Publications & Testimony
Testimony and Statements on the Death Penalty
FROM DPIC
For testimony by former Executive Director Robert Dunham and former Executive Director Richard C. Dieter, please visit our page DPIC Testimony.
FROM RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND ORGANIZATIONS
- News Brief: Pope Francis Calls for Prayer to Abolish the Death Penalty (September 1, 2022)
- Jewish Congregation Renews Request for Department of Justice to Drop Death Penalty in Tree of Life Synagogue Killings (June 24, 2021)
- Orthodox Church Patriarch Calls Death Penalty Incompatible with Christian Beliefs (October 20, 2020)
- Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — Statement on the Federal Death Penalty (August 5, 2019)
- Louisiana Christian Faith Leaders Call for State to Abolish Death Penalty (April 25, 2019)
- Pittsburgh Rabbi’s Wife Opposes Death Penalty for Tree of Life Synagogue Killings (March 18, 2019)
- Orthodox Jewish Organization Calls for an End to Capital Punishment in the U.S. | Death Penalty Information Center (February 17, 2016)
- Baptist Theologian Says Death Penalty Does Not Fit With Christian Theology (March 8, 2016)
- Civil and Human Rights: Death Penalty — Church & Society, The United Methodist Church
- Religious Views: Over 150 Catholic Theologians Call for Repeal of the Death Penalty (September 27, 2011)
- Power Over Life and Death — The Power to Save a Life (January 15, 2005)
- Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice (November 2000)
- The Challenge of Holiness: A Sermon on the Death Penalty (January 10, 2000)
- General Assembly of the Texas Conference of Churches — Resolution Opposing the Death Penalty (February 24, 1998)
- Statement by Catholic Bishops of Texas on Capital Punishment (October 20, 1997)
- Catholic Church Expresses Strong Opposition to Capital Punishment in Catechism (September 9, 1997)
- Catholic Bishops of Iowa Issue Statement on Death Penalty (February 4, 1998)
- To End the Death Penalty: A Report of the National Jewish/Catholic Consultation
- Transcript of Dr. Pat Robertson’s Speech on the Role of Religion and the Death Penalty at The College of William and Mary
- Collection of Official Catholic Statements on the Death Penalty (1980)
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
- UN experts call for universal abolition of the death penalty | OHCHR (October 9, 2023)
- Zambia Becomes 25th Sub-Saharan African Nation to Abolish Death Penalty (December 23, 2022)
- Belgium Wants a World Without the Death Penalty (October 20, 2022)
- As France Prepares to Assume Presidency of European Union, Emmanuel Macron Announces Initiative for Worldwide Abolition of Death Penalty (October 11, 2021)
- U.N. Secretary-General, European Union Ambassador Call for Abolition of “Barbaric” Death Penalty (October 11, 2017)
- European Union Calls for Abolition of Capital Punishment as World Coalition Hosts International Death Penalty Conference (June 27, 2017)
- U.N. Investigator Talks About the Future of Solitary and the Death Penalty (November 7, 2016)
- World Congress Against the Death Penalty Renews Call for Global Moratorium, Pope Sends Message of Support (June 27, 2016)
- Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the 400th execution in Texas from the Council of the European Union (August 21, 2007)
- Resolution Supporting Worldwide Moratorium on Executions from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (April 1999)
- Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights — Message to the Press Conference organized by the Death Penalty Information Center for the release of the report, “International Perspectives on the Death Penalty” (October 12, 1999)
- Status of the International Covenants on Human Rights from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (April 1998)
FROM ADVOCACY GROUPS
- Advocacy Group Tells Supreme Court that Negative Stereotypes Distort Perception that Latinos in Death-Penalty Cases Pose Future Danger to Society (April 15, 2022)
- Disability Rights Groups, Legal Experts, and Conservative Advocates Urge Supreme Court to Strike Down Georgia’s Uniquely Harsh Proof Requirements in Death-Penalty Intellectual Disabilities Cases (January 11, 2022)
- NAACP Reaffirms Its Support of Abolishing the Death Penalty (2022)
- More Than 80 Civil Rights and Advocacy Organizations Urge President Biden to End Federal Executions | Death Penalty Information Center (February 9, 2021)
- More Than 250 Conservative Leaders Join Call to End Death Penalty (October 29, 2019)
- National Alliance on Mental Illness: The Death Penalty
