Publications & Testimony

On December 15, 2025, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole put a hold on the exe­cu­tion of Stacey Humphreys and post­poned his clemen­cy hear­ing, orig­i­nal­ly sched­uled for December 16,​“indef­i­nite­ly.” Mr. Humphreys was to be exe­cut­ed December 17 — despite claims that his tri­al was taint­ed by what three Supreme Court jus­tices described as​“extreme juror mis­con­duct.” He was the first per­son sched­uled for exe­cu­tion in Georgia in 2025. Last week, Mr. Humphreys’ attorneys…

The Death Penalty Information Center released its Year End Report today, detail­ing the death penal­ty prac­tices of 2025. The Report notes diver­gent and con­tra­dic­to­ry trends. On one hand, pub­lic opin­ion polls record­ed his­tor­i­cal­ly low sup­port for the death penal­ty, and the high­est oppo­si­tion in 50 years. New research about death sen­tenc­ing is con­sis­tent with these find­ings. DPI found that when cap­i­tal juries were asked to choose between life and death, the majority,…

“We don’t need more death. We need more care.” — Anna Lee, vic­tim fam­i­ly mem­ber — In a December 9, 2025, opin­ion arti­cle in The Tennessean, Anna Lee, a mur­der-vic­­tim fam­i­ly mem­ber whose beloved great-uncle’s killer, Nick Sutton, was exe­cut­ed six years ago explains how the death penal­ty has not brought her fam­i­ly heal­ing or jus­tice. In the piece, Ms. Lee com­pas­sion­ate­ly describes the long-term emo­tion­al and finan­cial toll the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment system imposes…

On December 15, 2025, the Death Penalty Information Center will release its annu­al Year End Report detail­ing nation­wide death penal­ty trends, includ­ing exe­cu­tions, new death sen­tences, leg­is­la­tion, pub­lic opin­ion, and the legal chal­lenges in the Supreme Court. This arti­cle high­lights the leg­is­la­tion intro­duced this year to mod­i­fy execution protocols. This year, leg­is­la­tors in more than half of states that retain the death penal­ty pro­posed changes to their…

Mr. Menzies lacks a ratio­nal under­stand­ing that he is to be exe­cut­ed for the crime of mur­der, as he does not under­stand the State’s ratio­nale for levy­ing his pun­ish­ment in gen­er­al or to him in par­tic­u­lar.” — Dr. Michael Brooks, Utah Department of Health and Human Services In a new men­tal com­pe­ten­cy report pre­pared by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, a state med­ical pro­fes­sion­al has found death-sen­­tenced pris­on­er Ralph Menzies…

On November 13, 2025, just hours before Tremane Wood was sched­uled for exe­cu­tion, Governor Kevin Stitt accept­ed the rec­om­men­da­tion of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board and reduced Mr. Wood’s sen­tence to life with­out parole. In a state­ment, Gov. Stitt said,​“This action reflects the same pun­ish­ment his broth­er received for their mur­der of an inno­cent young man and ensures a severe pun­ish­ment that keeps a vio­lent offend­er off the streets for­ev­er. In Oklahoma, we will…