Publications & Testimony
Items: 5381 — 5390
Aug 22, 2005
STUDIES: Blacks Struck from Juries at Twice the Rate of Whites
A two-year Dallas Morning News investigation of jury selection in Dallas County has revealed that prosecutors exclude blacks from juries at more than twice the rate they reject whites, and that race is the most important personal trait affecting which jurors prosecutors reject. The paper’s review also found that when potential black and white jurors answered key questions about criminal justice issues the same way, blacks were rejected at a higher rate. The study…
Read MoreAug 22, 2005
NEW VOICES: Former Federal Prosecutor Criticizes the Withholding of Critical Evidence
John P. Flannery, a former federal prosecutor and special counsel to the U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees, recently noted the broad problems in Virginia’s criminal justice system that could lead to convicting the innocent:We are convicting innocent people in Virginia because of false eyewitness testimony, false confessions, over-eager snitches, faulty forensics, bad defense lawyers but also, and this is the worst of all, because of prosecutorial…
Read MoreAug 18, 2005
Important Court Decisions in New Jersey and Louisiana
The Appellate Division of New Jersey’s Superior Court in State v. Jimenez announced new procedures on August 17, 2005 for deciding claims of mental retardation by a defendant facing the death penalty: (a) the State must be put to the burden of proving the absence of mental retardation when a colorable issue is presented; (b) the State’s burden is to prove the absence of mental retardation beyond a reasonable doubt; (c) the jury must be the factfinder;…
Read MoreAug 18, 2005
EDITORIAL: Alabama’s Death Penalty Representation System in Disarray
The Birmingham News sharply criticized Alabama’s system of representation in death penalty cases, saying that the public should be outraged. A lack of even minimal resources and pay has caused attorneys to withdraw from cases and to decline representation to indigent defendants. The paper wrote that this shortage of attorneys could result in more trial errors and longer appeals, putting an undue strain on victims’ families and the entire system of justice. The…
Read MoreAug 16, 2005
NEW RESOURCE: Research Examines Those Who Volunteer for Execution
A new Michigan Law Review article by Professor John Blume of Cornell Law School examines the relationship between“volunteering” for execution and suicide. Blume found that nearly 88% of all death row inmates who have“volunteered” for execution have struggled with mental illness and/or substance abuse. He writes that there is an especially strong link between“volunteerism” and mental illness. Of the“volunteer” executions he reviewed, 14 involved…
Read MoreAug 16, 2005
Two Cases Added to DPIC Innocence List, Bringing Total to 121
The Death Penalty Information Center recently became aware of two older capital cases in which the defendants had been sentenced to death but were later acquitted at re-trial. We have added Christopher McCrimmon of Arizona and Larry Fisher of Mississippi to our innocence list, bringing the total number of people released from death row on the basis of innocence to 121 since 1973. McCrimmon is the eighth person to be exonerated from Arizona’s death row, and…
Read MoreAug 16, 2005
Georgia Board To Pardon Woman 60 Years After Her Execution
The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has announced that it will issue a formal pardon this month for Lena Baker (pictured), the only woman executed in the state during the 20th century. The document, signed by all five of the current board members, will note that the parole board’s 1945 decision to deny Baker clemency and allow her execution was“a grievous error, as this case called out for mercy.” Baker, an African American, was executed for the murder of Ernest…
Read MoreAug 15, 2005
Study Finds Texans Lack Confidence in Death Penalty, Support Halt to Executions
An article published in the September 2004 issue of Justice Quarterly revealed that 64% of Texans support a halt to executions while questions of fairness and accuracy are addressed, and 48% of respondents lack confidence in the state’s capital punishment system. The findings were based on the 2002 edition of the annual Texas Crime Poll and the survey examined five key areas of concern about the death penalty, including questions related to innocence, fairness,…
Read MoreAug 12, 2005
NEW RESOURCE: The Death Penalty’s Impact on U.S. Foreign Relations
A new law review article by international death penalty expert Mark Warren concludes that the retention of capital punishment in the United States distances the nation from its closest allies“in ways both symbolic and tangible, and the costs of that isolation are rising steadily.” Warren’s article, Death, Dissent, and Diplomacy: The U.S. Death Penalty as an Obstacle to Foreign Relations, examines a broad range of concerns, including treaty compliance and…
Read MoreAug 11, 2005
UN Report Shows Declining Use of the Death Penalty Worldwide
UN Report Shows Declining Use of the Death Penalty Worldwide A report from the Secretary-General to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations on the status of the death penalty worldwide shows a declining use of…
Read More