Studies

A recent edition of The Angolite, the nation’s largest prison news magazine, contains an article detailing national death penalty trends and developments. The piece highlights the emergence of several prominent conservatives who have voiced concerns with the current death penalty system, including Montana State Senator Roy Brown and conservative activist Richard Viguerie. The article is authored by John Corley and provides an in-depth look at the ongoing controversy about lethal injection…

A new report on the state’s death penalty system published by the ACLU of Northern California catalogs numerous intractable problems and waning public support which may lead to the end of capital punishment in the state. According to the report, “California’s Death Penalty is Dead: Anatomy of a Failure,” the death penalty in California is being slowly abandoned as prosecutors, legislators and taxpayers are increasingly turning to life in prison without parole as an alternative punishment. Only…

A new report from the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama exposes the practice of state judges imposing death sentences by overriding a jury’s recommendation for life. EJI’s study found that judges in the state have overridden jury recommendations 107 times since 1976. In 92% of the overrides, judges overruled life verdicts to impose a death sentence. More than 20% of the defendants on Alabama’s death row were sentenced through judge overrides. These sentences contribute to the high per capita…

The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s “Death Row USA” shows that the number of people on death row in the United States is continuing to slowly decline, falling to 3,242 as of October 1, 2010. In 2000, there were 3,682 inmates on death row. Nationally, the racial composition of those on death row is 44% white, 42% black, and 12% Latino/Latina. California continues to have the largest death row population (714), followed by Florida (394) and Texas (322). Pennsylvania (220) and…

The Death Penalty Information Center has released a new report, “Struck by Lightning: The Continuing Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty Thirty-Five Years After Its Reinstatement in 1976.” The report shows that despite the changes to sentencing schemes approved by the U.S. Supreme Court on July 2, 1976, race, geography, money and other factors continue to make the implementation of the death penalty arbitrary and unfair. A majority of the nine Justices who served on the Supreme Court in 1976…

A new study of California’s death penalty found that taxpayers have spent more than $4 billion on capital punishment since it was reinstated in 1978, or $308 million for each of the 13 executions carried out since then. The study, conducted by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Arthur L. Alarcon and Loyola Law School Professor Paula M. Mitchell estimated that capital trials, enhanced security on death row and legal representation for capital defendants add $184 million to California’s budget annually.

On June 13, 2011, law professor and noted researcher David Baldus died in Iowa City, IA. Professor Baldus had been a professor at the University of Iowa since 1969 and taught criminal law, anti-discrimination law, and capital punishment and federal criminal law. He was nationally recognized for his research on the death penalty. Professor Baldus conducted many studies regarding the implementation of capital punishment in the United States. One well-known study, conducted in 1983, examined the…

The American Bar Association recently published The State of Criminal Justice 2011, an annual report that examines major issues, trends and significant changes in America’s criminal justice system. The publication serves as a valuable resource for academics, students, and policy-makes. The chapter devoted to capital punishment was written by Ronald Tabak, special counsel and pro bono coordinator at the law firm of Skadden Arps in New York. Tabak explores legislative changes in the states, the…

On May 28, the Nevada Senate passed a bill authorizing an audit of the cost of the state’s death penalty. By a vote of 11 – 10, the Senate called for the legislative auditor to compare the costs of prosecution and appeals in capital cases to non-death penalty cases, examining the cost of defense lawyers, juries, psychiatric evaluations, appellate and post-conviction proceedings. The auditor would also examine the cost of an execution, including the costs of facilities and staff. The report would…