Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

Reggie Wilkinson, who wit­nessed 19 exe­cu­tions dur­ing his 33 years with the Ohio Department of Corrections, recent­ly stat­ed that he would like to see exe­cu­tions end­ed in the state. Wilkinson, who served for 15 years as Director of the Department of Corrections and advo­cat­ed for aban­don­ing the state’s elec­tric chair and replac­ing it with lethal injec­tion, noted, ​“I would not oppose the abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty. The United States is the only industrialized…

In a recent Dallas Morning News edi­to­r­i­al, the paper not­ed the incon­gruity between the state apol­o­giz­ing to a prison inmate who was freed fol­low­ing DNA test­ing, and its aggres­sive pur­suit of irrev­o­ca­ble exe­cu­tions. The paper stat­ed that​“human error is an inher­ent part” of the jus­tice sys­tem and called on leg­is­la­tors to enact a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions until the state can review the accu­ra­cy and fair­ness of its capital…

Corrections: A Contemporary Introduction is a new aca­d­e­m­ic text being released by Allyn & Bacon pub­lish­ers. Authored by Leanne F. Alarid of the University of Texas and Philip L. Reichel of the University of Northern Colorado, this resource offers a thor­ough exam­i­na­tion of all aspects of the cor­rec­tions area in a graph­i­cal­ly rich for­mat. It offers students the…

Members of the North Carolina House Select Committee on Capital Punishment heard repeat­ed calls for a halt to exe­cu­tions in the state dur­ing a recent hear­ing attend­ed by vic­tims’ fam­i­ly mem­bers, reli­gious lead­ers, and oth­er cit­i­zens. Among those tes­ti­fy­ing at the hear­ing was Shirley Burns, the moth­er of a son who is await­ing exe­cu­tion at the end the January and a sec­ond son who was mur­dered in April 2006.​“How many have had to sit on both sides of the table? I had to…

A recent poll admin­is­tered by the Center for Survey Research at Penn State Harrisburg revealed that more Pennsylvanians pre­fer a life sen­tence over the death penal­ty for those con­vict­ed of mur­der. The poll found that only 42.9% of respon­dents chose the death penal­ty when also giv­en the sen­tenc­ing options of life with parole and life with­out parole. A total of 45% of respon­dents chose either life-with­­­out-parole (35.5%) or the sen­tence of life-with-parole (9.6%). Larry Frankel,…

Victims’ advo­cates and pros­e­cu­tors are urg­ing Texas leg­is­la­tors to exclude the death penal­ty from new leg­is­la­tion designed to tough­en penal­ties for repeat child moles­ters. Those opposed to the mea­sure fear that threat­en­ing death sen­tences for sex offend­ers could lead to few­er report­ed cas­es of sex crimes and might even give incen­tive to offend­ers to kill their vic­tims to pre­vent the child from tes­ti­fy­ing in court. Annette Burrhus-Clay, exec­u­tive director of…

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on January 5 to hear anoth­er death penal­ty case from Texas, this one involv­ing a defen­dant who may be men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent. In 1986, the Supreme Court held that it is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al to exe­cute an inmate who is present­ly insane. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5^th Circuit ruled that Scott Panetti, who was allowed to defend him­self in his Texas tri­al despite his schiz­o­phre­nia and 14 stints in men­tal hos­pi­tals, and who says the devil…

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.