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An Associated Press analy­sis of the 334 cap­i­tal indict­ments filed in Franklin County, Ohio, found that only 16 (5%) of the cas­es end­ed with a death sen­tence. Of those sen­tences, two have been reduced to life in prison with­out parole, one man died on the row, and two men were exe­cut­ed this year. Research shows that of the remain­ing Franklin County cas­es, 183 cas­es (55%) end­ed in plea agree­ments, and in 111 cas­es (33%) juries or three-judge pan­els convicted the…

About half of Pennsylvania’s death row of 240 inmates comes from Philadelphia. Yet in the 11 years that the Defender Association of Philadelphia has been han­dling cap­i­tal cas­es, not one of their clients has been sen­tenced to death. The Defender Office han­dles one of every five cap­i­tal cas­es in the city. The dif­fer­ence between life and death appears to rest with the qual­i­ty of rep­re­sen­ta­tion and often comes down to dol­lar and cents.​“What is going on in…

According to Amnesty International’s lat­est report on exe­cu­tions around the world, China, Iran, the United States, and Vietnam account­ed for 84% of the 1,146 known exe­cu­tions car­ried out in 21 nations in 2003. China car­ried out at least 726 exe­cu­tions, Iran exe­cut­ed 108 peo­ple, the United States car­ried out 65 exe­cu­tions, and Viet Nam report­ed 64 exe­cu­tions last year. Among those exe­cut­ed in 2003 were two juve­nile offend­ers, 1 in China and 1 in the United States.

The…

A bill estab­lish­ing the sen­tenc­ing option of life with­out parole in cap­i­tal cas­es has been sent to Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for sig­na­ture into law. The state leg­is­la­ture passed the bipar­ti­san mea­sure in an attempt to curb costs asso­ci­at­ed with the death penal­ty. A leg­isla­tive audit released in December 2003 found that the aver­age cost of a death penal­ty case in Kansas is $1.2 mil­lion. An advi­so­ry group of judges and attor­neys who stud­ied the state’s death…

Following an International Court of Justice deci­sion that the U.S. vio­lat­ed the rights of 51 Mexican for­eign nation­als on death row and should recon­sid­er their sen­tences and con­vic­tions, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer is seek­ing to deter­mine how the Court’s rul­ing will impact the 28 Mexican for­eign nation­als on California’s death row. Of the 28 men await­ing exe­cu­tion, two are exempt from the rul­ing because they had dual cit­i­zen­ship or were advised of their…

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