Entries by Death Penalty Information Center


News 

Sep 052024

Research Roundup: Revisiting David Baldus’s Study to Examine Modern Day Use of the Death Penalty

DPIs new series focus­es on aca­d­e­m­ic research and arti­cles in the field of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. This month’s article is Sacred Victims: Fifty Years of Data on Victim Race and Sex as Predictors of Execution,” in The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, co-authored by Professors Scott Phillips (Department of Sociology & Criminology), Justin Marceau, Sam Kamin, and a J.D. pro­gram alum­na, Nicole King, from the Sturm College of Law at the University of…

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News 

Sep 032024

Articles of Interest: The New York Times Editorial Board Argues United States Does Not Need the Death Penalty”

In an August 31, 2024, edi­to­r­i­al from The New York Times, the newspaper’s edi­to­r­i­al board writes that cap­i­tal punishment is immoral, uncon­sti­tu­tion­al and use­less as a deter­rent to crime,” and asserts that President Joseph Biden should fol­low through with his cam­paign pledge to end the fed­er­al death penal­ty. The Times believes it would be an appro­pri­ate and humane finale to his pres­i­den­cy for Mr. Biden to ful­fill that pledge and try to elim­i­nate the death penal­ty for federal…

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News 

Aug 302024

Articles of Interest: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Editorial Board Argues that Death Penalty Will Not Bring Justice for Leon Katz

In a new edi­to­r­i­al, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette argues that the death penalty is nev­er the jus­tice that is called for” and achieves noth­ing of val­ue except the sat­is­fac­tion of vengeance.” The Post-Gazette describes the death of 6‑week-old Leon Katz in June as an almost unfath­omable” crime and a vio­la­tion of pri­mor­dial inno­cence” — but argues that Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.’s deci­sion to seek the death penal­ty against Nicole Virzi, Leon’s alleged…

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News 

Aug 292024

Death Penalty Census Now Complete Through January 12024

The Death Penalty Information Center has updat­ed its Death Penalty Census data­base to include new death sen­tences, exon­er­a­tions, resen­tences, removals from death row, and oth­er sta­tus changes up to January 1, 2024. DPIs Census is a unique, com­pre­hen­sive col­lec­tion of every death sen­tence imposed since 1972, with infor­ma­tion on the coun­ty and state of pros­e­cu­tion; the year and out­come of each sen­tence; and the name, race, and gen­der of the defen­dant. It con­tains infor­ma­tion on 9,857 death…

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News 

Aug 282024

Closing Arguments in Hasson Bacote’s North Carolina Racial Justice Act Hearing Conclude; Results Could Impact More than 100 People on State’s Death Row

On August 21, 2024, attor­neys pre­sent­ed clos­ing argu­ments in the case of North Carolina v. Hasson Bacote, a land­mark law­suit brought under the state’s Racial Justice Act (RJA), the find­ings of which could impact the sen­tences of more than 100 indi­vid­u­als on North Carolina’s death row. Hasson Bacote, a Black man sen­tenced to death in 2009, first filed a law­suit in 2010, argu­ing that racial bias influ­enced the jury selec­tion in his case and all oth­er death penal­ty cas­es throughout North…

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News 

Aug 262024

South Carolina Supreme Court Sets First Execution Date in More Than 13 Years

On August 23, 2024, the South Carolina Department of Corrections announced that the state supreme court has set a September 20, 2024, exe­cu­tion date for Freddie Owens, which would be the first exe­cu­tion in South Carolina since 2011. Mr. Owens was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1999 for the killing of a con­ve­nience store clerk in Greenville, South Carolina and he was lat­er con­vict­ed in the mur­der of a cell­mate. In a July 31st rul­ing, the South Carolina Supreme Court decid­ed that the…

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News 

Aug 192024

Kansas City Star Op-Ed Describes the Death Penalty as the Ultimate Failed Big-Government Program” and Calls for Abolition

In an August 14, 2024 op-ed in The Kansas City Star, Carolyn McGinn, a Kansas State Senate Republican rep­re­sent­ing District 31, and Kelson Bohnet, a cap­i­tal pub­lic defend­er and board mem­ber for the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty, argue that the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem has failed, empha­siz­ing its cost­li­ness, lack of deter­rent effect, and inher­ent risk of irrepara­ble harm,” and call for abo­li­tion dur­ing the next legislative…

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News 

Aug 162024

Articles of Interest: U.S. Senator, Former U.S. Solicitor General and Victim’s Family Member Express Support for 9/​11 Plea Deals

Theodore B. Olson, for­mer U.S. Solicitor General from 2001 to 2004, who lost his wife in the September 11th ter­ror attacks, says he felt relief upon hear­ing the announce­ment that three of the defen­dants entered into an agree­ment to plead guilty in exchange for removal of the death penal­ty as a sen­tenc­ing option. However, Mr. Olson writes that his relief was short-lived when with­in 48 hours of the announce­ment Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the plea agree­ment. Mr. Olson believes this…

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News 

Aug 152024

Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board Recommends Clemency for Prisoner Scheduled for September Execution

On August 7, 2024, Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board vot­ed 3 – 2 to rec­om­mend clemen­cy for 52-year-old Emmanuel Littlejohn, who is cur­rent­ly sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on September 26. The final deci­sion to grant clemen­cy, reduc­ing Mr. Littlejohn’s death sen­tence to life with­out parole, rests with Governor Kevin Stitt, who has only grant­ed clemen­cy once during his…

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