Publications & Testimony

St. Petersburg Times March 30, 2004 Editorial Shamefully, Florida is one of the few places in the entire world where people can be put to death for crimes they committed as juveniles. The Legislature, amid one of its spells of death-penalty hysteria four years ago, spawned a constitutional amendment that, among other things, lowered the minimum age from 17 to 16. At the time, leaders promised to offset that with a law raising the age to 18, which would correspond to the laws of 19 states and…

The Illinois Attorney General’s office will not appeal a federal judge’s ruling finding that it was “reasonably probable” that Gordon Steidl would have been acquitted had the jury heard all of the evidence in his capital murder case. The court granted Steidl a new trial to prove his long-proclaimed innocence. Steidl was given the death penalty for the 1986 murders of a newlywed couple, but his sentence was reduced to life in prison without parole in 1999 following an Illinois State Police…

On March 31, 2004, the International Court of Justice will issue a ruling in a case brought by Mexico against the United States involving 52 Mexicans on death row in various U.S. states. The Court is the highest legal organ of the United Nations and is based in The Hague. Mexico has argued that the defendants are entitled to retrials because they were not informed of their right to talk to consular officials after being arrested, as provided by the Vienna Convention on Consular Rights. Last…

Following two hours of testimony including representatives of crime victims and death row exonerees, the Minnesota Senate Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee voted 8 – 2 against reinstating the death penalty, continuing nearly a century without the sentence on the state’s books. The Committee’s vote likely blocks passage of the death penalty bill this year. Don Streufert, whose daughter was raped and murdered in 1991, was among those who testified against the bill. He noted, “No penalty…

On May 18^th, Texas plans to execute Kelsey Patterson, a mentally ill man who was first diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia more than a decade before he murdered two women in 1992. After the murder, Patterson wandered around dressed only in his socks. Although a jury found Patterson competent to stand trial, he repeatedly interrupted the proceedings to offer a rambling narrative about implanted devices and other aspects of a conspiracy against him. According to a new report from Amnesty…

In the latest edition of the journal Deviant Behavior, sociologist Robert Young of the University of Texas has reported that death penalty supporters, such as those who are qualified to sit on juries in capital cases, were about a third more likely to have prejudiced views of blacks. Young’s evaluation of polling data also revealed that death penalty supporters are more likely to convict the defendant. When polled, they were nearly twice as likely to say it was worse to let the guilty go free…

In a vote upholding the state’s longstanding abolition of the death penalty, Michigan lawmakers refused to support a measure that would have put capital punishment before state voters in a referendum. The vote fell 18 short of the 2/3 required for passage. During a lengthy House debate regarding the bill, Representative Jack Minor (D‑Flint) told his colleagues that studies show crime rates are lower in states without the death penalty. He noted, “The death penalty’s not a deterrent. In fact…

According to recent Gallup polls, 64% of Americans favor the death penalty, while 48% of Canadian and 55% of British citizens favor the punishment. Great Britain and Canada have abolished the death penalty. The polling research also examined whether capital punishment has a deterrent effect on crime. Polling has revealed that most Americans do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to committing murder. Gallup’s report compared homicide statistics in the United States, Britain, and…

The March 2004 edition of The Spangenberg Report includes valuable information on criminal justice reforms from around the country, including death penalty developments. An examination of Georgia’s new Public Defender Standards Council and its efforts to overhaul indigent defense services in the state, results from a Spangenberg Group study of indigent defense in Virginia, the findings of a death penalty cost review in Kansas, and additional state updates from Illinois, Texas, Minnesota, and…

Two Congressmen have introduced a non-binding resolution, backed by the threat of impeachment, that would express the sense of Congress that U.S. judges should not consider foreign laws or court decisions in their rulings. The measure, authored by Republican Representatives Tom Feeney of Florida and Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, was triggered by recent court decisions, including death penalty cases, in which justices made reference to laws or opinions in other countries. Feeney raised the prospect…