Testimony and Statements

Inclusion or exclusion of a candidate on this page does not imply support by DPIC. For more information on each candidate, go to their individual 2004 Election homepage, or visit The Washington Post’s 2004 Election Tracker. Candidates for the 2004 Democratic Party NominationFormer Candidates for the 2004 Democratic Party NominationRepublican Party Candidate for the 2004 Presidential Election CANDIDATES FOR THE 2004 DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOMINATION CANDIDATE WEBSITE STANCE QUOTE / RECORD John Kerry…

More than 60 foreign citizens representing 22 nationalities are under sentence of death in the United States of America (USA). In virtually every case, the arresting authorities failed to notify detained foreigners of their right to communicate with their consular representatives. As a consequence, foreign nationals confronted by an unfamiliar legal system were tried and sentenced to death without the benefit of the crucial support from the authorities of their native countries. Since 1993, the…

By George Kendall, counsel for Delma Banks, Jr. Delma Banks, Jr., is a 43-year old African-American man. The State of Texas intends to execute him on March 12, 2003. In 1980, he was convicted and death-sentenced in Bowie County (east Texas) for the murder of sixteen-year-old Richard Whitehead, a white male. From the moment of his arrest, Mr. Banks has protested that he did not kill Mr. Whitehead and is innocent of this crime. He had never before been convicted of a crime. Deliberate…

Prof. Baldus Statement Date: June 11, 2001 To: The Honorable Russell D. Feingold Committee on the Judiciary, U. S. Senate 716 Hart Senate Office Building Washington D.C. 20510 – 4904 From: David C. Baldus Joseph B. Tye Distinguished Professor of Law College of Law, University of Iowa Re: DOJ report on the Federal Death Penalty System (June 6, 2001) I have read U.S. Department of Justice, The Federal Death Penalty System: Supplementary Data, Analysis and Revised Protocols for Capital Case…

Testimony of Richard C. Dieter Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center Before the Legislative Commission’s Subcommittee to Study the Death Penalty and Related DNA Testing Assembly and Senate of Nevada Las Vegas, Nevada April 18, 2002 via videoconference INTRODUCTION Good afternoon. Madam Chair, and Members of the Committee. I want to thank you for this opportunity to appear before you and to offer my remarks on the costs of the death penalty. My name is Richard Dieter and I am…

by Richard C. Dieter Introduction To understand the rapid evolution in the views of the Presidential candidates regarding the death penalty, it is essential to look at the sweep of events of the past few years as the public became more aware of the problems within the capital punishment system. Few could have predicted the sea-change in the overall perception on this issue. While the candidates originally said very little about the death penalty and perhaps assumed that the similarity of their…

U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary Statement of the Honorable William D. Delahunt of Massachusetts In Support of the Delahunt-Scott Amendment to Title 1 of H.R. 3275, The Terrorist Bombings Convention Implementation Act of 2001 November 15, 2001 Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk. Mr. Chairman, this amendment, in which I am joined by my good friend, the ranking member of the Crime Subcommittee (Mr. Scott), would delete the language authorizing the…

Dr. Wolfe’s letter PUBLIC CITIZEN November 2, 2001 Urgent: Immediate Attention John Romine, MD President, New Mexico State Board of Medical Examiners 2^nd Floor, Lamy Bldg. 491 Old Santa Fe Trail Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 Dear Dr. Romine, I have learned from several sources that Dr. Fred Pintz, the Chief Medical Officer of the State of New Mexico, has flagrantly violated a principle implicit in the New Mexico Medical Practice Act by providing authorization for the acquisition and provision…

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…

A Response to the Initial Report of the United States to the United Nations Ford Foundation Symposium October 17, 2000 by Richard C. Dieter, Esq. Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which the U.S. has signed and ratified, guarantees “the right to equal treatment before [all] tribunals … administering justice,”1 and this certainly includes the application of the death penalty. Although the…