Publications & Testimony

On October 23, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, told a UN General Assembly human rights committee that countries around the world are increasingly viewing capital punishment as a form of torture because of the severe mental and physical pain it inflicts on those sentenced to death. Mendez told the committee, “States need to re-examine their procedures under international law because the ability of states to impose and carry out the death penalty is diminishing as…

The latest edition of the educational text, The Death Penalty in a Nutshell by Victor Streib, is now available. Prof. Streib presents the substantive and procedural law of capital cases, along with its relevant history, jurisprudence and constitutional applications. Streib also addresses international issues, the complex role of defense counsel, the risk of systemic bias, and the potential execution of innocent defendants. This new edition provides an analysis of emerging trends in the death…

Conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly (pictured) of Fox News recently endorsed California’s Proposition 34, the ballot initiative that would replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole. O’Reilly joined many conservative supporters of the measure, including Ron Briggs, who led the campaign to reinstate California’s death penalty in 1978. In an op-ed about O’Reilly’s endorsement, Briggs discussed the conservative argument for repeal, calling the death penalty…

A new Los Angeles Times poll of registered voters in California showed a dramatic increase in support of Proposition 34, a ballot measure that would replace the death penalty with life without parole, saving the state tens of millions of dollars annually. The survey, conducted October 15 – 21, showed more respondents supporting repeal of the death penalty (45%) than those wanting to keep it (42%) when they were given information about the measure’s financial impact and effect on prisoners. Eleven…

The family of Cameron Todd Willingham announced they will petition the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant him a posthumous pardon based on new evidence that has emerged since his execution in 2004. Willingham was sentenced to death for the murder of his three children in a housefire in 1991. At his trial, investigators testified that Willingham had intentionally set the fire, but later developments in the science of fire investigation have led experts to believe the fire was…

On October 23, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a last-minute federal appeals court stay-of-execution for John Ferguson. Ferguson had been scheduled to be executed earlier that day, but his lawyers filed a series of motions arguing he was mentally incompetent. In September, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed Ferguson’s death warrant for October 16, but allowed time for a mental competency examination. A series of stays and reversals shifted the date to October 18, then to October 23, or later.

On October 17, the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, a state agency that enforces civil rights, unanimously passed a resolution in favor of ending the death penalty. The Commission urged the Kentucky General Assembly to repeal the death penalty and Governor Steven Beshear to sign any such legislation that is brought before him. The resolution underscored the unfairness of capital punishment: “[S]tatistics confirm that the imposition of the death penalty is disproportionately imposed on…

A new book by Professor Robert Bohm of the University of Central Florida looks at death-penalty decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court prior to the modern era of capital punishment that began in 1968. In The Past As Prologue, Bohm examines 39 Court decisions, covering issues such as clemency, jury selection, coerced confessions, and effective representation. These early decisions have shaped modern rulings on capital punishment, and the book provides an analysis of these effects. In addition, the…

George Gascon served for 30 years as a police officer, including as a police chief in Arizona and California. He is currently the District Attorney of San Francisco. Although he formerly supported the death penalty, he now believes it should be replaced with life without parole. In a recent op-ed in the Sacramento Bee, Gascon wrote: “I have had the opportunity to observe and participate in the development and implementation of public safety policies at every level. I have seen what works and…