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 pure, simple…

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 for…

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 abolition was…

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 by the ABA Death…

Florida Commission Recommends Changes to Lethal Injection Process MARYLAND GOVERNORS CALL FOR ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley Notwithstanding the executions of the rightly convicted, can the death penalty ever be justified as public policy when it inherently necessitates the occasional taking of wrongly convicted, innocent life? In Maryland, since 1978, we have executed five people and set one convicted man free when his innocence was discovered. Are any of us…

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 wrote: As a former prosecutor I believe I understand the emotion involved in a murder case. I have seen firsthand the rage and fury and grief that families of murder victims express. The pain is indescribable. But I have never…

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 no rich people…