­pri­ate sen­tence, par­tic­u­lar­ly when the crime appears to be a heinous vio­la­tion of the sanc­ti­ty of life . In her com­men­tary post­ed on MSNBC​.com, Filan…

The New Mexico House of Representatives has approved leg­is­la­tion that would repeal the death penal­ty and replace it with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. Supporters of the mea­sure say that it will save tax­pay­ers an esti­mat­ed $3 mil­lion a year, mon­ey they con­tend would be bet­ter spent on help­ing vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. They also note that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment could result in an inno­cent per­son being exe­cut­ed, does not deter mur­der, and is unfair­ly admin­is­tered in the state. ​“There are…