Publications & Testimony
Testimony and Statements on the Death Penalty
FROM DPIC
For testimony by former Executive Director Robert Dunham and former Executive Director Richard C. Dieter, please visit our page DPIC Testimony.
FROM RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND ORGANIZATIONS
- News Brief: Pope Francis Calls for Prayer to Abolish the Death Penalty (September 1, 2022)
- Jewish Congregation Renews Request for Department of Justice to Drop Death Penalty in Tree of Life Synagogue Killings (June 24, 2021)
- Orthodox Church Patriarch Calls Death Penalty Incompatible with Christian Beliefs (October 20, 2020)
- Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — Statement on the Federal Death Penalty (August 5, 2019)
- Louisiana Christian Faith Leaders Call for State to Abolish Death Penalty (April 25, 2019)
- Pittsburgh Rabbi’s Wife Opposes Death Penalty for Tree of Life Synagogue Killings (March 18, 2019)
- Orthodox Jewish Organization Calls for an End to Capital Punishment in the U.S. | Death Penalty Information Center (February 17, 2016)
- Baptist Theologian Says Death Penalty Does Not Fit With Christian Theology (March 8, 2016)
- Civil and Human Rights: Death Penalty — Church & Society, The United Methodist Church
- Religious Views: Over 150 Catholic Theologians Call for Repeal of the Death Penalty (September 27, 2011)
- Power Over Life and Death — The Power to Save a Life (January 15, 2005)
- Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice (November 2000)
- The Challenge of Holiness: A Sermon on the Death Penalty (January 10, 2000)
- General Assembly of the Texas Conference of Churches — Resolution Opposing the Death Penalty (February 24, 1998)
- Statement by Catholic Bishops of Texas on Capital Punishment (October 20, 1997)
- Catholic Church Expresses Strong Opposition to Capital Punishment in Catechism (September 9, 1997)
- Catholic Bishops of Iowa Issue Statement on Death Penalty (February 4, 1998)
- To End the Death Penalty: A Report of the National Jewish/Catholic Consultation
- Transcript of Dr. Pat Robertson’s Speech on the Role of Religion and the Death Penalty at The College of William and Mary
- Collection of Official Catholic Statements on the Death Penalty (1980)
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
- UN experts call for universal abolition of the death penalty | OHCHR (October 9, 2023)
- Zambia Becomes 25th Sub-Saharan African Nation to Abolish Death Penalty (December 23, 2022)
- Belgium Wants a World Without the Death Penalty (October 20, 2022)
- As France Prepares to Assume Presidency of European Union, Emmanuel Macron Announces Initiative for Worldwide Abolition of Death Penalty (October 11, 2021)
- U.N. Secretary-General, European Union Ambassador Call for Abolition of “Barbaric” Death Penalty (October 11, 2017)
- European Union Calls for Abolition of Capital Punishment as World Coalition Hosts International Death Penalty Conference (June 27, 2017)
- U.N. Investigator Talks About the Future of Solitary and the Death Penalty (November 7, 2016)
- World Congress Against the Death Penalty Renews Call for Global Moratorium, Pope Sends Message of Support (June 27, 2016)
- Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the 400th execution in Texas from the Council of the European Union (August 21, 2007)
- Resolution Supporting Worldwide Moratorium on Executions from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (April 1999)
- Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights — Message to the Press Conference organized by the Death Penalty Information Center for the release of the report, “International Perspectives on the Death Penalty” (October 12, 1999)
- Status of the International Covenants on Human Rights from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (April 1998)
FROM ADVOCACY GROUPS
- Advocacy Group Tells Supreme Court that Negative Stereotypes Distort Perception that Latinos in Death-Penalty Cases Pose Future Danger to Society (April 15, 2022)
- Disability Rights Groups, Legal Experts, and Conservative Advocates Urge Supreme Court to Strike Down Georgia’s Uniquely Harsh Proof Requirements in Death-Penalty Intellectual Disabilities Cases (January 11, 2022)
- NAACP Reaffirms Its Support of Abolishing the Death Penalty (2022)
- More Than 80 Civil Rights and Advocacy Organizations Urge President Biden to End Federal Executions | Death Penalty Information Center (February 9, 2021)
- More Than 250 Conservative Leaders Join Call to End Death Penalty (October 29, 2019)
