Publications & Testimony

North Carolina Man Is Sixth in State to be Spared Under New Law on Mental Retardation Anthony Maurice Bone will become the sixth North Carolina death row inmate to have his sentence commuted to life in prison due to a 2001 state law banning the execution of individuals with mental retardation. The state defines as mentally retarded anyone with an IQ of 70 or below who also has significant impairment in at least two of ten life activities, such as communicating and taking care of themselves.

Former Death Row Inmate Awarded $2.2 Million Wrongful Conviction Settlement The Chicago City Council finance committee quickly approved a $2.2 million wrongful conviction settlement for former death row inmate Ronald Jones. “I think it is a good deal for the city,” said Chicago Alderman William Beavers, indicating that he and other aldermen breathed a sigh of relief that the city will get off so cheaply in its settlement with Jones, who was coerced into a confession to a 1985 rape and murder…

Capital punishment was used during the Spanish regime. The first verified executions took place in 1514, when four slaves were hanged for uprising. The first Inquisition court in the western hemisphere was established in San Juan in 1519. The number of persons executed in Puerto Rico is: (Source: Jalil Sued-Badillo, PhD., La Pena de Muerte en Puerto Rico: Retrospectiva histórica para una reflexión contemporánea, Puerto Rico, 2000.) The modern death penalty was introduced to Puerto Rico in…

Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation Releases Juvenile Report On December 17, 2003, Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation released a report regarding the perspectives of family members on the juvenile death penalty: “I Don’t Want Another Kid to Die.” The report opens a window into murder victims’ families struggles with the death penalty in general, and more specifically, how the issue changes when the defendant is a juvenile. Bill Cosby Addresses Capital Punishment During “Larry…

Four Executions in Texas and Georgia Stayed, Clemency Recommended for Foreign National in Oklahoma Four stays were granted for executions that were scheduled to take place this week in Texas and Georgia, and Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board unanimously recommended clemency for a foreign national facing execution in January 2004. In Texas, courts ordered three stays of execution. Two of the cases involved challenges to the use of pancuronium bromide as part of the state’s lethal injection…

“Capital Punishment 2001” — The Bureau of Justice Statistics released its annual report on the death penalty with statistics from the previous year. The report contained a number of interesting findings: The number of people sentenced to death in 2001 was 155, the smallest number since 1979, and an almost 50% drop from the average number of death sentences in 1994 – 99. Between 1973 and 2001, Texas sentenced the most people to death (889), followed by Florida (863) and California (779). The…

In “Don’t Kill in Our Names: Families of Murder Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty,” author Rachel King presents the stories of 10 Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation members. Throughout the book, King examines the reasons why these survivors choose reconciliation over retribution and why they actively oppose capital punishment. Using first-hand accounts and third-person narrative, King presents the stories in the context of the nation’s on-going death penalty debate. King is…

Symposium: Pamela Blume Leonard, Michael Mears, John H. Blume, Stephen P. Garvey, Samuel R. Gross, Richard Burr, et al.: “Victims and the Death Penalty: Inside and Outside the Courtroom,” 88 Cornell Law Review 257 (2003). This is a series of articles in the Cornell Law Review stemming from a symposium focusing on the role that victims play in capital cases. The journal provides a close legal examination of victim impact statements and related research, expert analysis of state statutes, and an…

Judge John Gleeson, a prominent federal judge in New York, recently criticized U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft for regularly overruling local prosecutors by directing them to seek the death penalty though they have recommended against it. In an article appearing in the November 2003 issue of the Virginia Law Review, Gleeson noted that the policy “undermines the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes.” He stated, “For the sake of the death penalty in a few more federal cases…

A decade after Georgia legislators established the sentencing option of life in prison without parole, the number of Georgia defendants sentenced to death has dropped from an annual average of 10 to 4 or fewer each year. The decline is the result of jurors opting to sentence defendants to life without parole and plea bargains in capital cases. District Attorney J. Tom Morgan noted that life without parole is in effect a death sentence: “It takes a little bit longer, but it is more certain…