Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

An edi­to­r­i­al pub­lished by the Lexington Herald-Leader not­ed that sup­port for Kentucky’s death penal­ty has declined since the state resumed exe­cu­tions a decade ago. The paper stat­ed that 68% of state res­i­dents ques­tioned in a recent poll pre­ferred a long prison sen­tence over exe­cu­tion for those con­vict­ed of mur­der. The Herald-Leader con­clud­ed that Kentuckians’ grow­ing unease about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is reflec­tive of a broad­er nation­al trend away from the death…

Professor Matthew Robinson of Applachian State University has writ­ten a new book enti­tled Death Nation: The Experts Explain American Capital Punishment. This book pro­vides a sol­id yet brief back­ground on the major issues per­tain­ing to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the United States. It cov­ers top­ics such as the his­to­ry of the death penal­ty in America, American death penal­ty law, jus­ti­fi­ca­tions for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, as well as alleged prob­lems with its prac­tice. The…

The report from the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission that called for an end to the state’s death penal­ty was pre­pared by a group of indi­vid­u­als rep­re­sent­ing a wide vari­ety of view­points and expe­ri­ence. The mem­bers of the Commission were:Governor Jon S.

EXECUTION REPRIEVES Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio grant­ed tem­po­rary reprieves to three inmates sched­uled for exe­cu­tion in the next 5 weeks in order to allow more time to con­sid­er whether clemen­cy should be grant­ed: Kenneth Biros, James Filiaggi, and Christopher Newton. (Jan. 19, 2007). See…

After exten­sive pub­lic hear­ings, the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission issued a report on January 2 call­ing for an end to the state’s death penal­ty and replac­ing it with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. The 13-mem­ber Commission was appoint­ed by the state leg­is­la­ture, which also placed a mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions until a report was pre­pared. The report cit­ed the risks of exe­cut­ing the inno­cent, the high costs of the death penal­ty, and soci­ety’s…

One of the first inmates sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed in 2007 is Ronald Chambers, who has been on death row since Gerald Ford was President, and longer than any oth­er inmate in Texas. He is fac­ing exe­cu­tion on January 25, thir­­­ty-one years after he was first sen­tenced to death for mur­der. His co-defen­­­dant in the crime, Clarence Ray Williams, plead­ed guilty and is serv­ing two life sen­tences. Chambers’ con­vic­tion was over­turned twice since 1976, includ­ing once on the…

As 2006 draws to a close, most exe­cu­tions in ten states are effec­tive­ly on hold as aspects of their cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment laws are exam­ined. Two states, Illinois and New Jersey, have a for­mal mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions while the via­bil­i­ty of the death penal­ty is con­sid­ered. In eight oth­er states, almost all exe­cu­tions are being stayed as the states grap­ple with the lethal injec­tion issue. Those states are Arkansas, California, Delaware,…

In his final arti­cle for 2006, colum­nist Richard Cohen chose to high­light the​“mad­ness of the death penal­ty” and to draw atten­tion to the exe­cu­tion of those with men­tal ill­ness. Cohen used the case of Gregory Thompson, a severe­ly men­tal­ly ill Tennessee death row inmate, to illus­trate some of the broad­er prob­lems with the death penal­ty. Thompson is delu­sion­al, para­noid, schiz­o­phrenic, and depressed. He takes 12 pills every day and receives twice-monthly anti-psychotic…

The lat­est edi­tion of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s​“Death Row, USA” reports that the num­ber of peo­ple on death row in the United States has con­tin­ued to decline, falling to 3,344 as of October 1, 2006. The size of death row has been declin­ing since 2000 after 25 years of steady increas­es. For the first time in many years, Florida (398) sur­passed Texas (392) in the size of its deathrow. California (657) con­tin­ued to have the…

Following an announce­ment that pros­e­cu­tors would not seek the death penal­ty for Naveed Haq, who is accused of killing one woman and wound­ing five oth­ers at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, two of Haq’s vic­tims said they sup­port­ed the deci­sion to seek a life sen­tence.​“The death penal­ty most like­ly pro­mul­gates fur­ther vio­lence and revenge,” said Cheryl Stumbo, who was wound­ed in the attack. King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng clas­si­fied it as​“one of the most…