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 25th 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 400th 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
Items: 6541 — 6550
Sep 17, 2001
Terrorist Attacks Affirm Need for a Paradigm Shift
Sr. Helen Statement after Terrorist Attacks Sister Helen Prejean, csj September 17, 2001 I’m on a U.S. Airways plane — half-filled — on my way back to New Orleans after a week of cancelled speaking engagements. I’ve seen American flags everywhere — in shops, on people’s suitcases, on the lapels of pilots and flight attendants. Everybody’s been glued to the T.V. looking in disbelief at the sight of our own planes crashing into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Everybody’s swapping…
Read MoreAug 23, 2001
NORTH CAROLINA PREPARES TO EXECUTE INMATE REPRESENTED BY ALCOHOLIC ATTORNEY
For Immediate Release: Thursday, August 23, 2001 Contact: Gerda Stein (919) 956‑9545 Center for Death Penalty Litigation Brenda Bowser (202) 293‑6970 Death Penalty Information Center NORTH CAROLINA PREPARES TO EXECUTE INMATE REPRESENTED BY ALCOHOLIC ATTORNEY Case is Similar to Texas “Sleeping Lawyer” But in North Carolina No Relief Granted Washington, DC — Ronald Frye is scheduled to be executed in North Carolina on Friday, August 31, despite the fact that his lawyer, Thomas Portwood, drank…
Read MoreAug 01, 2001
United States Supreme Court Decisions: 2000 — 2001 Term
In a 7 – 2 vote, the Court re-affirmed that defendants facing the death penalty have the right to inform jurors when a life sentence would include no possibility of parole. The Court found that Wesley A. Shafer’s right to due process was violated when a South Carolina trial judge refused to clarify for jurors that, if they sentenced Shafer to life, he would have no possibility of parole. Justice Ginsburg, writing for the majority, stated that the jury was obviously confused about the meaning of a…
Read MoreJun 07, 2001
Statement On The Federal Death Penalty System by Senator Feingold
June 7, 2001 Mr. FEINGOLD. Madame, President, I rise today to speak with grave concern about a report released by the Justice Department yesterday on our federal government’s administration of the death penalty. In that report and in his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday, Attorney General John Ashcroft said that he now concludes that “there is no evidence of racial bias in the administration of the federal death penalty.” Madame President, I am seriously, seriously…
Read MoreMay 11, 2001
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, INEPT DEFENSE, AND BASIC UNFAIRNESS MAKE PENDING NORTH CAROLINA EXECUTION CLOSER TO THE NORM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, May 11, 2001 CONTACT: Gretchen Engel, N.C. Center for Death Penalty Litigation, (919) 956‑9545 and Brenda Bowser, DPIC (202) 293‑6970 RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, INEPT DEFENSE, AND BASIC UNFAIRNESS MAKE PENDING NORTH CAROLINA EXECUTION CLOSER TO THE NORM With federal execution delayed, focus can shift to key problems as May 18 execution approaches WASHINGTON, DC — While much of the country has been focused on the prospect of the first federal execution in nearly…
Read MoreApr 16, 2001
Race and the Death Penalty in North Carolina
Principal Investigator Dr. Isaac Unah Principal Collaborator Prof. Jack Boger Presented by The Common Sense Foundation North Carolina Council of Churches April 16, 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS Fact Sheet North Carolina Homicide Statutes North Carolina Death Sentencing System Table One — Race of Victim Summary of Findings 1993 – 1997 Table Two — Chart of Victim/Defendant Race Combinations 1993 – 1997 History and Context of Study Methodology Appendix Data Collection Instrument Table Three…
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Apr 13, 2001
DPIC Press Release: Landmark North Carolina Study of Race and the Death Penalty to be Released Monday
Landmark North Carolina Study of Race and the Death Penalty to be Released Monday First Statewide review of race bias in the South since early 1980’s WASHINGTON, DC — On Monday, April 16, the most thorough statewide review in North Carolina’s history regarding racial bias and the death penalty will be released in Raleigh, NC. The study was conducted by Dr. Isaac Unah of the Department of Political Science of the University of North Carolina, and Professor John Charles Boger, a professor at…
Read MoreMar 05, 2001
DPIC Press Release: CONCERNS ABOUT AMERICA’S DEATH PENALTY POLICY RESONATE AS NATION APPROACHES 700th SCHEDULED EXECUTION SINCE REINSTATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, March 5, 2001 CONTACT: BRENDA BOWSER (202) 293‑6970 CONCERNS ABOUT AMERICA’S DEATH PENALTY POLICY RESONATE AS NATION APPROACHES 700th SCHEDULED EXECUTION SINCE REINSTATEMENT OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT Georgia to use electric chair for first time since 1998, Borderline mentally retarded juvenile offender to be executed on Wednesday WASHINGTON, DC — As the United States approaches its 700th execution since capital punishment was reinstated, growing concerns in…
Read MoreJan 15, 2001
Press Release: IN RARE MOVE, FULL CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS WILL REVIEW DEATH ROW INMATE’S “SLEEPING LAWYER” CLAIM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, January 15, 2001 CONTACT: BRENDA BOWSER (202) 293‑6970 ** PRESS ADVISORY ** IN RARE MOVE, FULL CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS WILL REVIEW DEATH ROW INMATE’S “SLEEPING LAWYER” CLAIM Judges to examine panel’s controversial ruling in Burdine’s denial of counsel case WASHINGTON, DC — The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will review an earlier ruling in the case of Calvin J. Burdine, a Texas death row inmate whose “sleeping lawyer” claim drew national…
Read MoreJan 01, 2001
DPIC: Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment
The Death Penalty Information Center has assembled the following press materials and Web links to provide easy access to information regarding the work of the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment, a blue-ribbon panel that has recently completed the nation’s most comprehensive state review of the death penalty. The Commission’s findings and recommendations will surely capture the attention of lawmakers and legal experts throughout the nation who are watching closely to track the impact of…
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