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: 4221 — 4230
Nov 18, 2010
STUDIES: Illinois Commission Questions Use of Millions for Death Penalty Prosecutions
The Illinois Capital Reform Study Committee, created by the state legislature in 2003 and headed by Thomas P. Sullivan, a former U.S. Attorney, recently issued its sixth and final report on the Illinois death penalty. The report found that taxpayers are spending tens of millions of dollars on the prosecution of a large number of death-penalty cases, even though relatively few result in actual death sentences. Since 2003, 18 people have been sentenced to death, even though 500 defendants had…
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Nov 17, 2010
TIME ON DEATH ROW: After 35 Years, Texas Inmate Dies of Natural Causes
The longest serving inmate on Texas’s death row died of natural causes in Dallas County Jail while awaiting a new sentencing hearing. Ronald Curtis Chambers spent 35 years on death row awaiting execution. For much of the time, he was confined to his cell for 23 hours a day. Chambers was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1975, but his sentence was overturned repeatedly. He was again sentenced to death in 1985 and 1992. James Volberding, who worked on Chamber’s appeals from…
Read MoreNov 16, 2010
ARBITRARINESS: Jury Deadlocks on Death Penalty for Murder of Police Officer
A capital jury in Philadelphia illustrated the divisiveness and arbitrariness of the death penalty when it could not decide on a sentence for Rasheed Scrugs, who admitted to killing Police Officer John Pawlowski. The atmosphere in the jury room became “horrible” according to one of the jurors. Jurors almost immediately reported no chance for a verdict, as deliberations began with seven for life in prison and five for death by lethal injection. Some jurors reportedly refused to take part in the…
Read MoreNov 16, 2010
DPIC 2010 Public Opinion Poll
TELECONFERENCE FOR JOURNALISTS — TUES. NOV. 16 — 10 AM EASTERN: Information for journalists concerning the Death Penalty Information Center’s teleconference: A national poll of Americans’ views on the death penalty. Teleconference will be held on Tuesday, November 16, 2010, at 10 AM Eastern Time. The teleconference will begin with short presentations by representatives of Lake Research Partners, the national firm that conducted the poll, and DPIC’s Executive Director. Following these…
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Nov 15, 2010
CLEMENCY: Ohio Governor Grants Fifth Clemency
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland granted clemency to Sidney Cornwell, reducing this sentence to life without parole. Cornwell faced execution on November 16 for a 1996 gang-related shooting in Youngstown. Attorneys for Cornwell argued that he grew up in an abusive environment and that he suffered from a genetic condition that contributed to his violent tendencies. The attorneys also said that Cornwell’s death sentence was disproportionate to sentences handed out for similar killings in Mahoning…
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Nov 12, 2010
Another Texas Execution Thrown in Doubt by New DNA Tests
Recent DNA tests raise serious doubts about the conviction of a man executed in Texas in 2000. The tests revealed that a strand of hair found at the scene of a liquor-store shooting did not belong to Claude Jones, as was originally implied by the prosecution. Instead, the hair belonged to the victim. Jones was executed for the murder of the store’s owner. The strand of hair was the only piece of physical evidence that placed Jones at the scene of the crime, and this revelation raises the…
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Nov 11, 2010
U.S. Military Death Penalty: Facts and Figures
The death penalty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice was reinstated in 1984. The military death row is located at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. There are currently seven death row inmates awaiting execution, five of whom are African-Americans and two of whom are white. Unlike state executions, members of the military cannot be executed unless the President personally confirms the death sentence. The President also has the power to commute a death sentence…
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Nov 09, 2010
Oklahoma Proposes New Lethal Injection Drug
Oklahoma recently filed a petition with a federal court asking that pentobarbital, an anesthetic agent used in euthanasia of animals, be allowed as a substitute for sodium thiopental in lethal injection procedures. Earlier this year, Hospira Inc., the nation’s sole manufacturer of the latter drug, announced that it has ceased production because of a shortage in one of the ingredients. The shortage has forced Oklahoma and other states to delay executions and seek other sources for the drug.
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Nov 08, 2010
NEW RESOURCES: “Death Penalty for Female Offenders”
A new report by Victor Streib, Professor of Law at Ohio Northern University, highlights trends in the death penalty regarding female offenders. The report shows that the death penalty in the United States is rarely imposed on women. Of the approximately 8,200 death sentences that have been imposed across the U.S. since 1973, less than 2% have been imposed on female defendants (167 out of 8,292, at the time of the report’s publication). Additionally, only 1% of executions in the modern era…
Read MoreNov 05, 2010
Arkansas Supreme Court Orders Review of 1993 Capital Case
On November 4, the Arkansas Supreme Court ordered evidentiary hearings to consider whether newly analyzed DNA evidence should result in a new trial for Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, who were convicted of the 1993 murders of three West Memphis Cub Scouts. Echols was sentenced to death and the other defendants received life. The results of the DNA tests on evidence from the crime scene excluded Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley as the sources. The high court also ordered an…
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