Publications & Testimony

The Arkansas Department of Corrections recently announced it will use a new drug, phenobarbital, for lethal injections. Phenobarbital is used to treat seizures but has never been used for executions in the U.S. Some experts are concerned that using drugs that are untested for this purpose could result in inhumane treatment. David Lubarsky, who chairs the anesthesiology department at the University of Miami’s medical school, said, “People should not be using inmates as an experiment. And that is…

On April 22, a divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denied Warren Hill’s appeal to halt his execution based on new evidence of his intellectual disability. The Court ruled that Hill’s claim of intellectual disability (mental retardation) was presented in an earlier petition and cannot be presented again, despite the new evidence. The judges also held that, even if Hill’s claim is a new one, it only challenges his eligibility for the death penalty, not his underlying guilt, and…

On April 23, the Connecticut Supreme Court will consider whether the 11 inmates who remained on the state’s row after the legislature voted to repeal the death penalty in 2012 can still be executed. Mark Rademacher, an attorney for one of the inmates, argued that the legislature’s repeal of the death penalty demonstrated the punishment is no longer necessary and, hence, executing his client would be cruel and unusual punishment. Rademacher also asserted that the law’s prospective nature…

A recent editorial in the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star highlighted some of the conservative arguments opposing the death penalty. Edward Crane (pictured), founder of the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank, said, “My own view on capital punishment is that it is morally justified but that the government is often so inept and corrupt that innocent people might die as a result. Thus, I personally oppose capital punishment.” The editorial also quoted Mary Kate Cary, former speechwriter for…

A recent article in the Liberty Champion, a publication of Liberty University, discussed the concerns some conservative Christians have about the death penalty. The article by student Whitney Rutherford focused on the financial costs of the death penalty and its emotional toll on murder victims’ families: “Rather than providing victims, their families, and the family of the accused an expedient result, these groups are dragged through the emotional upheaval of waiting and watching the justice…

Two bills under consideration in Texas aim to address issues in the state’s death penalty. House Bill 2458 would allow defendants to appeal their death sentences if they can prove that race was a significant factor in the decision to seek or impose the death penalty. Statistical evidence of bias can be used to support such a claim. Similar bills, referred to as the Racial Justice Act, have been considered in other states. Testimony in favor of the bill mentioned the case of Duane Buck, an…

On April 11, a jury in Puerto Rico rejected a death sentence for a defendant convicted of murdering an undercover policeman. Instead, Lashaun Casey will be sentenced life in prison without parole. The defendant was eligible for the death penalty because the case was tried under federal law rather than the law of Puerto Rico, which abolished the death penalty under the constitution it enacted in 1952. The Commonwealth has not carried out an execution since 1927. Anti-death penalty protestors…

George F. Will, conservative commentator of the Washington Post, recently drew a lesson about the death penalty from the documentary The Central Park Five, which airs on PBS on Tuesday, April 16. Will wrote, “[T]his recounting of a multifaceted but, fortunately, not fatal failure of the criminal justice system buttresses the conservative case against the death penalty: Its finality leaves no room for rectifying mistakes.” The Central Park Five tells the story of five juvenile defendants (four…

Today, in lieu of our daily “What’s New,” we are making a special request. Please take a moment to consider the importance of DPIC’s work on the death penalty and make a donation to support these efforts. Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Raymond Bonner called DPIC “the best single source of facts, figures, and other information about capital punishment in America.” DPIC reaches almost 3 million visitors per year through its website and millions more through our work with the media, such as our…

A new report from the Death Penalty Project, titled The Death Penalty in Japan, provides an assessment of that country’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a treaty which both Japan and the U.S. have ratified. While retaining the death penalty is not itself a breach of the treaty, the report states Japan is under an obligation to develop domestic laws and practices that progressively restrict the use of the death penalty. According to the report…