Publications & Testimony

Testimony and Statements on the Death Penalty

FROM DPIC

For tes­ti­mo­ny by for­mer Executive Director Robert Dunham and for­mer Executive Director Richard C. Dieter, please vis­it our page DPIC Testimony.
 

FROM RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND ORGANIZATIONS

• News Brief: Pope Francis Calls for Prayer to Abolish the Death Penalty (September 1, 2022)
• Jewish Congregation Renews Request for Department of Justice to Drop Death Penalty in Tree of Life Synagogue Killings (June 24, 2021)
• Orthodox Church Patriarch Calls Death Penalty Incompatible with Christian Beliefs (October 20, 2020)
• Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — Statement on the Federal Death Penalty (August 5, 2019)
• Louisiana Christian Faith Leaders Call for State to Abolish Death Penalty (April 25, 2019)
• Pittsburgh Rabbi’s Wife Opposes Death Penalty for Tree of Life Synagogue Killings (March 18, 2019)
• Orthodox Jewish Organization Calls for an End to Capital Punishment in the U.S. | Death Penalty Information Center (February 17, 2016)
• Baptist Theologian Says Death Penalty Does Not Fit With Christian Theology (March 8, 2016)
• Civil and Human Rights: Death Penalty — Church & Society, The United Methodist Church
• Religious Views: Over 150 Catholic Theologians Call for Repeal of the Death Penalty (September 27, 2011)
• Power Over Life and Death — The Power to Save a Life (January 15, 2005)
• Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice (November 2000)
• The Challenge of Holiness: A Sermon on the Death Penalty (January 10, 2000)
• General Assembly of the Texas Conference of Churches — Resolution Opposing the Death Penalty (February 24, 1998)
• Statement by Catholic Bishops of Texas on Capital Punishment (October 20, 1997)
• Catholic Church Expresses Strong Opposition to Capital Punishment in Catechism (September 9, 1997)
• Catholic Bishops of Iowa Issue Statement on Death Penalty (February 4, 1998)
• To End the Death Penalty: A Report of the National Jewish/​Catholic Consultation
• Transcript of Dr. Pat Robertson’s Speech on the Role of Religion and the Death Penalty at The College of William and Mary
• Collection of Official Catholic Statements on the Death Penalty (1980)

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY 

• UN experts call for uni­ver­sal abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty | OHCHR (October 9, 2023)
• Zambia Becomes 25^th Sub-Saharan African Nation to Abolish Death Penalty (December 23, 2022)
• Belgium Wants a World Without the Death Penalty (October 20, 2022)
• As France Prepares to Assume Presidency of European Union, Emmanuel Macron Announces Initiative for Worldwide Abolition of Death Penalty (October 11, 2021)
• U.N. Secretary-General, European Union Ambassador Call for Abolition of ​“Barbaric” Death Penalty (October 11, 2017)
• European Union Calls for Abolition of Capital Punishment as World Coalition Hosts International Death Penalty Conference (June 27, 2017)
• U.N. Investigator Talks About the Future of Solitary and the Death Penalty (November 7, 2016)
• World Congress Against the Death Penalty Renews Call for Global Moratorium, Pope Sends Message of Support (June 27, 2016)
• Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the 400^th exe­cu­tion in Texas from the Council of the European Union (August 21, 2007)
• Resolution Supporting Worldwide Moratorium on Executions from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (April 1999)
• Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights — Message to the Press Conference orga­nized by the Death Penalty Information Center for the release of the report, ​“International Perspectives on the Death Penalty” (October 12, 1999)
• Status of the International Covenants on Human Rights from the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (April 1998)

FROM ADVOCACY GROUPS

• Advocacy Group Tells Supreme Court that Negative Stereotypes Distort Perception that Latinos in Death-Penalty Cases Pose Future Danger to Society (April 15, 2022)
• Disability Rights Groups, Legal Experts, and Conservative Advocates Urge Supreme Court to Strike Down Georgia’s Uniquely Harsh Proof Requirements in Death-Penalty Intellectual Disabilities Cases (January 11, 2022)
• NAACP Reaffirms Its Support of Abolishing the Death Penalty (2022)
• More Than 80 Civil Rights and Advocacy Organizations Urge President Biden to End Federal Executions | Death Penalty Information Center (February 9, 2021)
• More Than 250 Conservative Leaders Join Call to End Death Penalty (October 29, 2019)
• National Alliance on Mental Illness: The Death Penalty
• Florida League of Women Voters Calls for Halt to Executions (May 28, 2007)
• Victims Organizations Issue Joint Statement for National Victims’ Rights Week (April 19, 2007)

FROM JUDGES, LEGISLATORS, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

• Republican-led Oklahoma com­mit­tee con­sid­ers pause on exe­cu­tions amid death case scruti­ny (October 5, 2023)
• Former Pro-Death Penalty District Attorney Explains Why He Now Supports Abolition, and Fears Political Promises to Expand the Use of the Death Penalty (August 20, 2023)
• Pressley, Durbin Reintroduce Bill to End the Federal Death Penalty (July 13, 2023)
• The Lancet Editorial: Physician Involvement in Executions Violates Medical Ethics | Death Penalty Information Center (May 20, 2023)
• APA calls for extend­ing inel­i­gi­bil­i­ty for the death penal­ty to ado­les­cent offend­ers younger than age 21 (August 4, 2022)
• Why some Republicans are turn­ing against the death penal­ty | Ron Ferguson | Ohio House of Representatives (March 8, 2022)
• Eight years on Texas’ high­est crim­i­nal court turned Elsa Alcala into a death penal­ty skep­tic. How will the court change with­out her? (January 26, 2019)
• AMA to Supreme Court: Doctor par­tic­i­pa­tion in exe­cu­tions uneth­i­cal (August 22, 2018)
• Former Governor Bill Richardson: Death Penalty Is Bad for Business, Out of Step With World’s Views (June 16, 2017)
• Capital Punishment and Nurses’ Participation in Capital Punishment (2016)
• Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro Says Death Penalty Unfixable, ​“Not Worth It Any More” (September 12, 2016)
• Resolution Supporting Repeal of the Death Penalty, National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (August 11, 2016)
• Retired Police Captain Says Repealing Death Penalty Is ​“Smart on Crime” (November 24, 2014)
• Resolution Supporting Abolition of the Death Penalty, Natl. Assoc. of Black Psychologists (2012)
• The Road to Justice and Peace by New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak (February 1, 2009)
• Statement On The Federal Death Penalty System by Senator Feingold (June 7, 2001)
• Statement on the Need for a Federal Moratorium on the Death Penalty Senator Feingold (October 29, 2000)
• Death Penalty: The Torah and Today (August 23, 2000)
• Press Release for Senator Russ Feingold’s Introduction of Senate’s First Death Penalty Moratorium Bill (April 20, 2000)
• Amnesty International Southern Regional Conference: Orlando, Florida Remarks by Former Florida Chief Justice Gerald Kogan (October 23, 1999)
• American Bar Association Resolution on the Death Penalty (February 3, 1997)

FROM MURDER VICTIMS’ FAMILY MEMBERS

• Victim’s sis­ter asks Texas not to exe­cute her broth­er’s killer (October 26, 2023)
• Family Members of Murder Victims Call on North Carolina, Nevada to Commute States’ Death Rows (January 26, 2023)