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: 71 — 80
Jun 11, 2026
What to Know: Clemency and the Death Penalty
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and data on specific aspects of the death penalty. This installment looks at clemency: what it is, who holds the power, and how often it changes the outcome of a capital case. Why it matters: The U.S. Supreme Court has described clemency as the “fail safe” of the criminal justice system, the last remedy for a wrongful conviction once the courts are…
Read MoreJun 08, 2026
U.S. Department of Justice Will Not Seek Death Penalty in Trial of Vance Boelter, Accused of Killing Minnesota State Lawmaker
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the federal government will not seek a death sentence for Vance Boelter, the man accused of killing Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman. Mr. Boelter is charged with their murders and stalking, but DOJ said that stalking likely would not meet the definition of a “crime of violence,” which would be necessary to secure a federal death sentence. Mr. Boelter also faces state charges, but…
Read MoreJun 04, 2026
Alabama Federal Judge Rules Nitrogen Gas Executions are Constitutional, Denying Stay for Jeffery Lee
On May 28, 2026, an Alabama federal district judge ruled that nitrogen gas executions are constitutional and do not violate the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment. In the first federal bench trial examining nitrogen gas as a method of execution, U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks found that death-sentenced prisoner Jeffery Lee “failed to prove that [Alabama’s gas] Protocol causes more than ‘the necessary suffering involved in any method employed to extinguish…
Read MoreJun 03, 2026
Article of Interest: Richard Glossip, Released on Bail Pending Retrial, Describes His First Days Outside Prison in Nearly 30 Years
After facing nine execution dates, and being given three last meals, Richard Glossip was released on bail on May 14, 2026 and set foot outside of prison walls for the first time in nearly three decades. In an interview with The Intercept, Mr. Glossip discusses adjusting physically and emotionally to his new life as he awaits a possible retrial for the 1997 crime that sent him to death row, despite his longstanding claims of innocence. Oklahoma County District Judge Natalie Mai ordered his…
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Jun 02, 2026
Capital Defender’s Eyewitness Account of Tennessee’s Botched Execution of Her Client
In a June 1, 2026, op-ed in The New York Times, Maria DeLiberato, senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Capital Punishment Project, offers a first-person account of the May 21 attempt by Tennessee to execute her client, Tony Carruthers — and the hour of suffering she witnessed before Governor Bill Lee called off his execution. Ms. DeLiberato, who joined Mr. Carruthers’ legal team just two months before his scheduled execution date, describes entering the execution chamber…
Read MoreJun 01, 2026
Supreme Court Roundup: Decisions Allow Jury Discrimination Claim to Proceed and Keep Protections for Intellectually Disabled in Place
In recent weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions regarding two key types of claims that often appear in capital cases: prosecutorial misconduct and intellectual disability. A bipartisan group of conservative and liberal justices carried each decision. The Court ruled in favor of Mississippi prisoner Terry Pitchford, allowing his jury discrimination claim to proceed, as well as Florida prisoner Gary Whitton, based on a lower court error in weighing his claim that prosecutors presented…
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May 28, 2026
DPI Podcast 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context: Naomi Yavneh Klos on Gas Executions, Holocaust Memory, and Common Ground
In the May 2026 episode of 12:01 The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Dr. Naomi Yavneh Klos (pictured), Dean of the Honors College at the University of New Mexico, and a prominent scholar of the Holocaust. Dr. Yavneh Klos is a founding member of the Jews Against Gassing Coalition, a New-Orleans area group formed to oppose the use of nitrogen gas as a method of execution in Louisiana. She joins DPI’s podcast during Jewish American Heritage Month to…
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May 27, 2026
Article of Interest: Academic Chapter Examines the Use of Neuroscience Evidence in Brain Injury Cases Across 6 Countries
In her chapter of the newly published book Neuroscience in Criminal Justice Systems: The Positive Impact of Neurojustice, Fordham Law Professor and Founding Director of the Neuroscience and Law Center Deborah Denno explores the use of neuroscientific evidence in criminal cases involving brain injury, both from external causes (e.g., car accidents or gunshot wounds) and internal causes (e.g., dementia or alcohol-induced brain damage). The chapter titled, “The Neuroscience of Brain Injury in…
Read MoreMay 26, 2026
Tennessee’s Botched Execution of Tony Carruthers Raises Questions About Medical Qualifications Among Concerns with Innocence and Due Process
Tennessee’s attempt to execute Tony Carruthers on May 21, 2026, failed after execution team members could not establish an intravenous line after more than an hour of attempts, prompting Governor Bill Lee to grant a one-year reprieve. In a written statement, the Tennessee Department of Corrections said medical personnel had quickly established a primary IV line but were unable to establish a backup line as required by the state’s execution protocol. Efforts to insert a central line also failed…
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May 21, 2026
NEW DPI Racial Justice Report Examines Racially Disparate Impact of the Death Penalty in South Carolina
The Death Penalty Information Center’s new report on race and the death penalty in South Carolina places the state’s death penalty system in historical context, documenting how racial and state sanctioned violence continue to influence the administration of the death penalty. Examining South Carolina’s History of Racial Violence and Capital Punishment, released May 2026, notes the state’s well-documented use of state-sanctioned violence that has disproportionately affected Black communities for…
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