Publications & Testimony

Religious belief has always been at the cen­ter of debate about the death penal­ty – cit­ed both in sup­port and in oppo­si­tion. The often-cit­ed​“eye for an eye” Biblical phrase has led many to assume that reli­gious belief requires sup­port for the death penal­ty. But a clos­er look tells a dif­fer­ent sto­ry. Fact: The Majority of Judeo-Christian Religious Organizations Oppose the Death Penalty While it is true that peo­ple who iden­ti­fy as Atheists and Agnostics tend to be less in…

DPI Board Member Ronald J. Tabak died on July 22, 2025 after a long ill­ness at the age of 75. Among his many accom­plish­ments, Ron was a long­time sup­port­er of the Death Penalty Information Center, a pas­sion­ate advo­cate for peo­ple sen­tenced to death, and a trea­sured friend. Ron had a heart of gold and will be dear­ly missed by his many friends and fam­i­ly. Ron joined the law firm of Skadden Arps in 1985 to launch and man­age its for­mal pro bono pro­gram, direct­ing critical law…

Recent report­ing from the Houston Chronicle describes a pilot pro­gram begun in February of last year which has allowed a select group of pris­on­ers on Texas’ death row the oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence loos­ened con­fine­ment con­di­tions. About a dozen indi­vid­u­als on Texas’ death row are being allowed to min­gle in a com­mon room, share meals, and spend time out­side of their cells with­out hand­cuffs or shack­les. As the Chronicle reports,​“instead of shout­ing to each…

> ​“The assump­tion that all vic­tims’ fam­i­lies favor the death penal­ty is so entrenched that fam­i­lies who oppose the death penal­ty some­times expe­ri­ence dis­crim­i­na­tion with­in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem from pros­e­cu­tors, judges, or court-appoint­ed vic­tims’ advo­cates.” > > Victim advo­ca­cy group, Murder Victims for Human Rights There is a com­mon­ly held belief that use of the death penal­ty is always sup­port­ed by the friends and fam­i­lies who have lost loved ones…

In June 2025, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman request­ed that Governor Andy Beshear set an exe­cu­tion date for death row pris­on­er Ralph Baze. In a late June 2025 reply, Gov. Beshear declined to do so because of an April 2025 Franklin County Circuit Court rul­ing that found part of Kentucky’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. Gov. Beshear indi­cat­ed that sev­er­al steps must be tak­en by the Department of Corrections (DOC) to address the issues raised by the court…

Recent leg­is­la­tion signed by Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry dras­ti­cal­ly restricts the abil­i­ty of pris­on­ers to chal­lenge their con­vic­tions, which those opposed to the law have argued could lead to the exe­cu­tion of inno­cent pris­on­ers. HB 675, signed into law in June 2025, impos­es strict time lim­its on post-con­vic­­tion relief appli­ca­tions and intro­duces​“aban­don­ment” rules that cut off appeal options for pris­on­ers who fail to meet the law’s strict dead­lines. The…