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: 4761 — 4770
Oct 23, 2008
BOOKS: Streib’s Death Penalty in a Nutshell
Elon University School of Law’s Professor Victor Streib has released a new edition of his book, Streib’s Death Penalty in a Nutshell. It covers both the substantive and the procedural law of the death penalty and begins with arguments for and against the death penalty and an explanation of its basic constitutional challenges and limitations. Professor Streib covers capital crimes and defenses, as well as trial level and post trial procedural issues. Other topics include race and gender bias…
Read MoreOct 22, 2008
Professor Anthony Amsterdam Delivers Speech at Southern Center of Human Rights Event
Leading attorney, law professor, and advocate Anthony Amsterdam was honored by the Southern Center for Human Rights with the Frederick Douglass Human Rights Award in Washington, DC on October 2. Professor Amsterdam conducts the Capital Defender Clinic at New York University Law School and is recognized for his four decades of prominent work in cases ranging from death penalty defense to claims of free speech and the press, privacy, and equality of opportunity for racial minorities and the poor.
Read More
Oct 20, 2008
SUPREME COURT: Justice Stevens Questions Thoroughness of Review by Georgia Supreme Court
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens took the occasion of the Court’s denial of review to a death row defendant in Georgia to question the adequacy of the appeals process in that state. On October 20, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Walker v. Georgia, an appeal from the Georgia Supreme Court, and Justice Stevens concurred in that denial. However, Justice Stevens said he found the lack of careful scrutiny by the lower court to be “particularly troubling,” especially since the case…
Read More
Oct 16, 2008
EDITORIALS: A Call for Examination of Death Penalty in Tennessee
The Tennessean called for a more just legal system as a state legislative study committee on the death penalty continues to meet. The committee began its work this year after a series of embarrassing mistakes in applying the death penalty in Tennessee. Executions currently are on hold due to a lethal injection challenge brought last year by a death row inmate. The editorial called the committee’s work a “sliver of hope for improvement” after “costly confusion and probable miscarriages of…
Read MoreOct 15, 2008
NEW RESOURCES: BBC Documentary Examines US Capital Punishment System Through the Lethal Injection Issue
The documentary features judges, doctors, and men on death row. White interviewed the family of a man whose execution lasted 34 minutes and a lawyer who witnessed that event, vividly recalling the details. He spoke with the doctor who first proposed the lethal injection system, and to the judge in California who recommended that medically-qualified people should be present at executions to ensure a humane death. In the California case, two doctors walked out of the execution chamber when they…
Read More
Oct 14, 2008
DPIC Materials in Multiple Languages
Select pages of DPIC’s Web site are now available in Spanish, German and French. DPIC’s Death Penalty Fact Sheet and other information are in Spanish. DPIC’s Innocence List Case Descriptions are availabile in German. DPIC’s 1998 Report The Death Penalty in Black & White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides is available in French. Spanish- Hechos Sobre la Pena de Muerte. German- Unschuldige und ihre Faelle In Kuerze. French- Le Peine de Mort en Noir et Blanc: Qui Vit, Qui Meurt, Qui Decide. See…
Read MoreOct 14, 2008
U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Review Troy Davis Case
The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in the Troy Davis case on October 14, despite his claim of innocence. Davis had petitioned the Court to intervene in his case after seven of the nine non-police witnesses against him recanted their testimony. His lawyers said the new evidence demonstrated his innocence and that another man had even confessed to the killing. The Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles could still review its earlier decision to deny clemency to Davis. (G. Bluestein, “High…
Read MoreOct 13, 2008
NEW VOICES: Former Texas Prosecutor Now Opposes Death Penalty as New Study is Released on Wrongful Convictions
A former Dallas County prosecutor has abandoned his longstanding support of the death penalty and is now opposed to capital punishment based on recent exonerations in Texas and elsewhere. James Fry, who prosecuted Charles Chatman — a man recently exonerated from prison in Dallas County — said he was “shaken to the core” by the high number of exonerations throughout the nation and by evidence of flawed eyewitness testimony. Formerly a staunch supporter of capital punishment, Fry pointed to the risk…
Read More
Oct 10, 2008
NEW RESOURCES: Representation and Costs in Federal Death Penalty Cases
In June 2008, the Office of Defender Services of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts published a report analyzing the cost, quality and availability of defense representation in federal death penalty cases. The report determined that federal capital trials in which the death penalty was sought were substantially more expensive than non-death penalty federal trials; however, a death sentence was handed down in only one-quarter of the cases. In addition, defense expenditures in a federal…
Read MoreOct 09, 2008
International Organizations and Countries Mark Day Against the Death Penalty
As many countries prepare to mark the international World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10, recent trends indicate that the world is shifting away from capital punishment. According to a report published by Reprieve, an organization that represents death row prisoners around the world, 91 countries had abolished the death penalty for all crimes by the end of 2007, followed by three more so far in 2008. Even in Central Asia where executions are part of a long tradition, several…
Read More