Publications & Testimony

Virginia has not had a death ver­dict from a jury since March 2008, the longest stretch of time with­out a death ver­dict since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in the 1970s. Nationally, there has also been a decline in death sen­tences: accord­ing to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were 115 death sen­tences in 2007, 65% less than the 326 that were hand­ed down in 1995. In Virginia, part of this decline might be attrib­uted to a change in state law…

Death sen­tences have dropped sig­nif­i­cant­ly over the last few years in Texas accord­ing to a study by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The num­ber of death sen­tences is at a 35-year low as pros­e­cu­tors have pushed for few­er death sen­tences and juries have become less will­ing to impose them. Since 2005, defen­dants may receive a sen­tence of life with­out parole instead of the death penal­ty. Before this change, the only alter­na­tive to the…

On November 16, the United States Supreme Court accept­ed for review and hand­ed down a per curi­am deci­sion in Wong v. Belmontes (No. 08 – 1263). The Court rein­stat­ed Fernando Belmontes’ death sen­tence and over­turned the deci­sion of the Ninth Circuit grant­i­ng relief because of inef­fec­tive­ness of coun­sel. Belmontes was sen­tenced to death for mur­der­ing a woman dur­ing a rob­bery in 1981 in California. The appeals court…

Walla Walla County (Washington) Sheriff Mike Humphreys said the death penal­ty does not deter homi­cides, and it may be time for the pub­lic to recon­sid­er the law:​“At the time, (per­pe­tra­tors do not) think about [the death penal­ty]. They don’t believe they’re going to get caught. And if they do get caught, there are a lot of court pro­ceed­ings mak­ing it like­ly (exe­cu­tion is) not going to hap­pen.… It’s cost­ing us this much mon­ey. Let the people…

The Bob Edwards on Sirius XM Radio recent­ly explored the high costs of the death penal­ty and the views of the coun­try’s police chiefs as dis­cussed in DPIC’s lat­est report, ​“Smart on Crime: Reconsidering the Death Penalty in a Time of Economic Crisis.” Edwards is the for­mer host of National Public Radio’s​“Morning Edition.” He inter­viewed DPIC’s Executive Director Richard Dieter on…

On November 13, Ohio announced that it was adopt­ing a sin­­gle-drug pro­to­col for lethal injec­tion, mak­ing it the first state to embrace this change. Ohio will inject inmates with a large dose of an anes­thet­ic, thiopen­tal sodi­um, which is sup­posed to both ren­der the inmate uncon­scious and even­tu­al­ly cause death. The state also said it will employ a back-up method of exe­cu­tion involv­ing the injec­tion of two anes­thet­ic drugs into the mus­cle of the…

The for­mer direc­tor of Kentucky’s courts recent­ly rec­om­mend­ed that the state stop wast­ing mon­ey on the death penal­ty and direct those resources where they are need­ed more.​“We’ve got a sys­tem in Kentucky where there’s not enough mon­ey for pub­lic advo­cates, for pros­e­cu­tors, for drug courts, fam­i­ly courts, for juve­nile ser­vices, for reha­bil­i­ta­tion pro­grams, and we’re using the mon­ey we have in a way I think is unwise,” said Jason Nemes, for­mer director of…

On November 9, the U.S. Supreme Court grant­ed cer­tio­rari in the case of Bobby v. Van Hook (No. 09 – 144) and issued a per curi­am opin­ion over­turn­ing a pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which had grant­ed Robert Van Hook a new sen­tenc­ing hear­ing based on inef­fec­tive­ness of coun­sel. Van Hook had been con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death for a mur­der com­mit­ted in 1985 fol­low­ing an encounter in a bar. The Supreme Court held…

The Walla-Walla Union Bulletin is focus­ing on the state’s death penal­ty in a 4‑part series entitled, ​“Executing Justice.” The series exam­ines issues such as the costs of the death penal­ty, arbi­trari­ness, and the appeals process. Washington cur­rent­ly has eight men on death row, and has not had an exe­cu­tion since 2001. In almost 30 years, there has been only one non-con­sen­­su­al exe­cu­tion. Four defen­dants have been exe­cut­ed since the death…

A recent study of the mil­i­tary death penal­ty by Professor David Baldus revealed dis­par­i­ties depend­ing on whether the vic­tim in the under­ly­ing crime was also a mem­ber of the mil­i­tary or was a civil­ian. The paper was co-authored by Professors Catherine Grosso and George Woodworth and will be pub­lished by the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. The authors note that despite a 1984 exec­u­tive order that​“defined death eli­gi­ble murder in…