- Florida League of Women Voters Calls for Halt to Executions (May 28, 2007)
- Victims Organizations Issue Joint Statement for National Victims’ Rights Week (April 19, 2007)
FROM JUDGES, LEGISLATORS, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
- Republican-led Oklahoma committee considers pause on executions amid death case scrutiny (October 5, 2023)
- Former Pro-Death Penalty District Attorney Explains Why He Now Supports Abolition, and Fears Political Promises to Expand the Use of the Death Penalty (August 20, 2023)
- Pressley, Durbin Reintroduce Bill to End the Federal Death Penalty (July 13, 2023)
- The Lancet Editorial: Physician Involvement in Executions Violates Medical Ethics | Death Penalty Information Center (May 20, 2023)
- APA calls for extending ineligibility for the death penalty to adolescent offenders younger than age 21 (August 4, 2022)
- Why some Republicans are turning against the death penalty | Ron Ferguson | Ohio House of Representatives (March 8, 2022)
- Eight years on Texas’ highest criminal court turned Elsa Alcala into a death penalty skeptic. How will the court change without her? (January 26, 2019)
- AMA to Supreme Court: Doctor participation in executions unethical (August 22, 2018)
- Former Governor Bill Richardson: Death Penalty Is Bad for Business, Out of Step With World’s Views (June 16, 2017)
- Capital Punishment and Nurses’ Participation in Capital Punishment (2016)
- Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro Says Death Penalty Unfixable, “Not Worth It Any More” (September 12, 2016)
- Resolution Supporting Repeal of the Death Penalty, National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (August 11, 2016)
- Retired Police Captain Says Repealing Death Penalty Is “Smart on Crime” (November 24, 2014)
- Resolution Supporting Abolition of the Death Penalty, Natl. Assoc. of Black Psychologists (2012)
- The Road to Justice and Peace by New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak (February 1, 2009)
- Statement On The Federal Death Penalty System by Senator Feingold (June 7, 2001)
- Statement on the Need for a Federal Moratorium on the Death Penalty Senator Feingold (October 29, 2000)
- Death Penalty: The Torah and Today (August 23, 2000)
- Press Release for Senator Russ Feingold’s Introduction of Senate’s First Death Penalty Moratorium Bill (April 20, 2000)
- Amnesty International Southern Regional Conference: Orlando, Florida Remarks by Former Florida Chief Justice Gerald Kogan (October 23, 1999)
- American Bar Association Resolution on the Death Penalty (February 3, 1997)
FROM MURDER VICTIMS’ FAMILY MEMBERS
Items: 4051 — 4060
Jun 28, 2011
NEW VOICES: Journalist Who Was Arrested Abroad Emphasizes Importance of Consular Access
Journalist Euna Lee (pictured), who was imprisoned in North Korea along with her colleague, Laura Ling, recently wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post on the importance of consular access for individuals arrested outside their home countries. Lee was reporting for Current TV when she and Ling were arrested, interrogated, put on trial, and sentenced to 12 years hard labor. Only when the Swedish ambassador, who represented U.S. interests in North Korea, reminded Korean officials of their…
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Jun 27, 2011
NEW RESOURCES: International Death Penalty Documentary
The International Academic Network for the Abolition of Capital Punishment has recently released “Still Killing,” a documentary filmed during the International Colloquium on the Abolition or Moratoria of the Death Penalty (held at the Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies, Madrid, Spain) and the Fourth World Congress Against the Death Penalty (in Geneva). The film includes testimony and opinions of professors, researchers, and other experts on the death penalty. The film is intended…
Read MoreJun 24, 2011
Texas Makes Progress on Improving Criminal Justice System
Recent legislation passed in Texas indicates bipartisan support for criminal justice reform in the state. Legislators recently passed an eyewitness-identification bill intended to cut down on the number of victims and witnesses who make mistakes in in-person and photographic line-ups. This new law will require police agencies to adopt procedures and use techniques that help lessen the number of false confessions. Another bill passed recently will make it easier for convicted persons to have DNA…
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Jun 23, 2011
