Publications & Testimony

Items: 5971 — 5980

Jan 30, 2004

California Death Sentences Decline Sharply

In 2003, California juries sent 16 indi­vid­u­als to death row, the low­est num­ber since 1985 and a dra­mat­ic decline from 1999’s total of 42 new death sen­tences. Some believe the decline is evi­dence of pros­e­cu­tors being more selec­tive in seek­ing death con­vic­tions, as well as the pub­lic’s skep­ti­cism about the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem. Robert Pugsley, a pro­fes­sor at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, not­ed, ​“I think that (inci­dences of wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed death row inmates) has…

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Jan 30, 2004

New Resource: Illinois Coalition Report Examines State of Death Penalty in 2003

The Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty has issued a new report, ​“Questioning a Broken System: Capital Punishment in Illinois in 2003,” an in-depth review of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in Illinois fol­low­ing actions by the for­mer gov­er­nor and the leg­is­la­ture to address sys­temic flaws in the state’s death penal­ty sys­tem. The report notes that pros­e­cu­tors con­tin­ue to aggres­sive­ly seek the death penal­ty, but pub­lic skep­ti­cism is grow­ing over the use of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. For exam­ple, 80%…

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Jan 29, 2004

Court Finds Racial Bias in Pennsylvania Jury Selection

Arnold Holloway, a Pennsylvania death row inmate who was con­vict­ed 18 years ago, was grant­ed a new tri­al after a fed­er­al appeals court found that pros­e­cu­tors improp­er­ly exclud­ed blacks from the jury. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said that an assis­tant dis­trict attor­ney in Holloway’s case used 11 of his 12 peremp­to­ry strikes dur­ing jury selec­tion to elim­i­nate blacks. ​“The pat­tern here was cer­tain­ly strong enough to sug­gest an inten­tion of keep­ing blacks off the jury,” said…

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