Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

“Burden of Proof” is a 32-minute doc­u­men­tary detail­ing the need for a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in North Carolina. The video was pre­pared by New Context Video Productions and offers evi­dence to sug­gest that North Carolina’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem is bad­ly bro­ken and in need of a leg­isla­tive review. (June 2003) Watch the…

In a vote that will dra­mat­i­cal­ly change the way mur­der inves­ti­ga­tions are con­duct­ed, the Illinois House has over­whelm­ing­ly approved leg­is­la­tion requir­ing audio-or video­tap­ing of most homi­­cide-relat­ed inter­ro­ga­tions and con­fes­sions. The bill, which unan­i­mous­ly passed the Senate last month, now goes to Governor Rod Blagojevich for sig­na­ture into law. The Governor has vowed to sign the leg­is­la­tion. Attorney Thomas Sullivan, who co-chaired the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment that made…

NEW VOICES: Former FBI Chief Sessions Calls for Innocence Commission in Texas In a recent op-ed, William Sessions called on state leg­is­la­tors in Texas to pass a mea­sure to cre­ate an Innocence Commission. The Commission would exam­ine the Texas crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem in an effort to pro­tect against wrong­ful con­vic­tions. Sessions, a for­mer direc­tor of the FBI and fed­er­al judge, not­ed that numer­ous exon­er­a­tions , recent crime lab scan­dals (see below) in the state, and oth­er troubling events…

As inves­ti­ga­tors con­tin­ue to scru­ti­nize the Houston Crime Lab’s his­to­ry of shod­dy prac­tices and inac­cu­rate test results, includ­ing evi­dence in cap­i­tal cas­es, an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle called for District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal and Houston Police Chief Clarence Bradford to recuse them­selves from the inves­ti­ga­tion to ensure a fair…

Texas leg­is­la­tors have failed to pass laws that could bring the state into com­pli­ance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s rul­ing in Atkins v. Virginia that bans the exe­cu­tion of those with men­tal retar­da­tion. Nearly a year after the Court’s rul­ing in Atkins, Texas offi­cials have no idea how many of the 449 death row inmates have the dis­abil­i­ty, and no safe­guards to ensure that those affect­ed by the rul­ing are not put to death. Most of the leg­isla­tive efforts have focused on identifying defendants…

According to the FBI’s Preliminary Uniform Crime Report for 2002, the mur­der rate in the South increased by 2.1% while the mur­der rate in the Northeast decreased by almost 5%. The South accounts for 82% of all exe­cu­tions since 1976; the Northeast accounts for less than…

“Harmful Error,” a new report released by the The Center for Public Integrity, is the end prod­uct of an exten­sive two-year review of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct around the nation. The report notes that while many local pros­e­cu­tors per­form their dif­fi­cult work admirably, inad­ver­tent and inten­tion­al mis­con­duct still per­me­ates some dis­trict attor­neys’ offices. Among oth­er pieces of valu­able infor­ma­tion con­tained in the report, ​“Harmful Error” doc­u­ments cas­es in which pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al misconduct played…

By a vote of 7 – 2, the U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out the death sen­tence of Maryland death row inmate Kevin Wiggins, rul­ing that his inex­pe­ri­enced attor­neys failed to ade­quate­ly rep­re­sent him at tri­al. Wiggins’ orig­i­nal lawyers made no attempt to inform mem­bers of the jury that sent Wiggins to death row that their client was repeat­ed­ly raped, beat­en and denied food as a child, and that his moth­er burned his hands on the stove as pun­ish­ment. In an opin­ion authored by Justice Sandra Day…