Publications & Testimony

An expen­sive fed­er­al death penal­ty tri­al under way in New York illus­trates many of the con­cerns about such pros­e­cu­tions. New York is a state that no longer has its own death penal­ty. Nevertheless, the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment is seek­ing a death sen­tence for Vincent Basciano, who is already serv­ing life with­out parole. Because the death penal­ty is being sought, the case has already costs mil­lions of dol­lars and the final bill will likely be…

On April 12, the Connecticut leg­is­la­ture’s Judiciary Committee approved (26 – 17) a bill to repeal the death penal­ty for future crimes and replace the sen­tence with life with­out parole. Supporters of the bill said it would avoid the risk of wrong­ful exe­cu­tions and save tax­pay­ers the costs of lengthy tri­als and appeals. Both sup­port­ers and oppo­nents of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment agreed that the state’s cur­rent sys­tem is not work­ing. Sen. Eric…

A new book, ​“Queer (In)Justice” by Joey Mogul, Andrea Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock, explores the expe­ri­ences of les­bian, gay, bisex­u­al, and trans­gen­der peo­ple in America’s crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem, and par­tic­u­lar­ly their inter­ac­tion with the death penal­ty sys­tem. The authors assert that pros­e­cu­tors have used defen­dants’ sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion or gen­der-non­­con­­for­m­ing appear­ance to obtain cap­i­tal con­vic­tions:​“In cap­i­tal cas­es a prosecutor…

A recent op-ed in the New York Times by John Thompson (pic­tured, right) describes his anguish after being wrong­ly con­vict­ed, sen­tenced to death, and most recent­ly denied finan­cial com­pen­sa­tion in Louisiana. He spent 18 years in prison, includ­ing 14 on death row, because pros­e­cu­tors delib­er­ate­ly with­held evi­dence that could have led to his acquit­tal. Thompson wrote,​“The pros­e­cu­tors involved in…

A recent study by Professors Thomas Mowen and Ryan Schroeder of the University of Louisville found that pub­lic sup­port for the death penal­ty has shift­ed away from tra­di­tion­al jus­ti­fi­ca­tions (such as its pur­port­ed deter­rent effect, its imag­ined cost-sav­ing val­ue, and its safe­guard of inno­cent lives), and has been replaced by ratio­nales of ret­ri­bu­tion and clo­sure on behalf of vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. According to the study, which was published in…

When the sole U.S. sup­pli­er of a drug used by all death penal­ty states announced it was halt­ing pro­duc­tion ear­li­er this year, many states turned to sources over­seas. In par­tic­u­lar, Nebraska obtained a large quan­ti­ty of the drug – sodi­um thiopen­tal – from a com­pa­ny in Mumbai, India. Now that com­pa­ny has announced it will no longer sup­ply the drug for use in lethal injec­tions. In a state­ment released to the media, Kayem Pharmaceutical…

On April 4, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the opin­ions of two low­er fed­er­al courts that had grant­ed a new sen­tenc­ing hear­ing to Scott Pinholster, who is on death row in California. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had held that Pinholster’s attor­neys pro­vid­ed inad­e­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion in not inves­ti­gat­ing evi­dence of severe brain dam­age. The attor­neys should have pur­sued med­ical evidence that…

On March 29, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed (5 – 4) a judg­ment of $14 mil­lion against the District Attorney’s Office of New Orleans for with­hold­ing evi­dence in the case of John Thompson. Thompson had been con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death but was lat­er exon­er­at­ed after the with­held evi­dence, cast­ing seri­ous doubt about his guilt, was revealed through the work of a pri­vate inves­ti­ga­tor. Thompson spent 18 years in prison includ­ing 14 years…

As Texas pre­pares to exe­cute Cleve Foster on April 5, a new report released by the ACLU of Texas and Northwestern University’s Center for International Human Rights reveals that pro­ce­dures for euth­a­niz­ing ani­mals in the state are more care­ful­ly reg­u­lat­ed than the pro­to­col for exe­cut­ing death row inmates. In March, Texas announced that it will con­tin­ue to use a risky three-drug pro­to­col for exe­cu­tions, and will replace the critical…

A new study from North Carolina shows that the state’s death penal­ty is error-prone and rarely imple­ment­ed. A study of the death penal­ty from 1977 to 2009 found that two out of three death sen­tences were over­turned on appeal, an error rate of 67%. The study also found that only 20% of death sen­tences result­ed in an exe­cu­tion. The review of the state’s death penal­ty was made by Matthew Robinson, a pro­fes­sor of Government & Justice Studies at Appalachian State…