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: 201 — 210
Aug 26, 2025
DPI Report Examines the Legacy of Roper v. Simmons and Its Implications for 18- to 20-Year-Olds in Death Penalty Cases
This week we are featuring some articles from the first part of 2025 that we think are worth another look. We’ll be back with new articles next week. This article was originally posted on April 30, 2025. In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision ending the juvenile death penalty, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) today released a new report: Immature Minds in a“Maturing Society”: Roper v. Simmons at 20, detailing…
Read MoreAug 25, 2025
State Spotlight: California Death Row Shrinks Sharply in 2024, Driven by the Resentencing of At Least 45 People to Life Sentences or Less
This week we are featuring some articles from the first part of 2025 that we think are worth another look. We’ll be back with new articles next week. This article originally ran on February 11, 2025. When California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a moratorium on executions in 2019, he said that the state’s“death penalty system has been, by all measures, a failure.” He explained that the death penalty“has discriminated against defendants who are mentally ill,…
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Aug 21, 2025
Utah Pardon Board Denies Clemency to Ralph Menzies, Wheelchair-Bound Man Who Suffers From Terminal Vascular Dementia
On August 19, 2025, the Utah Pardons Board denied Ralph Menzies’ petition for commutation, despite his worsening dementia, failing health, and evidence that his 1988 death sentence“was imposed in error” and“obtained using perjured testimony.” The Pardons Board was asked to commute his sentence to life without the possibility of parole (LWOP). According to reporting by the Utah News Dispatch, Utah’s Pardon Board has never granted clemency to a death-sentenced…
Read MoreAug 20, 2025
Former Alabama Governor Urges Use of Clemency, Criticizes Florida’s Execution Process as “Shrouded in Secrecy”
In an August 14, 2025, op-ed in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman revealed he has“lived to regret” not commuting death sentences while he was in office, and criticized Florida’s execution selection process, citing serious concerns with secrecy and racial bias. Writing about two scheduled executions in Florida — Kayle Bates on August 19 and Curtis Windom on August 28 — Gov. Siegelman argues the cases surface systemic problems in…
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Aug 19, 2025
Former Illinois Death-Sentenced Prisoner Robert Melock’s Charges Dismissed, Court Acknowledges Innocence
After spending more than three decades behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Robert Melock was issued a Certificate of Innocence (COI), with a court formally clearing his name and ordering his record expunged. On April 21, 2025, the Circuit Court of the 19th Judicial Circuit issued Mr. Melock the certificate following his December 2023 release from prison after 34 years of incarceration. His case is emblematic of the many problems known to result in wrongful death…
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Aug 18, 2025
DPI’s Podcast 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context: Florida Attorney and Researcher Melanie Kalmanson on Recent Developments in Florida’s Death Penalty
In the August 2025 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Melanie Kalmanson, a Florida attorney and author of the Substack newsletter Tracking Florida’s Death Penalty. Ms. Kalmanson’s newsletter compiles data on legislation, capital trials, death sentences, and executions in Florida. In the podcast, she discusses how she started following those developments, key events in the recent history of Florida’s…
Read MoreAug 14, 2025
Funding Shortfall for Criminal Justice Act Could Impact Quality and Availability of Legal Representation for Indigent Defendants, Including Capital Defendants
As of July 3, 2025, the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) program has run out of funds for the current fiscal year, threatening the quality and availability of federal defense counsel for the overwhelming majority of criminal defendants who cannot afford to hire their own lawyers. The budget Congress approved for the CJA program in March is $129 million less than what was requested by the Federal Judiciary. As a consequence, CJA appointed defense teams have been denied…
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Aug 13, 2025
Florida Death Row Prisoners Challenge Governor DeSantis’ Secretive Execution Decisions
Over the past two weeks, two Florida death row prisoners filed fresh challenges to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ decisions to sign his tenth and eleventh death warrants of 2025. On July 29, 2025, Kayle Barrington Bates (also known as Maud Dib Al Sharif) brought a civil suit against Gov. DeSantis alleging Florida’s execution warrant process“is infected with racial discrimination and unconstitutional arbitrariness.” Included in the claim is a statistical analysis…
Read MoreAug 12, 2025
Arkansas Death-Sentenced Prisoners File Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of State’s New Nitrogen Gas Execution Law
On August 5, 2025, a group of ten Arkansas death-sentenced prisoners filed a lawsuit challenging a new state law that authorizes their execution using nitrogen gas. Act 302, which Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law in March 2025, went into effect on the same day the lawsuit was filed. The prisoners’ lawsuit argues that the new law is unconstitutional because it violates the state constitution’s separation of powers. All ten prisoners included in the…
Read MoreAug 11, 2025
Business Leader Calls for End to California’s “Broken” Death Penalty System
A prominent business executive and member of a larger coalition of over 500 global business leaders is calling on California Governor Gavin Newsom to commute all death sentences in California to life without parole. In a July 2025 op-ed, Matthew Stepka, a member of Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty, calls California’s death penalty system a failure of both justice and fiscal responsibility. > “If any company or product I evaluated had an error rate…
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