Publications & Testimony

Amnesty International has released a new report entitled, “Too much cruelty, too little clemency: Texas nears 200^th execution under current governor.” It examines many of the nearly 200 executions that have occurred during Governor Rick Perry’s term in office, as well as a few cases where executions are imminent. The organization states that the Governor is not solely responsible for the fate of those on death row, but notes that Perry has “rarely exercised his power of reprieve, or used his…

A judge in Texas has recommended that the claim of an unfair trial brought by death row inmate Charles Hood should go forward because the trial judge and prosecutor had a secret romantic relationship that they hid from the defendant before, during, and after his trial. CBS News Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen reported on the story, writing, “Hood’s judge and prosecutor lied, over and over again, to hide their affair. Any blame for the delay in bringing justice to Hood is their fault, not his, and…

By the numbers in Nebraska: 205 Nebraska murder cases have been eligible for the death penalty since 1973. 31 of those resulted in death sentences. 3 resulted in executions. 4 death-row occupants died in prison. 10 men now sit on death row. Death sentence was overturned in the rest. [source: 2007 study by Jerry Soucie of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy] (“Death penalty pits costs vs. closure,” May 3, 2009, Omaha World-Herald)

DPIC has two new resources for comparing the use of the death penalty in the various states. The first is a chart listing the states in order of their total death sentences as a fraction of their population. The second measures the total executions in each state as compared to the total number of death sentences. Even though Texas leads the country with the most executions since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, it is eleventh in the U.S. in terms of death sentences per capita…

An editorial The Daily Astorian, contrasts the state’s use of funds for the death penalty to the state’s reduction in funding for education. “The glaring contrast to our unquestioning spending on the death penalty — which Judge Lipscomb called ‘this largely futile attempt’ — is our disinvestment in education,” the paper noted. “Investment in education is about the future, and it is about hope. Investment in prisons and especially in the death penalty is about a final reckoning, an admission of…

Although Texas leads the country by far with the most executions (436) since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, it is second to Oklahoma in terms of executions as a fraction of the state’s population. The other leading execution states on a per capita basis are Delaware, Virginia, Missouri, and Arkansas. The full ranking of executions per capita by state may be found here. In 2009, there have been 22 executions as of April 27, with 100% of them occurring in the South. Of the 22…

The Angolite, an award-winning magazine produced by the inmates at Angola Prison in Louisiana, recently published an extensive review of the developments in the death penalty in 2008. The article by Lane Nelson addressed nationwide trends, Supreme Court decisions, the issues of cost, the risks of executing innocent people, and the problem of inadequate representation. The article concluded, “[N]ational debates, legislative studies, court rulings and blue-ribbon commission recommendations in…