Publications & Testimony

A new study published in the American Journal of Political Science investigates the connection between death penalty decisions and the practice of electing judges. “The analysis presented considers public opinion’s influence on the composition of courts … and its influence on judge votes in capital punishment cases. In elective state supreme courts, public support for capital punishment influences the ideological composition of those courts and judge willingness to uphold death sentences.

The International Court of Justice has granted Mexico’s request for an order to stay the execution of five Mexican citizens on death row in the U.S. Mexico had requested the U.N.’s highest court, commonly referred to as the World Court, to intervene because the United States has failed to comply with an earlier ICJ judgment ordering a hearing to review the trials of the Mexican citizens. The World Court ruled in 2004 that the U.S. violated the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations…

Researchers Marvin Zalman, Brad Smith, and Angie Kiger of Wayne State University’s Criminal Justice Department recently published a study in the Justice Quarterly on the frequency of wrongful convictions. After a comprehensive review of the literature concerning innocence, they reported the results of their survey of Michigan police officers, prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges regarding their “estimates of the frequency of wrongful conviction.” Respondents were asked about the percentage…

The latest version of Death Row U.S.A. has been released by the Capital Punishment Project of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. The report contains death row and execution data for all states and federal jurisdictions as of January 1, 2008. The report lists inmates by state, name, and race. The report also contains information on each person executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, and information on U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The last version of DRUSA was…

On July 10, Carlton Akee Turner is scheduled to be put to death in Texas for the murder of his adoptive parents when he was 19 years old. But a majority of the victims’ relatives are speaking out against the execution. Victim Tonya Carlton’s brother, Kelly Johnson, wrote in a petition to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, “I do not wish to see my sister’s only child executed. I believe in my heart that my sister would only have wanted Akee to receive the help that he needed to restore his mind…

A former California deputy district attorney recently explained how he had changed his views on the death penalty after once arguing for it at trial. From that experience, he concluded he “won’t do it again.” As the prosecutor in a heinous murder case, Darryl Stallworth found himself feeling more hesitant about the use of the death penalty as the trial progressed. Stallworth stated, “I was no longer certain what would be accomplished by executing [the defendant].” Although he argued for the…

Testimony of Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center, before the Nevada Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice regarding the costs of the death penalty and related issues (July 7, 2008; telephonic testimony)

Gerald Kogan, former Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, who has also served as a prosecutor, defense attorney, and trial judge, recently expressed concerns about Florida’s death penalty system. “Florida’s system of capital punishment is broken,” he wrote in the St. Petersburg Times. “Florida’s justice system fails on many fronts.” He pointed out that “Florida has become the holder of a dubious distinction: more individuals convicted of murder (22) have been exonerated from our death…