Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

Lawyers for James Frazier (pic­tured), Ohio​’s old­est death-row pris­on­er, have filed a motion to pre­vent his exe­cu­tion, argu­ing that he has severe vas­cu­lar demen­tia that has ren­dered him unable to understand his…

Citing the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has grant­ed a tem­po­rary reprieve to death-row pris­on­er Pervis Payne, halt­ing his sched­uled December 3, 2020 exe­cu­tion. The exe­cu­tion was the last sched­uled by any state in 2020, assur­ing that states will car­ry out few­er exe­cu­tions in 2020 than in any oth­er year since…

The Death Penalty Information Center is part­ner­ing with the Veteran Advocacy Project to present a six-part webi­nar series on Veterans and the Death Penalty. The webi­na­rs, which are co-spon­­sored by Advancing Real Change, Inc. and Witness to Innocence, will address a broad range of seri­ous issues that have made vet­er­ans dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly vul­ner­a­ble to cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion. The series opens Monday, November 9, the week the nation com­mem­o­rates Veterans Day 2020, with a ses­sion on Veterans on…

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ​“shad­ow dock­et” is hav­ing a grow­ing and dis­pro­por­tion­ate impact on the Court’s res­o­lu­tion of con­tro­ver­sial social issues, with some of its most pro­found effects being felt in death penalty…

Reform pros­e­cu­tors made fur­ther inroads in the American legal sys­tem in the November 2020 gen­er­al elec­tion, unseat­ing pros­e­cu­tors in sev­er­al of the most pro­lif­ic death-sen­­tenc­ing coun­ties in the United States and cap­tur­ing open seats in major Texas and Florida coun­ties, but falling short in sev­er­al oth­er high profile…

A three-judge pan­el in Madison County, Ohio has acquit­ted a man pros­e­cu­tors charged with cap­i­tal mur­der for alleged­ly set­ting his car on fire to burn down his house with his wife and children…

In a con­tin­u­ing diminu­tion of pro­ce­dur­al safe­guards in cap­i­tal cas­es, the Florida Supreme Court has end­ed its long-stand­ing prac­tice of inde­pen­dent­ly review­ing death penal­ty cas­es on appeal to ensure that they are not dis­pro­por­tion­ate to sen­tences imposed in similar…

To rein in the social and eco­nom­ic costs caused by the over­ly aggres­sive use of the death penal­ty by pros­e­cu­tors, a California legal schol­ar is propos­ing a plan he believes will reduce mis­car­riages of jus­tice and increase prosecutorial…

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia con­tin­ues to use the death penal­ty against peo­ple accused of crimes com­mit­ted as juve­niles, despite a roy­al decree claim­ing to ban that prac­tice, human rights orga­ni­za­tions and defense lawyers have…

Calling California cap­i­tal sentencing proceedings ​“infect­ed by racism,” Governor Gavin Newsom (pic­tured) has filed a brief in the California Supreme Court sup­port­ing a death-row prisoner’s claim that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment as cur­rent­ly prac­ticed in the state vio­lates the California penal code and the state…