Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

The Death Penalty Information Center has released its annual report on the status of capital punishment in the U.S. at the end of 2005. The report notes a dramatic drop in death sentences to the lowest level in 30 years. The year showed an increasing reliance on the sentence of life-without-parole as an alternative to the death penalty. New York’s legislature refused to restore the death penalty after its statute was declared unconstitutional, leaving life without parole as the punishment for…

A new book by Professor Austin Sarat (pictured) focuses on clemency’s role in the U.S. criminal justice system: “Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop an Execution.” According to U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, “This thoughtful book should be read by every citizen who cares about the issue, and by every governor and president entrusted with the power to punish or pardon.” In “Mercy on Trial,” Sarat reviews the complexities of clemency and examines issues such as rehabilitation. (Princeton…

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is expanding its Capital Punishment Project to include litigation in addition to its already established public education efforts. The expanded program will be led by John Holdridge, who has been named the Capital Punishment Project’s new director. “John Holdridge is one of the nation’s premier death penalty litigators. He has fought the death penalty in courtrooms around the country for more than a decade and now brings that expertise and commitment to…

Though the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit assumes that Texas death row inmate Marvin Lee Wilson is mentally retarded, it ruled that he cannot raise the issue in federal court because his defense attorney missed a filing deadline. The U.S. Supreme Court has banned the execution of those with mental retardation, but the Fifth Circuit stated that “however harsh the result may be” their hands are tied by deadlines established in the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act.

In a recent op-ed, former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening criticized the “troubling” racial and geographic disparities that plague the state’s death penalty. Glendening, who served as Governor from 1995 to 2003, commissioned a study of Maryland’s death penalty during his time in office and implemented a moratorium on executions during his second term to allow time for action to be taken to prevent these on-going problems. He wrote: In the eight years I served as governor of Maryland, I…

Members of the New Jersey Senate have overwhelmingly passed a bill that would suspend executions in the state and create a new death penalty study commission to examine New Jersey’s death penalty. The bill, S‑709, passed by a vote of 30 – 6 and now moves to the New Jersey Assembly for consideration in January. Should the bill become law, New Jersey would become the first state in the country to legislatively impose a moratorium on the death penalty. The bill would require the formation of a death…

The latest edition of Death Row USA from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is now available. The report reveals that the number of people on death rows across the country dropped by almost 90 inmates from one year ago. There were 3,471 inmates on death row as of October 1, 2004. In 2005, the death row population had shrunk to 3,383. California’s death row remains the largest in the country with 648 people, followed by Texas (414), Florida (388), and Pennsylvania (233). The report…

The release of two Virginia men who were exonerated after the state conducted new DNA testing on evidence from 31 cases has prompted Governor Mark Warner (pictured) to call for a more sweeping review of the state’s stored biological evidence. Warner has ordered 660 boxes containing thousands of files from 1973 through 1988 to be examined for cases that can be retested using the latest DNA technology. “I believe a look back at these retained case files is the only morally acceptable course, and…

A recent Newsweek article notes that a growing number of jurors in capital murder cases are voicing their concerns about the accuracy and fairness of the justice system. Some of these jurors have petitioned the legal authorities to correct injustices regarding possibly innocent or incorrectly sentenced inmates. “I felt like I was pushed into making the decision of the 10 other jurors. I didn’t feel comfortable with it, but I didn’t know my rights as a juror,” said Sylvia Coeburn, one of the…

During a recent meeting of the European Union’s full assembly, European Parliament president Josep Borrell called on the 76 countries around the world that continue to retain the death penalty to discontinue use of capital punishment. He noted that the United States is the only democratic state that makes “widespread use” of the death penalty and that the European Union has a duty to convince Americans to end the practice. “Most unfortunately, in the U.S. the 1000^th execution was carried out.