Publications & Testimony

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…

Lawyers and prosecutors in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania say that concerns about innocence and shifting public attitudes on the death penalty have caused jurors in the county to “lose their taste” for capital punishment. In each of the past 8 capital cases tried, jurors spared the life of the defendant. “My personal belief is that the heydey of the death penalty is over,” said Allegheny County attorney Caroline Roberto, former president of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal…

Pennsylvania death row inmate George E. Banks, who came within a day of being put to death in 2004, has been declared mentally incompetent to be executed. “His longstanding delusions render him unable to rationally comprehend his death sentence, its reasons or its implications. George Banks is a very mentally sick man,” stated Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan in his order. Banks was sentenced to death in 1983 for a shooting spree that ended in 13 deaths, including five of his own children.

The Florida Supreme Court unanimously overturned the conviction of death row inmate John Robert Ballard (pictured) and ordered his acquittal in the 1999 murders of two of his acquaintances. The Court concluded that the evidence against Ballard was so weak that the trial judge should have dismissed the case immediately. The primary evidence presented against Ballard was a hair and a fingerprint, both of which he could have left during his many visits to the victims’ apartment. Bloody…

Several members of the Arizona House and Senate recently offered apologies to Ray Krone (pictured), a former Arizona death row inmate who was freed in 2002 following new DNA tests. The apologies followed standing ovations from members of the state’s House and Senate when Krone was introduced to the legislators in each chamber during floor sessions. Krone, who now travels the nation educating people about the problems with the death penalty, accepted the legislators’ apologies and stated, “It’s…

South Korea’s Ministry of Justice has announced that it is considering replacing the death penalty with life without parole, a move that the ministry says stems from concerns about human rights. “We will thoroughly examine the possibility of abolishing the death penalty as part of efforts to set up a human rights-oriented penal system… . We will review the adequacy of introducing permanent life imprisonment which cannot be remitted by parole, as well as necesary budget and effect of the…

The number of people sentenced to death each year in California has declined by nearly 40% since the 1990s. According to the California Department of Corrections, on average, the state sent 35 people to death row each year during the 1990s. Since 2000, that number has declined to an average of 21 annually. California has the largest death row in the country. California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George attributed some of the decline to more selective charging by district attorneys…

An examination of recent Gallup surveys in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada found that Americans are more supportive of the death penalty than are either Britons or Canadians. An October 2005 poll of Americans measured support for the death penalty at 64%, a figure that was significantly higher than the 44% support measured in Canada and the 49% support found in Great Britain during December 2005 polls. Support for the death penalty recently declined in both Great Britain and…