Publications & Testimony

In February 2015, the Brennan Center for Justice released a report exam­in­ing poten­tial expla­na­tions for the dra­mat­ic drop in crime in the U.S. in the 1990s and 2000s. The death penal­ty was one of the pos­si­ble con­tribut­ing caus­es the researchers eval­u­at­ed. The report’s con­clu­sion: the death penal­ty had no effect on the decline in crime. The authors explained:​“Empirically, cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is too infre­quent to have a mea­sure­able effect on the crime drop.

On February 9, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association unan­i­mous­ly passed two res­o­lu­tions call­ing for unan­i­mous juries in cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing and greater trans­paren­cy in lethal injec­tion pro­ce­dures. Resolution 108A stat­ed:​“Before a court can impose a sen­tence of death, a jury must unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend or vote to impose that sen­tence,” and,​“The jury in such cas­es must also unan­i­mous­ly agree on the exis­tence of any fact that is…

A new Rasmussen poll found that 57% of American adults sup­port the death penal­ty, down from 63% in the orga­ni­za­tion’s polls dat­ing from 2009. The poll found 26% of respon­dents opposed the death penal­ty, with 17% unde­cid­ed. Respondents were also asked whether they favored the death penal­ty for James Holmes if he is con­vict­ed of the mass shoot­ing at a movie the­ater in Aurora, Colorado. Just 55% said they believed Holmes should be…

A new book, Examining Wrongful Convictions: Stepping Back, Moving Forward, explores the caus­es and relat­ed issues behind the many wrong­ful con­vic­tions in the U.S. Compiled and edit­ed by four crim­i­nal jus­tice pro­fes­sors from the State University of New York, the text draws from U.S. and inter­na­tion­al sources. Prof. Dan Simon of the University of Southern California said,​”This book offers the most com­pre­hen­sive and insight­ful treat­ment of wrongful…

A group of con­ser­v­a­tive lead­ers has joined in an effort to save the life of Scott Panetti, a Texas death row inmate with a his­to­ry of severe men­tal ill­ness. Members include sev­er­al law enforce­ment offi­cials and notable con­ser­v­a­tives, such as Mark Earley – for­mer Attorney General of Virginia, Harold Stratten – for­mer Attorney General of New Mexico, David Keene – the Washington Times opin­ion edi­tor, James Miller III – director of…

A new book by Prof. Jeffrey Kirchmeier of the City University of New York exam­ines the recent his­to­ry of race and the death penal­ty in the U.S. The book uses the sto­ry of a Georgia death row inmate named Warren McCleskey, whose chal­lenge to the state’s death penal­ty went all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1987 the Court held (5 – 4) that his sta­tis­ti­cal evi­dence show­ing that Georgia’s system of…

Trial prepa­ra­tions in the death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion of James Holmes in Colorado have already cost the state about $5.5 mil­lion, and the tri­al and like­ly appeals will add sig­nif­i­cant­ly more. Holmes is accused of the mass shoot­ing in a movie the­ater in Aurora. Most of the costs — $4.5 mil­lion — have come from the salaries of per­son­nel work­ing on the case, includ­ing the pros­e­cu­tors, defense attor­neys, the judge, inves­ti­ga­tors, and…

Even as exe­cu­tions have declined in the U.S., those being car­ried out often illus­trate seri­ous prob­lems that have plagued the death penal­ty for many years. Of the six exe­cu­tions January, two (in Florida and Oklahoma) involved a lethal injec­tion pro­to­col that is now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Georgia exe­cut­ed Andrew Brannan, a dec­o­rat­ed Vietnam War veteran with…

A recent law review arti­cle report­ed wide vari­a­tions among states in exempt­ing defen­dants with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty from the death penal­ty. Professor John Blume (l.) of Cornell Law School, along with three co-authors, ana­lyzed claims filed under the Supreme Court’s deci­sion in Atkins v. Virginia (2002) against exe­cut­ing defen­dants with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty (for­mer­ly,​“men­tal retar­da­tion”). Overall, from 2002 through 2013, only…

In light of the three botched exe­cu­tions that took place in 2014, the Washington Post pub­lished an edi­to­r­i­al urg­ing states not to drop​“a veil of secre­cy over exe­cu­tions.” In par­tic­u­lar, the edi­to­r­i­al board oppos­es a pro­posed law in Virginia, which,​“would make prac­ti­cal­ly every­thing about exe­cu­tions in Virginia a state secret — even the build­ing in which they take place. ”​“It’s hard to see the com­pelling need for that…