Policy Issues

Representation

Defendants are much less likely to be sentenced to death when they are represented by qualified lawyers who are provided sufficient time and resources to present a strong defense.

DPI Podcast: Discussions With DPI

DPI Podcast: Discussions With DPI

Lawyers for the Condemned

ABA Guidelines and Standards for Capital Representation

ABA Guidelines and Standards for Capital Representation

American Bar Association's recommended standards for counsel in capital cases

Overview

The qual­i­ty of rep­re­sen­ta­tion a defen­dant receives in a cap­i­tal case can make the dif­fer­ence between life and death. Almost all defen­dants can­not afford to pay for a lawyer, and states dif­fer wide­ly on the stan­dards — if any — for death penal­ty rep­re­sen­ta­tion. Accounts of lawyers sleep­ing or drink­ing alco­hol dur­ing the tri­al, lawyers with racial bias toward their client, lawyers who con­duct no inves­ti­ga­tion or fail to obtain nec­es­sary experts, or lawyers sim­ply hav­ing no expe­ri­ence with cap­i­tal cas­es have been ram­pant through­out the his­to­ry of the death penalty.

The right to an attor­ney is a hall­mark of the American judi­cial sys­tem. It is essen­tial that the lawyer be expe­ri­enced in cap­i­tal cas­es, be ade­quate­ly com­pen­sat­ed, and have access to the resources need­ed to ful­fill his or her oblig­a­tions to the client and the court.

As abus­es in the sys­tem have been exposed, most states have raised the stan­dards for rep­re­sen­ta­tion. However, most death-penal­ty states do not have statewide cap­i­tal defense orga­ni­za­tions, and many coun­ties who are respon­si­ble for assign­ing and com­pen­sat­ing lawyers have small bud­gets and can­not afford the kind of rep­re­sen­ta­tion a cap­i­tal case requires.

At Issue

Despite the poor qual­i­ty of rep­re­sen­ta­tion in many cap­i­tal cas­es, courts have often upheld the con­vic­tions and death sen­tences imposed because of low expec­ta­tions and the belief that bet­ter rep­re­sen­ta­tion would not have made a dif­fer­ence in the case. Where high­er qual­i­ty coun­sel and ade­quate resources have been pro­vid­ed, death sen­tences have declined dramatically.

What DPIC Offers

DPI has high­light­ed the key court deci­sions in this area, as well as the numer­ous instances in which the sys­tem has failed. A num­ber of DPI’s reports dis­cuss the impor­tance of qual­i­ty rep­re­sen­ta­tion. The stan­dards for rep­re­sen­ta­tion approved by the American Bar Association, along with the sta­tus of state com­pli­ance, are also available.

News & Developments


News

Oct 30, 2024

New Resource: Database of Capital Appeals Dismissed Solely Because of Missed Deadlines

The Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to share a pow­er­ful new resource illus­trat­ing the dire con­se­quences of inad­e­quate legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion in cap­i­tal cas­es: a data­base of cas­es that were dis­missed because they were not filed by the statu­to­ry dead­line. The list of cas­es, devel­oped by Professor Eric M. Freedman (pic­tured) and law stu­dent Paul Sessa of Hofstra University School of Law, will be updat­ed by DPI going for­ward. Mr. Sessa and Professor Freedman found that from 1996 to…

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News

Oct 15, 2024

Joseph Giarratano, Former Death Row Prisoner and Prison Reform Advocate, Has Died

Joseph Giarratano (pic­tured, cen­ter) died on October 6, 2024. He had spent near­ly forty years in prison, many of them on death row, for a crime he main­tained he did not com­mit. During his time behind bars, he sought to improve prison con­di­tions and secure access to attor­neys. After being paroled in 2017, he worked at the University of Virginia’s Innocence Project, con­tin­u­ing his work to assist incarcerated…

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News

Jun 13, 2024

By Reversing Grants of Relief, Supreme Court Signals Lower Courts to Apply Stricter Approach to Review of Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims

In the past two weeks, the Supreme Court over­turned grants of relief for two death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers. In both cas­es, low­er courts had found they received inef­fec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel at tri­al. The Court’s rul­ings are in line with its oth­er deci­sions in death penal­ty cas­es restrict­ing appeals for death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers and extolling the impor­tance of final­i­ty” over merits-based…

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News

Mar 07, 2024

Georgia Sets March 20 Execution Date for Willie Pye Despite Strong Evidence of Intellectual Disability and Previous Finding of Ineffective Representation by Attorney with History of Racial Bias

The Georgia Attorney General has announced that Willie James Pye, who pre­vi­ous­ly had his death sen­tence reversed due to his attorney’s fail­ure to inves­ti­gate his back­ground, only to see the death sen­tence rein­stat­ed on appeal, is set to be exe­cut­ed on March 20. Mr. Pye’s court-appoint­ed tri­al attor­ney, Johnny Mostiler, has been accused of inef­fec­tive rep­re­sen­ta­tion or racial bias in at least four cas­es involv­ing Black defen­dants and report­ed­ly called one of his own clients a lit­tle n****r.”…

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News

Sep 19, 2023

ABA Death Penalty Representation Project Honors Longtime Capital Defender Mark Olive and Volunteer Law Firm Venable LLP

On September 14th, 2023, the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Representation Project held its annu­al Volunteer Recognition & Awards Program, hon­or­ing Venable LLP for its pro bono rep­re­sen­ta­tion of death row pris­on­ers, and cap­i­tal defense attor­ney and Florida State University College of Law pro­fes­sor Mark E. Olive, for his life­time com­mit­ment to pro­vid­ing those on death row with qual­i­ty rep­re­sen­ta­tion. Director of the ABA’s Death Penalty Representation Project Emily Olson-Gault…

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