Federal Judge Finds Florida’s Death Penalty Unconstitutional
On June 20, U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez declared Florida’s death penalty unconstitutional because jurors are not required to make findings beyond a reasonable doubt on the aggravating factors that can increase a guilty defendant’s sentence from life to death. The ruling mandates that defendants have a Sixth Amendment right to have all essential elements of proof in criminal cases found by a jury rather than by a judge. Legal experts say the ruling could have an important impact on…
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Jun 22, 2011
DPIC Releases New Report as 35th Anniversary of Reinstatement of the Death Penalty Approaches
The Death Penalty Information Center has released a new report, “Struck by Lightning: The Continuing Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty Thirty-Five Years After Its Reinstatement in 1976.” The report shows that despite the changes to sentencing schemes approved by the U.S. Supreme Court on July 2, 1976, race, geography, money and other factors continue to make the implementation of the death penalty arbitrary and unfair. A majority of the nine Justices who served on the Supreme Court in 1976…
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Jun 22, 2011
On 35th Anniversary of Death Penalty’s Reinstatement, New Report Shows System Remains Arbitrary and Unfair
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 22, 2011 CONTACT: Margot Friedman at 202 – 332-5550 or mfriedman@dupontcirclecommunications.com ON 35th ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH PENALTY’S REINSTATEMENT, NEW REPORT SHOWS SYSTEM REMAINS ARBITRARY & UNFAIR A Majority of Justices From 1976 Decision Agree: Death Penalty Experiment Has Failed (Washington, D.C.) July 2, 2011 is the 35th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Gregg v. Georgia, where the Court approved sentencing schemes intended to make the…
Read MoreJun 21, 2011
Sister Helen Prejean Appeals to U.S. Drug Company on Behalf of Georgia Death Row Inmate
Noted author and human rights activist, Sister Helen Prejean, has released a letter sent to George S. Barrett, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cardinal Health in Dublin, Ohio, asking him to secure the return of drugs that may be used to execute Andrew De Young in Georgia and “to take every step possible to make your actual practices comply with your stated business and ethical codes, including demanding the immediate return of the drugs and refunding the purchase price of $27,000 to The…
Read MoreJun 20, 2011
COSTS: New Study Reveals California Has Spent $4 Billion on the Death Penalty
A new study of California’s death penalty found that taxpayers have spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment since it was reinstated in 1978, or $308 million for each of the 13 executions carried out since then. The study, conducted by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Arthur L. Alarcon and Loyola Law School Professor Paula M. Mitchell estimated that capital trials, enhanced security on death row and legal representation for capital defendants add $184 million to California’s budget annually.
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Jun 17, 2011
EDITORIALS: Texas Inmate With IQ of 62 Faces Imminent Execution
A recent editorial in the Houston Chronicle highlights the case of Texas death-row inmate Milton Mathis, whose IQ of 62 places him well below the threshold for intellectual disability (formerly called “mental retardation”). Mr. Mathis faces execution on June 21, despite the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Atkins v. Virginia, which banned the execution of inmates with intellectual disabilities. The Chronicle noted, “If put to death, Milton Mathis would have one of the lowest — if not the…
Read MoreJun 16, 2011
Legislation Introduced to Help Enforce Treaty Protecting Those Arrested Outside Their Own Country
On June 14, Senator Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) (pictured) introduced the Consular Notification Compliance Act. This bill would establish enforcement mechanisms for U.S. compliance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a key treaty that provides the right to consult with your consulate for citizens detained outside their home country. The U.S. has signed and ratified this treaty, but has not always abided by its terms. Among other provisions, the act will give jurisdiction to federal…
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