News & Developments
Arbitrariness
Jul 22, 2021
In Posthumously Released Video, Former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Calls for End to Death Penalty
In a video interview posthumously released on the anniversary of the first modern exoneration of a Florida death-row prisoner, former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald Kogan has called for abolition of th…
Military
Jul 21, 2021
At Odds with Biden Administration’s Concern Over Use of Statements Obtained by Torture, Chief Guantánamo Prosecutor Retires
After clashing with Biden administration officials over the propriety of using statements obtained through torture from Guantánamo detainees, Army Brigadier General Mark S. Martins (pictured), the chief prosecutor…
Arbitrariness
Jul 20, 2021
California Supreme Court Rules that Voter Initiative Does Not Bar Death-Row Prisoners From Filing Additional Appeals Based on Newly Discovered Facts or New Court Decisions
In a unanimous ruling, the California Supreme Court has limited the reach of a controversial voter initiative that was intended to accelerate judicial review of death-penalty cases. In
Innocence
Jul 19, 2021
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Descendants of Ida B. Wells Call for Freedom for Pervis Payne
As the first court hearing on Pervis Payne’s claim that his death sentence must be vacated because of his intellectual disability was about to get underway, prominent civil rights leaders and relatives of a civil rights icon added…
Intellectual Disability
Jul 16, 2021
In Partisan Vote, Supreme Court Summarily Reverses Grant of Penalty-Phase Relief for Alabama Death-Row Prisoner Who May Be Intellectually Disabled
In a ruling rendered along partisan lines without benefit of oral argument, the United States Supreme Court has overturned the decision of a federal appeals court that had vacated the death sentence imposed on an Alabama
Costs
Jul 15, 2021
Hidden Costs: Liability Judgments for Wrongful Capital Prosecutions Cost Taxpayers in Death-Penalty States Hundreds of Millions of Dollars
Studies have consistently found that a system of criminal law in which the death penalty is available as a punishment is far more expensive than a system …
Federal Death Penalty
Jul 14, 2021
One Year Later, Execution Spree Lays Bare Federal Death Penalty’s Systemic Failures
At 3:00 a.m. Central time on July 14, 2020, after his notice of execution had expired, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) strapped Daniel Lewis Lee to an execution gurney in the United States Penitentiary in Terr…
Federal Death Penalty
Jul 13, 2021
Editorial Boards Say Moratorium to Study Execution Practices is Not Enough, Biden Should Commute Federal Death Row
Major U.S. editorial writers have criticized the Biden administration’s June 30, 2021 announcement o…
Upcoming Executions
Jul 12, 2021
Arizona Supreme Court Rejects Prosecution Attempt to Expedite Executions Based of Its Own Error on Shelf Life of Execution Drugs
The Arizona Supreme Court has rejected the efforts of Arizona prosecutors to expedite the executions of two death-row prisoners and further limit appeals judicial review of legal issues in their cases. The Arizona Attorney General…
Innocence
Jul 09, 2021
Anthony Porter, Exoneree Whose Case Spurred Abolition of Death Penalty in Illinois, Has Died
Anthony Porter, an Illinois death-row exoneree whose case sparked a chain of events that ultimately led the state to abolish the death penalty, has died. He was 66 years old. In 1983, Porter was convicted …