- National Alliance on Mental Illness: The Death Penalty
- Florida League of Women Voters Calls for Halt to Executions (May 28, 2007)
- Victims Organizations Issue Joint Statement for National Victims’ Rights Week (April 19, 2007)
FROM JUDGES, LEGISLATORS, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
- Republican-led Oklahoma committee considers pause on executions amid death case scrutiny (October 5, 2023)
- Former Pro-Death Penalty District Attorney Explains Why He Now Supports Abolition, and Fears Political Promises to Expand the Use of the Death Penalty (August 20, 2023)
- Pressley, Durbin Reintroduce Bill to End the Federal Death Penalty (July 13, 2023)
- The Lancet Editorial: Physician Involvement in Executions Violates Medical Ethics | Death Penalty Information Center (May 20, 2023)
- APA calls for extending ineligibility for the death penalty to adolescent offenders younger than age 21 (August 4, 2022)
- Why some Republicans are turning against the death penalty | Ron Ferguson | Ohio House of Representatives (March 8, 2022)
- Eight years on Texas’ highest criminal court turned Elsa Alcala into a death penalty skeptic. How will the court change without her? (January 26, 2019)
- AMA to Supreme Court: Doctor participation in executions unethical (August 22, 2018)
- Former Governor Bill Richardson: Death Penalty Is Bad for Business, Out of Step With World’s Views (June 16, 2017)
- Capital Punishment and Nurses’ Participation in Capital Punishment (2016)
- Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro Says Death Penalty Unfixable, “Not Worth It Any More” (September 12, 2016)
- Resolution Supporting Repeal of the Death Penalty, National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (August 11, 2016)
- Retired Police Captain Says Repealing Death Penalty Is “Smart on Crime” (November 24, 2014)
- Resolution Supporting Abolition of the Death Penalty, Natl. Assoc. of Black Psychologists (2012)
- The Road to Justice and Peace by New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak (February 1, 2009)
- Statement On The Federal Death Penalty System by Senator Feingold (June 7, 2001)
- Statement on the Need for a Federal Moratorium on the Death Penalty Senator Feingold (October 29, 2000)
- Death Penalty: The Torah and Today (August 23, 2000)
- Press Release for Senator Russ Feingold’s Introduction of Senate’s First Death Penalty Moratorium Bill (April 20, 2000)
- Amnesty International Southern Regional Conference: Orlando, Florida Remarks by Former Florida Chief Justice Gerald Kogan (October 23, 1999)
- American Bar Association Resolution on the Death Penalty (February 3, 1997)
FROM MURDER VICTIMS’ FAMILY MEMBERS
Items: 131 — 140
Feb 13, 2026
What to Know: Women and the Death Penalty
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on specific aspects of the death penalty. Why it matters: Although women represent just 2% of death-sentenced prisoners, they have unique issues and have often faced gender biases at every stage of their prosecution. Fewer than 50 women are sentenced to death in the United States (October 2025). Women represent about 2% of individuals currently…
Read MoreFeb 12, 2026
Federal Judge Rebukes DOJ and Blocks Transfer of Former Federally Death-Sentenced Prisoners to Supermax Prison
In an order dated February 11, 2026, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the federal government from transferring many former federally death-sentenced prisoners to the notorious Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado, known as “ADX.” Judge Kelly found it “likely” that the government violated the prisoners’ Fifth Amendment due process rights when it deprived them of a “meaningful opportunity to challenge” their transfer…
Read MoreFeb 10, 2026
Federal Government Says It Will Transfer Former Federal Death-Sentenced Prisoners to Supermax Prison Within Weeks
The federal government says it plans to transfer “almost all” former federal death row prisoners whose sentences were commuted by President Biden to the nation’s most notorious and restrictive prison within the next several weeks, according to a court filing dated February 4, 2026. In a two-page notice filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department informed Judge Timothy J. Kelly that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) intends to move the prisoners from the…
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Feb 09, 2026
