Publications & Testimony
Items: 1581 — 1590
Jun 07, 2019
STUDIES: Death-Penalty Trials Contribute to Higher Taxes and Increased Property Crime in Texas
A study of tax rates and crime rates in Texas counties has found that death-penalty trials contribute to higher property tax rates and increased rates of property crime. Alex Lundberg (pictured), an assistant professor of Economics at West Virginia University, analyzed budgetary and crime rate data from Texas counties and found that counties responded to the high cost burden of capital trials by raising property taxes and reducing public…
Read MoreJun 06, 2019
Bipartisan Effort to Repeal Death Penalty Growing in Pennsylvania
One year after a state task force issued a report calling Pennsylvania’s death penalty seriously flawed and in need of major reform, bipartisan opposition to capital punishment is surfacing in the Commonwealth’s legislature. A group of legislators, led by Lebanon County Republican State Rep. Frank Ryan (pictured, left) and Philadelphia Democrat Chris Rabb (pictured, right), have prepared legislation to repeal Pennsylvania’s death penalty and are circulating the proposal for…
Read MoreJun 06, 2019
Welcome to DPI’s Website
Welcome to the Death Penalty Information Center’s…
Read MoreJun 05, 2019
BOOKS: “Grace Will Lead Us Home” Explores the Aftermath of Charleston Shooting
Four years after the racially motivated murders of nine African-American parishioners at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015, a new book by Charleston Post and Courier reporter Jennifer Berry Hawes explores the aftermath of the killings and the extraordinary narrative of grace and forgiveness it produced. As a reporter for the Post and Courier, Hawes covered…
Read MoreJun 04, 2019
Alabama Woman Impregnated While in County Jail Awaiting Death-Penalty Trial
An Alabama woman who may have been raped by guards has given birth after being impregnated in the Coosa County jail while awaiting trial on capital murder charges. LaToni Daniel (pictured), an honorably discharged Army National Guard veteran who has been in pretrial custody without bail for more than seventeen months, had been prescribed sedatives in the prison for a supposed seizure disorder, and the medication prolonged her sleep. She first…
Read MoreJun 03, 2019
Ten Years After Landmark Study, Junk Science Still Pervasive in Death-Penalty Cases
In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a landmark report titled Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward, in which it raised significant questions about the validity of every forensic science discipline except DNA analysis. The report concluded, “no forensic method has been rigorously shown to have the capacity to consistently, and with a high degree of certainty, demonstrate a connection between evidence and a specific individual or source.” In a…
Read MoreMay 31, 2019
Citing Conflict With Florida Death-Penalty Ruling, Aramis Ayala Will Not Seek Re-Election As State Attorney
Aramis Ayala (pictured), the first African American elected as a state attorney in Florida, will not seek re-election as Orange-Osceola County State Attorney. Citing conflicts with the Florida Supreme Court’s pronouncements on capital prosecutions, Ayala announced in a Facebook video on May 28, 2019 that she would not pursue a second term as state attorney. “It’s time for me to move forward and to continue the pursuit of justice in a…
Read MoreMay 31, 2019
Outcomes of Death Warrants in 2019
Executions and Stays 2019(Last updated December 11, 2019)65 execution dates have been scheduled by 11 states and the Federal Government for 2019.To date, there have been 22 executions in 7 states.24 executions have been stayed.0 executions have been halted by commutation.13 executions have been halted by reprieve.3 executions were rendered moot when the prisoners died on death row.3 warrants have been withdrawn.0 death warrants are…
Read MoreMay 30, 2019
New Hampshire Becomes 21st State to Abolish Death Penalty
Overriding a veto by Governor Chris Sununu, the New Hampshire legislature has repealed the state’s death-penalty statute. With a 16 – 8 supermajority, the May 30, 2019 vote of the New Hampshire Senate equaled the two-thirds required to override a gubernatorial veto. One week earlier, the state House had voted to override with a 247 – 123 supermajority. The override vote made New Hampshire the 21st state to abolish capital punishment and the ninth to do so in the last 15 years.
Read MoreMay 29, 2019
Philadelphia Death-Row Exoneree Harold Wilson Dies at 61
Harold Wilson, exonerated in 2005 sixteen years after his wrongful conviction and death sentence for a triple murder in a Philadelphia crack house, has died. He had recently suffered a series of strokes that were further complicated by pneumonia. His risk of stroke and the complications that followed had been worsened by the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder he developed as a result of the 17 years he faced the death penalty, most spent in solitary confinement on…
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