Publications & Testimony

The President’s DNA Initiative has released Principles of Forensic DNA for Officers of the Court, a CD-ROM that addresses the use of DNA in judicial proceedings. This resource is designed for prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges, and provides a simple overview of DNA technologies and the issues that arise when DNA evidence is presented in court. The topics are covered in short paragraphs accompanied by illustrations, and links to other resources are included. Some of the areas covered by…

A new report issued by Amnesty International examines the issue of mental illness and the death penalty. The report notes that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions to halt the executions of juvenile offenders and those with mental retardation left a question mark over another category of offender, the mentally ill. In the report, Amnesty asks: ​“If the diminished culpability associated with youth and mental retardation render the death penalty an excessive punishment when used against offenders…

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, housing an inmate in California’s corrections system costs an average of $34,150 per year, though that figure is higher for those on death row or serving a sentence of life-without-parole. In capital cases, a more expensive investigation and prosecution process, as well as long and complicated appeals, raises the costs significantly. Only about 1% of homicides in the state are tried as capital cases, but those cases cost…

The British Privy Council in London unanimously struck down the imposition of mandatory death sentences in the Bahamas. This landmark decision held that the law ​“should be construed as imposing a discretionary and not a mandatory sentence of death.” The Privy Council ruling said that the mandatory death penalty should have been regarded as inhumane and degrading punishment as early as 1973. ​“The ramifications and consequences of the Privy Council’s ruling are huge; there are implications for at…

Congress recently passed the re-authorization of the Patriot Act and this bill is likely to curtail the appeals of state death row inmates in federal courts. The legislation, which is due to be signed into law this week by President Bush, would allow states to obtain approval of their systems of representation in death penalty cases from the U.S. Attorney General rather than from the federal courts, as required under a previous law. Once approval is granted, habeas corpus petitions alleging…

Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a stay of execution for three co-defendants on federal death row who were scheduled to be executed in May. Judge Huvelle’s order delays the executions indefinitely and is the result of a lethal injection challenge raised by the three men, James H. Roane Jr., Richard Tipton, and Cory Johnson. This case marks at least the sixth time since January that executions have been stayed after inmates raised…

Wounds That Do Not Bind: Victim-based Perspectives on the Death Penalty, a new book by James R. Acker and David Reed Karp, examines how family members and advocates for victims address the impact of capital punishment. The book presents the personal stories of victims’ family members and their interactions with the criminal justice system. It also examines the relevant areas of legal research, including the use of victim impact evidence in capital trials, how capital punishment affects victims’…

Prosecutors in Maryland, New Jersey, and Delaware have all chosen to seek life sentences in three high-profile murder cases. Among other concerns, they noted their wish to bring comfort to victims’ families and to secure the public’s longterm safety. The prosecutors expressed confidence that not seeking the death penalty was the right choice in these cases. Maryland prosecutors announced that they will not seek the death penalty for sniper John Allen Muhammad, who will go on trial in May.

Californians’ support for the death penalty is declining according to results of a new survey conducted in February 2006 by the Field Poll. The statewide poll revealed that only 63% of respondents favor keeping the death penalty for serious crimes, a figure that is lower than the 72% support for the death penalty measured in 2002 and significantly less than the 83% who voiced support for capital punishment in both 1985 and 1986. The survey also found a growing segment of the population…

In his new book, Death by Design: Capital Punishment as a Social Psychological System, Craig Haney argues that capital punishment, and particularly the events that lead to death sentencing itself, are maintained through a system that distances and disengages people from the true nature of the task. Haney, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, relies on his own research and that other of other scientists in approaching the question, ​“How can normal, moral people…