Publications & Testimony

The Death Penalty Information Center is proud to present a new mobile appli­ca­tion for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. This FREE appli­ca­tion pro­vides access to the most fre­quent­ly used resources on DPIC’s main web­site, includ­ing our Fact Sheet on the Death Penalty, our Execution Database, and the most recent death penal­ty news from around the coun­try. Click here to download the…

Recent edi­to­ri­als in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times called into ques­tion the cur­rent use of lethal injec­tion in exe­cu­tions, in light of the deci­sion by the sole U.S. man­u­fac­tur­er of a key drug used by almost all states to stop its pro­duc­tion. Hospira Inc. was the only U.S. pro­duc­er of sodi­um thiopen­tal, the main anes­thet­ic used in lethal injec­tions, but the com­pa­ny said inter­na­tion­al con­cerns about the death penal­ty prompt­ed its halt.

Lundbeck Inc., a com­pa­ny based in Denmark and the sole U.S. man­u­fac­tur­er of pen­to­bar­bi­tal, a new drug select­ed by Ohio and Oklahoma for their lethal injec­tion pro­to­cols, has request­ed that states not use the drug to exe­cute inmates. The com­pa­ny recent­ly announced that their drug was nev­er intend­ed to be used in exe­cu­tions. A spokes­woman for the company said, ​“This goes against every­thing we’re in busi­ness to do. We like to…

Terry Collins, for­mer direc­tor of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, recent­ly urged the state to replace cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment with life in prison with­out parole. In an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch, Collins said he per­son­al­ly observed the exe­cu­tion of 33 men from 2001 to 2010, and ques­tioned whether it was the right thing to do all 33 times:​“Had all the reviews and appeals got this case right? Did the process make…

On January 21, Hospira Inc., the sole U.S. man­u­fac­tur­er of sodi­um thiopen­tal, announced that it will no longer pro­duce an anes­thet­ic com­mon­ly used in lethal injec­tions around the United States. Hospira, which had planned to pro­duce the drug in its plant in Italy, made the deci­sion to end pro­duc­tion of the anes­thet­ic after Italian offi­cials demand­ed that the com­pa­ny make sure it will not be used for executions.

A recent study con­duct­ed by Professors Glenn Pierce and Michael Radelet pub­lished in the Lousiana Law Review showed that the odds of a death sen­tence in parts of Louisiana were 2.6 times high­er for those charged with killing a white vic­tim than for those charged with killing a black vic­tim. The study exam­ined 191 homi­cides in East Baton Rouge Parish between 1990 and 2008 involv­ing a charge of first-degree mur­der. Even after con­sid­er­ing other variables…

Retired Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin recent­ly wrote in the Huffington Post urg­ing Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to sign a bill that would repeal the death penal­ty. He wrote,​“I am cer­tain we could all list per­sons who com­mit­ted out­ra­geous and despi­ca­ble crimes that we would want exe­cut­ed. Many of us want revenge, ret­ri­bu­tion and the ulti­mate pun­ish­ment in those cas­es, but, nonethe­less, I am opposed to the death penal­ty.” Judge…

An in-depth inves­ti­ga­tion con­duct­ed by USA Today found 201 crim­i­nal cas­es in which fed­er­al judges deter­mined that U.S. Department of Justice pros­e­cu­tors vio­lat­ed laws or ethics rules, includ­ing the recent pros­e­cu­tion of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. The inves­ti­ga­tion looked at cas­es since 1997, when Congress enact­ed a law aimed at end­ing pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct. Some of the vio­la­tions reviewed by USA…

Leroy White (pic­tured) was exe­cut­ed in Alabama on January 13 despite the fact that his tri­al jury, the pros­e­cu­tion, and mem­bers of the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly had sought a dif­fer­ent sen­tence. Shortly before his exe­cu­tion, he received a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court to con­sid­er his final motion. However, near­ly three hours lat­er the stay was lift­ed and he was exe­cut­ed for the 1988 mur­der of his estranged wife, Ruby White.

Although the death penal­ty is often described as being reserved for the​“worst of the worst” offend­ers, in prac­tice defen­dants respon­si­ble for many mur­ders are often spared while those who com­mit­ted arguably less­er offens­es are exe­cut­ed. Oscar Veal was a con­tract killer for a large drug ring and mur­der-for-hire oper­a­tion. He was con­vict­ed of sev­en counts of mur­der and eight counts of rack­e­teer­ing con­spir­a­cy. However, in exchange for testimony…