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: 4631 — 4640
Apr 17, 2009
Troy Davis Appeal Rejected; Oklahoma Board Recommends Clemency for Donald Gilson
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denied habeas corpus relief to a Georgia death row inmate who claims he is innocent and who has received international support. In a 2 – 1 decision, the court held that Troy Davis could have presented most of his new evidence earlier and that the evidence did not offer clear and convincing proof of his innocence. Hence, the court did not consider his free-standing claim of innocence on its merits, but concluded it was barred because of the delay…
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Apr 17, 2009
NEW VOICES: Chief Circuit Court Judge Finds Death Penalty “Flawed Beyond Repair”
Judge Boyce Martin, Chief Justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, recently concurred in a capital case and stated his conclusion that the death penalty system is now broken beyond repair. Writing in Wiles v. Bagley on April 14, Judge Martin said that the death penalty is “so fundamentally flawed at its very core that it is beyond repair.” He continued, “Now in my thirtieth year as a judge on this Court, I have had an inside view of our system of capital punishment almost…
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Apr 16, 2009
STUDIES: “Improving Prosecutorial Accountability: A Policy Review”
The Justice Project has released a new report entitled “Improving Prosecutorial Accountability: A Policy Review.” The report details some of the causes of prosecutorial misconduct and makes recommendations for reform. With a particular focus on preventing prosecutorial errors that lead to wrongful convictions, the study explores how a lack of transparency and accountability has allowed prosecutorial misconduct to persist nationwide. The report states that its recommendations would improve…
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Apr 15, 2009
NEW VOICES: Texas Judge Cites Costs and Innocence in Moving Away from Death Penalty
Texas Senior District Judge C.C. Cooke, who sentenced three defendants to death, now finds the sentence of life without parole “more palatable.” After a case where he doubted the defendant’s guilt, Judge Cooke said, “”To be honest, that’s when I started having some doubts about trying capital murder cases. I tended to believe his story.” The judge continued, “I would have been more comfortable if he could have been locked away for life without parole.” In addition to innocence, Judge Cooke…
Read MoreApr 14, 2009
LEGISLATION: Virginia Senate Upholds Governor’s Veto of Death Penalty Expansion
The Virginia Senate upheld Gov. Tim Kaine’s vetoes of proposals to expand capital punishment on April 8. The Senate vote fell short of the two-thirds needed to override Gov. Kaine’s vetoes of the bills that would have extended capital punishment to murder accomplices who were not the actual killer and to those who kill on-duty fire marshals and auxiliary police officers. This marks the third consecutive year that Gov. Kaine has vetoed bills to expand capital punishment to accomplices.
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Apr 13, 2009
EDITORIALS: Hartford Courant Calls for End to Connecticut’s Death Penalty
The Hartford Courant has called for an end to the death penalty in Connecticut, citing its costs and risks. The paper called a legislative committee’s work toward abolishing Connecticut’s death penalty “brave,” and said the state’s capital punishment system was “unworkable, not to mention expensive, unfair, and risky.” They quoted State Sen. Mary Anne Handley who said: “The death penalty is neither swift nor certain. It may even be certain that it’s not going to happen.” The editorial…
Read MoreApr 09, 2009
Former Illinois Death Row Inmate Acquitted in Retrial
A former Illinois death row inmate, Nathson Fields, was acquitted on April 8 of a double homicide for which he spent eleven and a half years on death row. “I feel like my prayers have been answered,” said Fields after the judge issued the not guilty verdict in the retrial. In Field’s original trial, the judge took a $10,000 bribe, but then returned the money when he discovered he was under federal investigation. Fields and a co-defendant were convicted and sentenced to death, but the…
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Apr 08, 2009
Ecuador Seeks Return of Florida Death Row Inmate
Ecuador is demanding the return of one of their citizens from Florida’s death row because they maintain he was taken from Ecuador illegally. The inmate, Nelson Serrano Saenz, is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Ecuador. Ecuador says he should have never been taken from their country by Florida officials, calling the arrest a “kidnapping” and accusing the U.S. government of physical maltreatment of Serrano as well. Ecuador does not have the death penalty and will not extradite fugitives who face…
Read MoreApr 07, 2009
NEW RESOURCES: Latest “Death Row USA” Report Released by NAACP Legal Defense Fund
According to the latest edition of Death Row U.S.A. published by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), the size of death row decreased slightly as of July 1, 2008 compared to Jan. 1. After increasing steadily for about 25 years, the death row population started decreasing in 2000. The current total of defendants on state and federal death rows is 3,307, of whom 45% are white, 41.6% are black, and 11% are Latino/Latina. Over 98% of those on death row are male. The states with the…
Read MoreApr 07, 2009
STUDIES: The Application of the Death Penalty in New Mexico
A study by attorney Marcia Wilson was recently published in the New Mexico Law Review: “The Application of the Death Penalty in New Mexico, July 1979 through December 2007: An Empirical Analysis.” Wilson’s research reveals new information on how the death penalty was applied in New Mexico after its reinstatement. The article was published before New Mexico repealed the death penalty in March 2009, and served as valuable information during the legislative debate. Wilson concluded, “The numbers…
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