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: 4641 — 4650
Apr 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…
Read MoreApr 05, 2009
Florida Facing Furloughs of Prosecutors and Public Defenders; Likely to Clog Courts
Across the state of Florida, public defenders and prosecutors are facing furloughs due to a budget shortfall, potentially leaving the criminal court system at a standstill during some of the next three months. “As we have hung to the cliff by our fingernails, this 15 percent [budget] cut is the boot stomping our hands,” the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association wrote to Gov. Charlie Crist recently. Public defenders say they will not be able to take any new cases, though they will still come…
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Apr 03, 2009
STUDIES: Researchers Find Root of Wrongful Convictions in Forensic Science Testimony
A groundbreaking study by Brandon Garrett and Peter Neufeld published in the Virginia Law Review explores erroneous scientific testimony by prosecution experts in the trials of defendants who were later exonerated through DNA testing. The research, “Invalid Forensic Science Testimony and Wrongful Convictions,” explored serological analysis and microscopic hair comparison, bite mark evidence, shoe prints, soil, fiber, fingerprint comparisons, and DNA testing. In 60% of the trials, the…
Read MoreApr 02, 2009
Supreme Court Rules that Federal Funding Extends to State Clemency Representation
On April 1, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Harbison v. Bell that federally appointed counsel can represent indigent capital clients in state clemency procedures. The case, which was argued before the Supreme Court in January 2009, asked whether a federal law that provides lawyers to indigent state death row inmates for parts of their appeal guarantees them the continuation of that representation through the state clemency process. The law says that such lawyers are to represent their clients in…
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Apr 01, 2009
Attorneys’ Late Filings Forfeit Final Capital Appeals
According to a review by the Houston Chronicle, Texas attorneys who failed to meet deadlines in filing their clients’ appeals forfeited the final opportunity to appeal for at least 9 men, 6 of whom have already been executed. The failures included lawyers who miscalculated or misunderstood the deadlines, computer failures, and human error. Many were dismissed simply because they were filed after business hours on the day of the deadline. James Marcus, an expert in capital case law who teaches…
Read MoreMar 31, 2009
STUDIES: Factors in Wrongful Convictions in Texas
A new report released by The Justice Project, “Convicting the Innocent: Texas Justice Derailed,” analyzes the cases of 39 innocent Texans who collectively spent more than 500 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. The study focuses on these non-capital crimes as it recommends reforms Texas should implement to improve the quality of evidence used and reduce the risk of wrongful convictions. Eyewitness misidentification was the leading cause of wrongful convictions in Texas, where only…
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Mar 30, 2009
UPCOMING EXECUTION: Man to be Executed Changed Lives While on Death Row
UPDATE: JOSE BRISENO RECEIVED A STAY OF EXECUTION ON APRIL 2. Texas death row inmate Jose Briseno is scheduled to be executed on April 7. However, a stream of letters and support, including some from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice staff, fellow prisoners, and a network of people outside of prison has been sent to the Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles asking that his sentence be commuted to life. According to the clemency petition submitted by his attorney, during his 17 years on death…
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