Studies

In 2009, Maryland passed leg­is­la­tion that imposed new require­ments for pros­e­cu­tors seek­ing the death penal­ty. A recent report pre­sent­ed to the Maryland General Assembly by promi­nent attor­neys, legal experts and law pro­fes­sors ana­lyzes the 2009 law three years after its pas­sage, high­light­ing its effects on the state’s death penal­ty sys­tem. According to the report, the 2009 law exac­er­bat­ed a sig­nif­i­cant set of prob­lems with the state’s death penal­ty, includ­ing its costs, arbi­trari­ness, and impact on mur­der vic­tims’ sur­vivors. For exam­ple, while the require­ment of bio­log­i­cal or video evi­dence link­ing defendants…

An Op-Ed signed by eleven cur­rent and for­mer Kentucky pros­e­cu­tors calls for reforms to Kentucky’s death penal­ty, in light of the recent report issued by the American Bar Association. The ABA report was released in December after a two-year study of fair­ness and accu­ra­cy in cap­i­tal cas­es in Kentucky. The pros­e­cu­tors cite Kentucky’s ​“unac­cept­able” 60% error rate in death sen­tenc­ing, say­ing ​“As a mat­ter of basic fair­ness, we must pause to under­stand and reform the way cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is admin­is­tered in our state.” They rec­om­mend a sus­pen­sion of exe­cu­tions until…

A study ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has found pay for court-appoint­ed defense lawyers in death penal­ty cas­es in Philadelphia to be ​“gross­ly inad­e­quate.” The study, which was authored by Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner, was ini­ti­at­ed after defense lawyers peti­tioned the Court to increase the fees or halt death-penal­ty cas­es. The study not­ed there are few­er than 30 lawyers in Philadelphia will­ing to take cap­i­tal-case appoint­ments for indi­gent clients who meet the state qual­i­fi­ca­tions. Philadelphia pays defense lawyers less than any oth­er coun­ty in the state, giving…

The first hear­ing under North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act con­vened at the begin­ning of February for death row inmate Marcus Robinson. The Racial Justice Act was passed in 2009, allow­ing death row inmates to use empir­i­cal and sta­tis­ti­cal data to demon­strate racial bias in their con­vic­tion or sen­tenc­ing. Following changes in North Carolina’s leg­is­la­ture in the 2010 elec­tions, there were efforts to repeal the Act. Governor Perdue vetoed a repeal bill and the leg­is­la­ture could not over­ride her veto. Robinson, who is black, was sen­tenced to death for a 1991…

The lat­est edi­tion of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund​’s Death Row USA shows a decrease of 31 inmates between January 1 and July 1, 2011. Over the last decade, the total pop­u­la­tion of state and fed­er­al death rows has decreased sig­nif­i­cant­ly, from 3,682 inmates in 2000 to 3,220 inmates in 2011. The per­cent­age of Latino inmates fac­ing exe­cu­tion, how­ev­er, has steadi­ly increased over the years. In 1991, Latinos made up 6% of the nation’s death row. In 2011, Latinos or Latinas com­prised 12% of death row inmates. The states with…

Roger Hood (pic­tured), Professor Emeritus of Criminology at the University of Oxford, has pub­lished a report on offi­cial atti­tudes towards cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in China. Abolition of the Death Penalty: China in World Perspective out­lines the changes over the past decade on this issue with­in Chinese aca­d­e­m­ic and judi­cial com­mu­ni­ties. Hood observed that one of the strongest jus­ti­fi­ca­tions for the death penal­ty in China is ​“the belief that ret­ri­bu­tion based on the notion of ​‘a life for a life’ was deeply embed­ded in Chinese cul­ture; that ignor­ing this sup­port might cause…

Professor Victor Streib (pic­tured) of the Ohio Northern University Law School has pub­lished the lat­est edi­tion of his peri­od­ic reports, Death Penalty for Female Offenders. This study offers sta­tis­tics and infor­ma­tion relat­ed to women who have been exe­cut­ed or are cur­rent­ly on death row. Among the report’s find­ings are: — In 2011, women con­sti­tut­ed 6.4% of all per­sons sen­tenced to death, the high­est per­cent­age for any year since 1973. — As of the end of 2011, fifty-eight (58) women were on death row, 18 of whom are in…

A new study by the orga­ni­za­tion Together Against the Death Penalty exam­ined the sta­tus of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the U.S. through a series of inter­views and vis­its to death penal­ty states in 2010. The report, 999 — The Death Penalty in the United States, was writ­ten by Arnaud Gaillard and it expos­es some of the seri­ous prob­lems with cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in this coun­try from a human rights per­spec­tive. The report calls on deci­sion-mak­ers to take a clos­er look at the con­di­tions of those await­ing exe­cu­tion and at the risk of…

The Pennsylvania Senate recent­ly passed a res­o­lu­tion that will result in a study of the state’s death penal­ty and look at issues of fair­ness, equal­i­ty and costs of a pun­ish­ment that is rarely car­ried out in the state. The res­o­lu­tion was spon­sored by Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, a Republican, who said, ​“Questions are fre­quent­ly raised regard­ing the costs, deter­rent effect and appro­pri­ate­ness of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. I believe that we need to answer these ques­tions.” Since Pennsylvania rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1978, only three peo­ple have been exe­cut­ed, all of whom…