Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

In commemoration of the 20^th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision ending the juvenile death penalty, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) today released a new report: Immature Minds in a “Maturing Society”: Roper v. Simmons at 20, detailing growing support that individuals ages 18, 19, and 20 should receive the same age-appropriate considerations that juveniles now receive in death penalty cases. [T]here is no bright line regarding brain development nor is there…

On April 21, 2025, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis, 88, died following a series of health failures. Pope Francis, the first Roman Catholic pontiff from Latin America, was an outspoken advocate for abolition of the death penalty. In August 2018, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis formally changed the official Catholic Church teaching on the death penalty, calling the practice “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” adding that it is “inadmissible” in all cases.

To commemorate the 20^th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court decision that ended the juvenile death penalty, DPI will release a report examining the legacy of this decision and its implications for emerging adults. This article examines one area of focus in the report: recent state courts decisions that have extended legal protections to emerging adults ages 18 to 20. In 2012, in Miller v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court emphasized that “youth matters” in determining the…

Adam Luck (pictured), the former Chairman of Oklahoma’s Board of Pardons and Parole and former member of the Oklahoma Board of Corrections, is now speaking out against the death penalty in Oklahoma. Explaining his change of heart, Mr. Luck cites to his first-hand experience with flaws in Oklahoma’s capital punishment system, including botched executions, and his deep Christian faith. “Having the unique experience of voting on the life of another human being forced me to consider the…

On March 4, 2025, the Georgia House of Representatives, in a 172 – 0 vote, unanimously passed HB 123, which would provide pretrial hearings for capital defendants to raise intellectual disability claims and would lower the standard of proof for those claims from “beyond a reasonable doubt” to a “preponderance of evidence,” in line with other the other 26 states that still retain the death penalty. The bill was originally introduced by Republican Representative Bill Werkheiser during Georgia’s…

On February 28, 2025, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commuted the death sentence of Robin ‘Rocky’ Dion Myers to Life Without Parole (LWOP). Myers was convicted in the 1991 murder of Ludie Mae Tucker in Decatur, Alabama. His jury recommended that he be sentenced to LWOP, but the judge in his case overrode the jury’s recommendation and handed down a death sentence. The practice of judicial override was abolished in Alabama in 2017. In her statement, Gov. Ivey repeated her belief that “the death…