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: 141 — 150
Jan 27, 2026
Death-Sentenced Prisoner Christa Pike Files Religious Challenge to Tennessee’s Execution Protocol
For updates on the September 30, 2026 failed execution attempt of Christa Pike, please see our full story here. Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, has filed a lawsuit in the Davidson County Chancery Court challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol, asserting it violates her constitutional rights and conflicts with her religious beliefs. The state’s new execution protocol relies solely on pentobarbital to induce respiratory and cardiac arrest, rather than the former…
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Jan 26, 2026
Tennessee Judge Orders Broader Media and Public Access to Executions
On January 16, 2026, Chancellor I’Aesha L. Myles granted a temporary injunction ordering the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) to expand access to executions for public and media witnesses. The order was in response to a suit filed by a media coalition that includes the Associated Press, Gannett Co., Inc., Nashville Public Media, Inc., Nashville Public Radio, Scripps Media, Inc., Six Rivers Media, LLC, and TEGNA Inc.. The TDOC has faced scrutiny in recent years for its failure to…
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Jan 22, 2026
“I Have Been Tricked Out of My Life”: Dallas Man Exonerated 70 Years After Execution
September 30, 1953 was an eventful night for 19-year-old Tommy Lee Walker. After catching a ride home from work at 6 p.m. — he didn’t have a car — he spent a few hours with friends in Exall Park near his home in Dallas. He then visited his girlfriend Mary Louise Smith, who was nine months pregnant. It seemed like the baby would come any minute, and sure enough, Mary Louise went into labor that night. Their son Ted was born in the early hours of October 1. Yet despite the many witnesses who saw Mr.
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Jan 21, 2026
New Autopsy Report Renews Concerns about Arizona’s Execution Protocol
An autopsy of Richard Djerf, who was executed in Arizona in October 2025, has renewed concerns about the state’s lethal injection execution protocol and the state’s efforts to address longstanding execution-related concerns. Mr. Djerf was convicted for the September 1993 murders of four members of the Luna family in Phoenix. The autopsy, conducted by Pinal County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. John Hu, established for the first time that medical personnel encountered significant difficulty…
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Jan 20, 2026
Former South Korean President Faces Possible Death Sentence as a Result of Insurrection Charges
[update: On February 19, 2026, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life.] If convicted, former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a possible death sentence, life imprisonment with labor, or life imprisonment without labor for his failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024. On January 13, 2026, special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk’s team recommended a death sentence for Mr. Yoon in the first insurrection trial of a South Korean head of state…
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Jan 15, 2026
Twenty Years Since Last Execution: California Remains Under Execution Moratorium as Advocates Push for Mass Clemency Grant
On January 17, 2006, California executed Clarence Ray Allen — the last person put to death by the state. Two decades later, California’s death row population has fallen to 580 prisoners, down from its peak near 750 in the mid-2010s. In the time since Mr. Allen’s execution, the death penalty in California has seen sustained scrutiny as concerns with racial discrimination, innocence, and costs continue to grow. Governor Gavin Newsom has placed a moratorium on executions, death-sentenced prisoners…
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Jan 14, 2026
New Analysis of Racial Bias and Death Eligibility in 2025
Justin D. Levinson and Rachel G. Schaefer recently published Flawed Framework, Fatal Discretion: Unraveling Implicit Bias in Capital Punishment Decisions. The article synthesizes multiple studies examining the role of implicit bias among key decisionmakers within the legal system. The authors use this research as evidence of both the historical and ongoing influence of implicit bias on the administration of the death penalty. In 2025, 75% of defendants against whom state prosecutors across…
Read MoreJan 13, 2026
Texas Report Highlights Decline of New Death Sentences and Executions
For decades, Texas performed executions at the highest rate in the country. It has carried out the most executions in the modern era, with nearly five times the number as the next highest state. However, that trend has changed in recent years, as both the number of new death sentences and executions has significantly declined. The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s (TCADP) 2025 Annual Report examines the dwindling use of capital punishment and the factors that impacted this…
Read MoreJan 12, 2026
Marking a Decade Since Hurst v. Florida
Today is the ten-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Hurst v. Florida. Heralded as a watershed ruling for capital defendants, Hurst reaffirmed the principle that the jury alone must find the facts necessary to condemn a person to die — implicating the death sentences of hundreds of prisoners across three states. The Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury…
Read MoreJan 08, 2026
Georgia Court Halts Stacey Humphreys’ Execution to Weigh Clemency Board Member Conflict of Interest
On December 29, 2025, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney issued an order blocking the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole (GBPP) from rescheduling a clemency hearing and setting a new execution date for Stacey Humphreys. Two weeks earlier, on December 15th the GBPP put Mr. Humphreys’ December 16th clemency hearing on hold “indefinitely,” leaving in limbo the status of his execution, scheduled for the following day. Judge McBurney issued the stay, lasting up to three months, to…
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