Football, Death Row, and Hypnotized Witness Testimony: The Case of Charles Flores
Among the more than 100 million Americans watching the Super Bowl on Sunday, Charles Flores (pictured) watched from a 9‑by-12-foot cell in Livingston, Texas, marking his 27th Super Bowl on death row for a crime he has maintained he did not commit. In a podcast interview with Pablo Torre, a journalist and sportswriter, Mr. Flores sat down at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston to discuss his love of the Dallas Cowboys, watching the Super Bowl on death row, the intricacies of his fight to prove his…
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Feb 05, 2026
New Analysis: Why the Death Penalty is Off the Table for Luigi Mangione
On January 30, a federal judge ruled that Luigi Mangione cannot face the death penalty in his upcoming trial for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. She dismissed two counts from his federal indictment, one of which carried the death penalty as a potential sentence. Described by The New York Times as “a significant blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to revive the use of the death penalty in federal cases,” this decision invalidates a capital prosecution that data and…
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Feb 04, 2026
Bipartisan Support Defeats Indiana House Bill to Add Firing Squad as Execution Method
A bipartisan group of 19 Republicans and 28 Democrats narrowly defeated a measure to add the firing squad as an execution method in an Indiana House floor vote on January 28, 2026. HB 1119 received 48 in favor and 47 against, falling three votes short of passage, with two legislators not voting and three absent. Although the measure could have been brought for a second vote before February 2, it was not. A similar Senate bill (SB 11) to add the firing squad stalled in committee and is also…
Read MoreFeb 03, 2026
Restrictions on Spiritual Advisers in Execution Chambers Persist Despite Supreme Court Ruling
When Lance Shockley was executed in Missouri in October 2025, he requested the presence of his daughter, an ordained minister, in the execution chamber as his spiritual adviser. The Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) denied his request, and Mr. Shockley was executed. His case represents one example of how states have applied the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Ramirez v. Collier, a decision that acknowledged the religious rights of death-sentenced prisoners at the time of their…
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Feb 02, 2026
Victim’s Daughter and Former Juror Oppose Execution of Alabama Man Who Officials Acknowledges Did Not Pull the Trigger
Two women intimately connected to a 1991 murder case in Alabama have publicly opposed the intended execution of Charles “Sonny” Burton, a man both the state and his attorneys acknowledge did not fire the fatal shot. Priscilla Townsend, who served on the jury that sentenced Mr. Burton to death, and Tori Battle, whose father Doug Battle was killed during the robbery in question, have each written op-eds urging Governor Kay Ivey to grant clemency. On January 22, 2026, the Alabama Supreme Court…
Read MoreJan 30, 2026
DPI Podcast 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context: Fair and Just Prosecution’s Aramis Ayala on the Death Penalty, Prosecutorial Discretion, and Conviction Integrity
In the January 2026 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Aramis Ayala, Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution. Ms. Ayala made history in 2016 as Florida’s first Black state attorney and later became the first Black woman in Florida to be nominated for state attorney general by a major party. In the podcast, she discusses her decision to not seek the death penalty, the reaction to her decision, and the evolving role of…
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Jan 28, 2026
LDF Amicus Brief Challenges Racialized “Warrior Gene” in Capital Case
On January 20, 2026, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Amos Wells, a Black man in Texas who was sentenced to death in 2016 after a trial marked by racial bias and harmful stereotypes. The brief urges the Court to grant certiorari to address the continuing harm caused by the false stereotype that Black men are inherently violent. Central to Mr. Wells’ death sentence at trial was testimony about monoamine oxidase A (MAOA), often…
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