Publications & Testimony

Former Connecticut state prosecutor and legal analyst Susan Filan recently stated that the death penalty is not an appropriate sentence, particularly when the crime appears to be a heinous violation of the sanctity of life . In her commentary posted on MSNBC.com, Filan wrote: As a former prosecutor I believe I understand the emotion involved in a murder case. I have seen firsthand the rage and fury and grief that families of murder victims express. The pain is indescribable. But I have never…

The New Mexico House of Representatives has approved legislation that would repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life without parole. Supporters of the measure say that it will save taxpayers an estimated $3 million a year, money they contend would be better spent on helping victims’ families. They also note that capital punishment could result in an innocent person being executed, does not deter murder, and is unfairly administered in the state. “There are no rich people…

A new report issued by Amnesty International focuses on the case of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis to illustrate the issue of innocence and the legal hurdles that death row inmates face in seeking judicial relief. The report — ‘Where is the justice for me?’ The case of Troy Davis, Facing Execution in Georgia — notes that Davis has been on death row for 15 years for a murder that he maintains he did not commit. Many of the state’s witnesses against Davis have since recanted or contradicted…

Christopher Scott Emmett could face execution in Virginia before the end of the year despite the fact that his legal representation fell short of decades-old American Bar Association standards, according to an investigation by McClatchy Newspapers reporter Stephen Henderson. Emmett was sentenced to death in 2001, and his story was among the 73 cases reviewed recently in the McClatchy series. During the sentencing phase of his trial, Emmett’s public defender, Lawrence D. Gott, failed to track…

A recent Kansas poll found that nearly two-thirds of respondents said they prefer a sentence of life in prison without parole in which the offenders would work in prison to pay restitution to the victims’ families as an alternative to the death penalty. The poll also revealed that many Kansans think capital punishment is handed out unfairly. Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they believe that some people are executed while others serve prison time for the same type of offense. “There is…

In the Shadow of Death: Restorative Justice and Death Row Families is a new book by Professors Elizabeth Beck, Sarah Britto, and Arlene Andrews that examines the debilitating effects that a death sentence can have on the families of the offenders. With a forward by Steve Earle, the book provides an in-depth analysis of restorative justice, which focuses on crime as an act against an individual or the community, rather than the state. In their examination of how capital punishment impacts the…

An Associated Press investigation of Tennessee’s “Manual for Execution” found that the guide for lethal injections contains conflicting instructions and mixes new procedures with old guidelines for carrying out electrocutions. The manual instructs prison officials to shave the condemned prisoner’s head prior to an execution, as if preparing him for electrocution, and orders that they have a fire extinguisher nearby. It also provides instructions for controlling the voltage flowing to an…

The Fairer Death: Executing Women in Ohio is a new book by Victor Streib, a professor at the Ohio Northern University College of Law. The book explores Ohio’s use of the death penalty for women and examines the implications for women on death row throughout the country. Streib carefully describes the cases of all four women executed by Ohio in its history and those of the 11 women sentenced to death in the state during the modern death penalty era (1973-present). Professor Streib’s analysis of…

Professor David Gushee, Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, called for a national halt to executions because the death penalty as a public policy “fails the most basic standards of justice.” Prof. Gushee, writing for the Associated Baptist Press, stated that the recent moratorium in Tennessee surrounding lethal injection problems should be extended to review the entire application of the death penalty, and that other states should take similar action.

The Colorado House Judiciary Committee recently voted to abolish the state’s death penalty, replacing it with a sentence of life-without-parole, and use the money currently spent on capital punishment to help solve 1,200 cold-case homicides in the state. The 7 – 4 vote followed four hours of testimony from murder victims’ family members, state law enforcement officials, and death penalty experts, including DPIC Executive Director Richard Dieter. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Paul Weissmann (pictured)…