Publications & Testimony

The Judicial Conference of the United States, the policy making body of the nation’s federal judges, wrote a strong letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee opposing parts of the Streamlined Procedures Act (S.1088) that would curtail death penalty appeals. The bill is scheduled to be marked up by the Committee on Thursday, September 29. The judges said the bill could “create unreasonable obstacles to resolution” of death penalty cases, and that it could “undermine the traditional…

Craig Haney, professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has just published a new book, Death By Design: Capital Punishment as a Social Psychological System (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2005). Haney explores a number of areas that skew death penalty sentencing in America: Jury selection — By systematically screening out opponents of capital punishment, the process produces unrepresentative juries and juries that include a high concentration of people who…

Recent research has revealed a close correlation between the U.S. states that historically carried out the most lynchings and the states that today have the highest homicide rates and most death sentences. In a study led by sociologist Steven Messner of the State University of New York at Albany, county data from 10 southern states where historically reliable information on vigilante lynchings between 1882 and 1930 is available were examined (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky…

The Amicus Journal discusses death penalty issues from around the world. The latest edition contains articles on the “teamwork” approach used by capital defense attorneys in Virginia, Africa’s progress in abandoning the death penalty, and a feature on the experience of being a lawyer on the front lines of capital litigation in the U.S. The publication also examines the recent U.S. Supreme Court cases of Medellin v. Dretke and Miller-El v. Dretke. (13 Amicus Journal (2005), published in London…

According to a new study to be published in the Santa Clara Law Review, a defandant in California is more likely to be sentenced to death for killing a white person than for murdering a person of any other race, despite there being more black and Hispanic murder victims in the state. The research also shows that geography plays a key role in whether the death penalty will be sought in a particular case. The study implies that the loss of white lives is considered more important in the justice…

The latest edition of the Consular Rights in America newsletter is now available. The newsletter discusses legal and political developments concerning citizens of other countries who are in prison or on death row in the U.S. Issue 29 contains excerpts from the Texas Lawyer of recent arguments before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in the case of Jose Medellin, a Mexican citizen on death row in Texas. This case has already been the subject of arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, the…

Qin Yanhong was convicted of rape and murder in China in 1999. A panel of judges sentenced him to death. His conviction was the result of a confession that followed days of torture and interrorgation by police, despite the fact that such tactics are forbidden under Chinese law. The senior detective on the case expressed absolute confidence in the conviction and even offered to accept the punishment if it was proven wrong. In 2001, another man walked into a nearby police station and confessed to…

As students return to the classroom this fall, the Death Penalty Information Center is offering educators an updated version of its award-winning Educational Curriculum on the Death Penalty to assist teachers who wish to include this topic in their classrooms. DPIC’s balanced and dynamic online curriculum was designed in conjunction with the Michigan State Communications Technology Laboratory. This free classroom tool offers separate teacher and student sites, flexible lesson plans, teacher…

As students return to the classroom this month, the Death Penalty Information Center is offering teachers an updated version of its free online educational curriculum on the death penalty and other resources to assist educators who wish to incorporate this topic into their classroom lesson plans. DPIC’s award-winning online curriculum was designed by the Michigan State Communications Technology Laboratory in conjunction with the Death Penalty Information Center. It offers separate teacher and…

A federal judge in Boston presiding over the death penalty case of two black defendants has ordered a change in the process of summoning jurors in order to ensure a more diverse jury. U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner wrote a 95-page opinion and noted that it would be “profoundly troubling” if the defendants, Darryl Green and Branden Morris, were to face an all-white jury in a trial for their lives. Gertner cited studies that showed that wealthier geographic areas keep more accurate jury rolls…