Publications & Testimony

As evi­dence sur­faces that Texas may have killed an inno­cent man when it exe­cut­ed Ruben Cantu in 1993, recent edi­to­ri­als by the Austin American-Statesman and the Dallas Morning News have crit­i­cized Texas’ death penal­ty and called on the state to take a clos­er look at its ​“flawed” cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem. The Austin American-Stateman wrote: We all should remem­ber (Ruben) Cantu’s case and the lessons it offers as the coun­try car­ries out its 1000^th exe­cu­tion since 1976 sched­uled for today in…

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear argu­ments in two death penal­ty cas­es on Wednesday, December 7, 2005, includ­ing a case to deter­mine the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of Kansas’ death penal­ty statute and a case that involves the issue of inno­cence. In Kansas v. Marsh, No. 04 – 1170, the jus­tices will con­sid­er the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of Kansas’ death penal­ty, which requires that a death sen­tence be imposed when a jury finds that aggra­vat­ing cir­cum­stance and mit­i­gat­ing cir­cum­stances have equal weight. The jury…

Sixty-five per­cent of vot­ers in North Carolina favor sus­pend­ing the death penal­ty until ques­tions about its accu­ra­cy and fair­ness can be stud­ied accord­ing to a recent Hart Research poll spon­sored by the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers.The poll found that even among vot­ers who iden­ti­fy them­selves as strong sup­port­ers of the death penal­ty, 43% still favor a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions while an in-depth study of cap­i­tal punishment is…

Two new books by American University Criminology Professor Robert Johnson, includ­ing one book of satire and a sec­ond book of short sto­ries co-authored with pris­on­er Victor Hassine and crim­i­nol­o­gist Ania Dobrzanska, address life in prison and on death row in the United States. Johnson’s first book of satire, ​“Justice Follies,” offers a col­lec­tion of par­o­dies that seek to high­light a host of prob­lems with­in the American prison sys­tem. ​“This book made me laugh out loud. It is out­ra­geous… and…

Cardinal William H. Keeler (pic­tured), arch­bish­op of Baltimore and chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities, made an his­toric vis­it to Maryland’s death row and met with Wesley Eugene Baker, who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed in a few days. Cardinals Keeler, Theodore McCarrick of Washington, DC, and Michael Saltarelli of Wilmington, Delaware also sent a let­ter to Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich urg­ing him to com­mute Baker’s sentence to…

Virginia Governor Mark Warner (pic­tured) com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Robin Lovitt to life in prison with­out parole, a deci­sion he made to ​“ensure that every time the ulti­mate sanc­tion is car­ried out, it is done fair­ly.” Warner not­ed his deci­sion was based on con­cerns that Lovitt could not pur­sue new DNA test­ing on cru­cial evi­dence that could prove his inno­cence. The evi­dence, a pair of scis­sors that pros­e­cu­tors say Lovitt used as the mur­der weapon, had been thrown out by a Virginia court…

As the 1,000^th exe­cu­tion approach­es, over 1,000 reli­gious lead­ers from more than a dozen reli­gious faiths have issued an open let­ter call­ing for an end to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the United States. The let­ter reaf­firms the lead­ers’ moral oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty and reit­er­ates the groups’ belief in the sacred­ness of life and the human capac­i­ty for change. The faith lead­ers called on pub­lic offi­cials to reex­am­ine cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and to seek bet­ter ways to help com­mu­ni­ties heal from…

Mother Jones mag­a­zine recent­ly fea­tured an arti­cle about the grow­ing oppo­si­tion to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment among U.S. Catholics, and it high­light­ed con­ser­v­a­tive Catholics who have changed their posi­tion in response to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ call for an end to the death penal­ty. The arti­cle not­ed that Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, for­mer­ly a staunch sup­port­er of the death­penal­ty, is now call­ing for lim­its on its use. And Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, another…

The U.S. con­duct­ed the 1,000^th exe­cu­tion since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1976 on December 2. This is a somber mile­stone in the his­to­ry of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, but it comes at a time when the use of the death penal­ty in this coun­try is sharply declin­ing. Death sen­tences, the size of death row, exe­cu­tions, and pub­lic sup­port for the death penal­ty are all low­er than they were five years ago. This event presents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to reflect on the appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty over the…

A clemen­cy peti­tion filed with Virginia Governor Mark Warner on behalf of Robin Lovitt, who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on November 30, has gained the back­ing of some of the state’s most con­ser­v­a­tive voic­es. Among those encour­ag­ing Warner to com­mute Lovitt’s sen­tence to life are for­mer Republican Virginia attor­ney gen­er­al Mark L. Earley, Rutherford Institute founder John W. Whitehead, and Lovitt’s attor­ney Kenneth Starr, who now serves as dean of the Pepperdine…