Publications & Testimony

As New York lawmakers conducted the first in a series of hearings on the state’s death penalty, Robert M. Morgenthau, Manhattan’s long-serving District Attorney, recommended that New York abandon the practice: “It’s the deed that teaches, not the name we give it,” Morgenthau said, quoting George Bernard Shaw. He went on to note, “The penalty exacts a terrible price in dollars, lives, and human decency. Rather than tamping down the flames of violence, it fuels them….I urge all of our lawmakers…

Andrew Cuomo (pictured), who served as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1997 to 2001, recently urged New York lawmakers to put an end to the death penalty. The state is holding hearings on capital punishment in the wake of a N.Y. Court of Appeals decision finding the statute unconstitutional earlier this year. In his op-ed in The New York Times, Cuomo noted: The Democrats, who control the Assembly, should make it clear that they will not pass a new death penalty law. This…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS Wednesday, September 15, 2004 Brenda Bowser, 202.293.6970 (O), 301.906.4460 (Cell) Valerie Holford, 202.365.5336 (Additional Contacts Listed Below) DPIC ISSUES NEW INNOCENCE REPORT: 116 NOW FREED FROM DEATH ROW IN 25 STATES Public Response Measured in Declines in Death Sentencing, Death Row, Executions, and Opinion Polls WASHINGTON, DC – The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) is issuing a new report entitled Innocence and the Crisis in the American Death…

Read the Press Release. Copies may be obtained by contacting DPIC. The report will be posted on our Web site in the near future.

On December 13, 2004, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the effectiveness of defense counsel’s performance must be judged by standards previously set out by the Court in Strickland v. Washington. In Florida v. Nixon, Joe Nixon’s attorney told the jury his client was guilty without his client’s express consent. After the jury sentenced Nixon to death, the Florida Supreme Court overturned Nixon’s conviction, holding that counsel’s concession of guilt automatically fell below an objective…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brenda Bowser Tuesday, December 14, 2004 (202) 293‑6970, cell (301) 906‑4460 bbowser@deathpenaltyinfo.org DEATH PENALTY NUMBERS IN 2004 CONTINUE DRAMATIC FIVE-YEAR DECLINE DPIC’s Year End Report Highlights Drops in Death Sentences, Executions, Death Row Population, and Public Support for Capital Punishment WASHINGTON, DC – A five-year decline in death sentences, a 40% drop in executions, a shrinking death row population, and waning public support for capital…

On December 10, 2004 (Human Rights Day), the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Jose Medellin to determine what effect the United States should give to a recent ruling by the International Court of Justice at the Hague, the United Nations’ highest court. In the case of Medellin and 50 other Mexican nationals on death row, the World Court ruled that the U.S. failed to inform Mexico of their arrests, in violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. This…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brenda Bowser Tuesday, December 14, 2004 DEATH PENALTY NUMBERS IN 2004 CONTINUE DRAMATIC FIVE-YEAR DECLINE DPIC’s Year End Report Highlights Drops in Death Sentences, Executions, Death Row Population, and Public Support for Capital Punishment WASHINGTON, DC – A five-year decline in death sentences, a 40% drop in executions, a shrinking death row population, and waning public support for capital punishment have marked a significant turn around in the use of the…

The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law has released a new report entitled, The Snitch System: How Snitch Testimony Sent Randy Steidl and Other Innocent Americans to Death Row. The report highlights 51 cases of Americans who were wrongfully convicted and given death sentences based on the testimony of witnesses with incentives to lie. According to the Center, snitch testimony is the primary cause for approximately 45% of all wrongful capital convictions…

After examining evidence from the capital prosecution of Cameron Willingham (pictured), four national arson experts have concluded that the original investigation of Willingham’s case was flawed and it is possible the fire was accidental. The independent investigation, reported by the Chicago Tribune, found that prosecutors and arson investigators used arson theories that have since been repudiated by scientific advances. Willingham was executed earlier this year in Texas despite his consistent…