Publications & Testimony

Former federal Oklahoma prosecutors Patrick Ryan and Daniel Webber co-authored an editorial in The Oklahoman on May 17, 2023 expressing serious concerns about Richard Glossip’s conviction and death sentence. The writers noted that a prosecutor’s duty “is not to win a case, but to ensure justice is done,” and concluded that “the state did not follow these fundamental principles in obtaining Richard Glossip’s 1998 and 2004 convictions and death sentences.” The former prosecutors collectively…

Iran continues to use the death penalty in violation of international law, including death sentences for crimes failing to meet the “most serious” crime threshold, the use of torture, and performing public executions. According to Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), there have been at least 277 executions thus far in 2023, with at least 106 executions in the first 20 days of May, constituting the “bloodiest month” in more than five years. “What we’re witnessing in Iran are not executions, but…

A May 20, 2023 editorial in a leading medical academic journal concludes that physician participation in executions “goes against the ethical foundation of the physician’s role” and argues that doctors and medical associations should oppose capital punishment. The editorial in The Lancet describes how many physicians currently participate in executions: Doctors “clinically assess mental competence for execution; physically examine and monitor vital signs before, during, and after execution…

The number of people sentenced to death or facing the possibility of a death sentence in pending capital retrial or resentencing proceedings continued its more than two-decade decline in the third quarter of last year, according to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) Summer 2022 quarterly census of death rows across the United States. In its recently issued Summer 2022 edition of Death Row USA (DRUSA), LDF reported that the number of people on U.S. state, federal, or military…

UPDATE 2: On June 2, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit lifted the stay that had been imposed by the U.S. District Court, saying that the lower court did not have jurisdiction to order the stay. UPDATE 1: On May 31, 2023, U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough issued a stay of execution, pending an evidentiary hearing on whether a juror was unqualified under Missouri law. Michael Tisius is an artist. He is also a death row prisoner who is set to be executed by the state of…

On May 11, attorneys for Robert Roberson, a death-sentenced prisoner in Texas, filed a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court asking it to reverse the decision of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA). Mr. Roberson’s conviction for the murder of his daughter Nikki was based on the so-called “Shaken Baby Syndrome” which has now been debunked by new scientific and medical evidence. The TCCA disregarded this and other evidence that showed his daughter’s death was attributable to natural…

According to an annual death penalty report by Amnesty International, 2022 saw the highest number of recorded executions since 2017, primarily due to increases in just a handful of countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The report also noted a slight decrease in the number of newly imposed death sentences worldwide. In its report, Amnesty says use of the death penalty in several countries continues to violate international law with public executions, executions of juveniles or those…

Over a decade ago, four audio tapes and hundreds of execution documents were donated to the Library of the University of Virginia by a former Virginia correctional employee. National Public Radio (NPR) aired excerpts from those long-hidden tapes in January 2023. Shortly thereafter, a representative from the Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC) then requested the return of all the materials. NPR now reports that only two of the six boxes of material remain available for viewing at the…

The Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to announce that Robin M. Maher has joined the organization as Executive Director, effective May 15, 2023. Most recently, Ms. Maher was Senior Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Access to Justice. Ms. Maher previously worked in the federal defender system and at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and has more than twenty years’ experience training lawyers and judges in the United States and around the world. She was…