Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

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…

MARYLAND GOVERNORS CALL FOR ABOLITION OF…

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…

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…

A new report issued by Amnesty International focus­es on the case of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis to illus­trate the issue of inno­cence and the legal hur­dles that death row inmates face in seek­ing judi­cial relief. The report — ​‘Where is the jus­tice for me?’ The case of Troy Davis, Facing Execution in Georgia — notes that Davis has been on death row for 15 years for a mur­der that he main­tains he did not com­mit. Many of the state’s wit­ness­es against Davis…

Christopher Scott Emmett could face exe­cu­tion in Virginia before the end of the year despite the fact that his legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion fell short of decades-old American Bar Association stan­dards, accord­ing to an inves­ti­ga­tion by McClatchy Newspapers reporter Stephen Henderson. Emmett was sen­tenced to death in 2001, and his sto­ry was among the 73 cas­es reviewed recent­ly in the McClatchy series. During the…

A recent Kansas poll found that near­ly two-thirds of respon­dents said they pre­fer a sen­tence of life in prison with­out parole in which the offend­ers would work in prison to pay resti­tu­tion to the vic­tims’ fam­i­lies as an alter­na­tive to the death penal­ty. The poll also revealed that many Kansans think cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is hand­ed out unfair­ly. Fifty-sev­en per­cent of respon­dents said they believe that some peo­ple are exe­cut­ed while oth­ers serve prison time for…