Publications & Testimony

The new president of Iraq, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani (pictured), recently voiced his concerns about the death penalty, even for those accused of war crimes like Saddam Hussein. ​“I am among the lawyers who signed an international petition against the death penalty in the world and it would be [a] problem for me if Iraqi courts issued death sentences,” Talabini said when asked about the fate of Hussein, who is in U.S. custody in Iraq awaiting trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Death Penalty Information Center has expanded the resources related to its award-winning Educational Curriculum on the Death Penalty. We now offer a listserv for educators who teach about capital punishment, free teacher training workshops, and free brochures for distribution to schools and teachers. Launched in 2000, DPIC’s Educational Curriculum is a balanced Internet-based classroom tool that offers flexible lesson plans, teacher overviews, separate teacher and student curriculum Web…

For Florida prisoners, including death row inmates, who were convicted before DNA evidence was routinely tested, the state-imposed October 1 deadline to submit new claims is fast approaching. After that date, evidence may be destroyed and the chance for an exoneration extinguished. Yet the system is seriously backlogged and under-resourced. Noting that Governor Jeb Bush recently stated that any court in Florida or elsewhere would ​“immediately” review a prisoner’s claim of DNA evidence…

Legislation that would allow those convicted of capital murder to be sentenced to life in prison without parole recently failed to win a key procedural vote in the Texas Senate, largely because of opposition from prosecutors and pro-death penalty organizations who said it would result in fewer death sentences. Although supported by a strong majority of the senators and the people of Texas, the bill needed a 2/​3 majority in order to be debated. The Senate’s failure to pass the bill means that…

According to a new report issued by Amnesty International, the United States is among four countries that carried out the vast majority of the 3,797 executions around the world in 2004. Amnesty’s report states that the nations carrying out the most executioners last year were China (3,400), Iran (159), Vietnam (64), United States (59), Saudi Arabia (33), Pakistan (15), Kuwait (9), Bangladesh (7), Egypt (6), Singapore (6), and Yemen (6). The report notes that the increase in executions in China…

A Georgia Superior Court overturned the murder conviction of death row inmate Willie Palmer after finding that prosecutors hid a $500 payoff to the state’s key trial witness, an act the judge said was ​“in defiance of (the state’s) legal and ethical duties.” The judge also threw out Palmer’s death sentence on the grounds that his trial lawyer failed to investigate and present evidence of Palmer’s mental retardation. In his opinion, the judge noted that prosecutors ​“intentionally hid” a deal…

In the most comprehensive examination of a statute in the history of the New York State Legislature, state lawmakers released a report highlighting the testimony of 170 witnesses at five statewide hearings on the state’s death penalty law. The report, issued by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver along with the Chairs of the Committees on Codes, the Judiciary and Correction, is a thorough examination of the statute and its troubled history. ​“We have spent more than $170 million administering the…

During his 26 years as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, the late Pope John Paul II frequently called for an end to the death penalty. Among his statements on this issue were the following: ​“May the death penalty, an unworthy punishment still used in some countries, be abolished throughout the world.” (Prayer at the Papal Mass at Regina Coeli Prison in Rome, July 9, 2000). ​“A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the…

As two men convicted of capital murder under the federal death penalty statute await their sentencing on April 11, Puerto Rican Governor Anibal Acevedo and the Association of American Jurists, a non-governmental organization acting as a consultant at the United Nations, protested the use of the death penalty in Puerto Rico. Though Puerto Rico’s Constitution prohibits the death penalty and its residents have consistently voiced strong opposition to it, residents who commit a federal capital…

The Following Newspapers Published Editorials Supporting the Abolition of the Juvenile Death Penalty: American Medical News Arizona Daily Star Baltimore Sun Battleboro (Vermont) Reformer The Birmingham (AL) News Casper (WY) Star Tribune The Chicago Sun-Times Concorde (NH) Monitor The Daily Targum (Rutgers Univ.) Dallas Morning News Daytona Beach News-Journal Decatur Daily Denver Post Detroit Free Press Greensboro (NC) News and Record The Honolulu (HI) Advertiser The Journal Sentinel…