Publications & Testimony

Two new reports on the death penalty are available from the international community. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States recently released a report containing excerpts from the most important death-penalty decisions issued by the IACHR in the past fifteen years, including cases from Barbados, Cuba, Guatemala, Guyana, Grenada, Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States. The International Commission against the Death…

Jerry Givens spent 17 years as the correctional officer in charge of Virginia’s electrocutions. During his tenure, he carried out 62 executions. He now strongly opposes the death penalty. The thought that he might execute an innocent person was a major factor in Givens’ change of heart. “The only thing I can do is pray to God to forgive me if I did,” he said. “But I do know this — I will never do it again.” The pending execution of Earl Washington, Jr. had a significant impact on Givens.

On February 19, Georgia is scheduled to execute Warren Hill, a death row inmate who has been diagnosed with mental retardation (intellectual disability). Over a decade ago, in Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded. However, Hill continues to face execution because Georgia requires proof of retardation beyond a reasonable doubt, the strictest such standard in the country and one almost impossible to meet in mental health…

In a recent op-ed, the father of slain Colorado corrections officer Eric Autobee (pictured) explained why he no longer supported the death penalty and is working for its repeal. Writing in the Pueblo Chieftain, Bob Autobee, himself a veteran corrections officer, said the pursuit of the death penalty in his son’s case caused an “unspeakable emotional toll” on his family. He wrote, “Given what I know now, I can no longer support Colorado’s broken death penalty system. What’s more, I will work to…

On February 7, federal District Court Judge James Brady stayed the execution of Christopher Sepulvado in Louisiana because the state failed to provide details about its new execution protocol. “Sepulvado has been trying to determine what the protocol is for years,” Judge Brady wrote, “and the State will not provide this information. The intransigence of the State Defendants in failing to produce the protocol requires the Court to issue this order.” Sepulvado was scheduled to be executed on Feb.

New information on foreign nationals facing the death penalty in the U.S. is now available through Mark Warren of Human Rights Research. This DPIC page includes information on 143 foreign citizens from 37 countries on state and federal death rows. California has the most (59 inmates), followed by Texas (24), and Florida (23). Many of these inmates were not informed of their right to contact their country’s represenatives under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a treaty the U.S. has…

A recent editorial in the Great Falls Tribune in Montana outlined some of the key problems with the death penalty as the state legislature considers its repeal. The editors expressed concerns about the risks of mistake with executions: “There is no way to take back an execution. That reason alone provides good cause to eliminate the death penalty in Montana.” The paper also noted that victims’ families wait for decades for executions to be carried out, with the defendants receiving most of the…

A recent article in the New York Times highlighted the story of Kirk Bloodsworth, who was the first death row inmate in the country to be exonerated by DNA testing. Bloodsworth, a former Marine, was sentenced to death in 1984 for the rape and murder of a 9‑year-old girl outside of Baltimore, Maryland. After DNA evidence led to his exoneration and release in 1993, Bloodsworth began working against capital punishment and for justice reform. “If it could happen to me, it could happen to anybody,”…

A forthcoming book, Fighting for Their Lives: Inside the Experience of Capital Defense Attorneys by Susannah Sheffer, explores the impact of the death penalty on defense attorneys with clients on death row. Through interviews with capital defenders, the author examines how attorneys try to cope with the stress of representing clients facing execution. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, said, “This is an important book. The death penalty’s impact is so much broader than we…