Studies Regarding Capital Representation

ABA State Death Penalty Assessments

Kentucky Assessment on the Death Penalty (2011)

ABA study ana­lyz­ing var­i­ous laws, rules, pro­ce­dures, stan­dards, and guide­lines relat­ing to the admin­is­tra­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in Kentucky.

Tennessee Death Penalty Assessment (2007)

Study by the ABA detail­ing racial and geo­graph­ic dis­par­i­ties in cap­i­tal cas­es, poor­ly trained defense attor­neys, heavy case­loads for those rep­re­sent­ing defedants, and inad­e­quate pro­ce­dures to address innocence claims.

Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment Report (2007)

Study by the American Bar Association (ABA) show­ing that flaws in Pennsylvania’s death penal­ty sys­tem are so per­va­sive that the state risks exe­cut­ing an innocent person.

Indiana Death Penalty Assessment (2007)

Study by the American Bar Association call­ing for a halt to exe­cu­tions in the state because of con­cerns about the arbi­trari­ness of the state’s death penalty.

Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Report (2007)

Study by the American Bar Association stat­ing that Ohio’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem is so flawed that it should be sus­pend­ed while the state con­ducts a thor­ough review of its fair­ness and accuracy.

Georgia Death Penalty Assessment Report (2006)

Study by the American Bar Association Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project found that Georgia’s death penal­ty fails to meet 43 ABA stan­dards for improv­ing the fair­ness and accu­ra­cy of the death penalty.

Alabama Death Penalty Assessment (2006)

Study by the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project found that Alabama’s death penal­ty failed to meet fun­da­men­tal ABA stan­dards of fair­ness and accuracy.

Arizona Death Penalty Assessment (2006)

Study by the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project deter­min­ing that Arizona’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment laws are plagued with serious problems

Other Studies on Death-Penalty Representation

The 2017 Report of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Criminal Justice Act Program (released 2017, updated 2018)

A study about the struc­tures and fund­ing mech­a­nisms gov­ern­ing the pro­vi­sion of indi­gent defense in the federal courts.

Slamming the Courthouse Doors: Denial of Access to Justice and Remedy in America (2011)

A study by the American Civil Liberties Union show­ing that many states severe­ly restrict access to jus­tice for cap­i­tal defen­dants and lim­it the avail­abil­i­ty of reme­dies to correct errors.

In Life and Death, Costly Mistakes (2011)

Study by the Philadelphia Inquirer of death penal­ty appeals in Pennsylvania span­ning three decades, find­ing a pat­tern of inef­fec­tive assis­tance by defense attorneys.

Legal Disparities in the Capital of Capital Punishment (2009)

A study that reveals dis­par­i­ties in who receives the death penal­ty in Texas by Scott Phillips, a pro­fes­sor at the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Denver.

Death Row Injustices (2006)

Study by the Common Sense Foundation of North Carolina find­ing that at least 37 peo­ple on death row had tri­al lawyers who would not have met min­i­mum stan­dards of qual­i­fi­ca­tion at the time of the study.

Minimizing Risk, A Blueprint for Death Penalty Reform in Texas (2005)

Study by the Texas Defender Service call­ing for sub­stan­tial changes in the way Texas han­dles cap­i­tal murder cases.