FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACTS
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Brenda Bowser, 202.293.6970 (O), 301.906.4460 (Cell)
Valerie Holford, 202.365.5336
(Additional Contacts Listed Below)

DPIC ISSUES NEW INNOCENCE REPORT: 116 NOW FREED FROM DEATH ROW IN 25 STATES

Public Response Measured in Declines in Death Sentencing, Death Row, Executions, and Opinion Polls

WASHINGTON, DC – The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) is issu­ing a new report enti­tled Innocence and the Crisis in the American Death Penalty cat­a­loging the exon­er­a­tion of 116 death row inmates — includ­ing 16 peo­ple in the last 20 months. For every eight peo­ple exe­cut­ed in this coun­try, anoth­er one has been freed. The report finds that the issue of inno­cence has sig­nif­i­cant­ly changed the death penal­ty debate, result­ing in a skep­ti­cal pub­lic that is less like­ly to impose a sen­tence of death and in a cho­rus of new voic­es crit­i­cal of the demon­strat­ed risks in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment.

With a com­bined total of more than 1,000 years spent await­ing their free­dom, these 116 exon­er­at­ed indi­vid­u­als, includ­ing 51 new per­sons since DPIC’s last inno­cence report was issued in 1997, rep­re­sent an indict­ment of the country’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem. As the pace of these exon­er­a­tions has increased in recent years, the pub­lic has respond­ed with a decline in sup­port for death sen­tences. Death sen­tences have dropped by 50% over the past 5 years. Nearly every state has expe­ri­enced a sig­nif­i­cant reduc­tion between the 1990s and the cur­rent decade, and some states are record­ing their low­est death sen­tenc­ing rates in 30 years. The reluc­tance of jurors to impose death sen­tences is fur­ther reflect­ed in declin­ing pub­lic sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, a shrink­ing death row pop­u­la­tion, and a declin­ing num­ber of exe­cu­tions.

​“The issue of inno­cence, and the pow­er­ful per­son­al sto­ries that have thrust this cri­sis into the pub­lic eye, has done more to change the death penal­ty debate in this coun­try than any­thing,” said Richard C. Dieter, DPIC Executive Director. ​“While law­mak­ers have tak­en only minor steps to address this urgent prob­lem, the pub­lic is far ahead in acknowl­edg­ing that the sys­tem is fatal­ly flawed.“

A grow­ing num­ber of ​“new voic­es,” includ­ing Justices, con­ser­v­a­tive com­men­ta­tors, jurors, and nation­al opin­ion lead­ers are call­ing for a clos­er look at cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in light of the risk of exe­cut­ing the inno­cent. Among their con­cerns are prob­lems such as inef­fec­tive­ness of coun­sel, faulty eye­wit­ness tes­ti­mo­ny, pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, and access to DNA testing. 

“Going into the tri­al, I wasn’t sure where I stood on the death penal­ty,” said Kathleen Hawk Norman, a juror in the case of recent­ly exon­er­at­ed death row inmate Dan Bright of Louisiana. ​“Today, know­ing what I know about wrong­ful con­vic­tions and the kinds of prob­lems that result in putting inno­cent people’s lives on the line, I would no longer vote for a death sen­tence. If the sys­tem failed Dan Bright, it can fail oth­er peo­ple. I don’t think many jurors feel com­fort­able play­ing Russian Roulette with people’s lives. Jurors are rec­og­niz­ing that life in prison is per­haps the only respon­si­ble way to vote.”

Despite these con­cerns and a grow­ing num­ber of reform rec­om­men­da­tions from groups like the American Bar Association, The Constitution Project, and state pan­els such as the blue-rib­bon Commission on Capital Punishment in Illinois, DPIC’s report notes that leg­isla­tive change has been min­i­mal.

Innocence and the Crisis in the American Death Penalty con­tains new nation­al and state sta­tis­tics, descrip­tions of the 51 new exon­er­a­tions, lists of ear­li­er inno­cence cas­es, as well as a detailed descrip­tion of DPIC’s cri­te­ria for adding cas­es to the list. The report pro­vides sig­nif­i­cant new analy­sis on the changes in death sen­tenc­ing both on a nation­al and state lev­el, the grow­ing sup­port for life with­out parole sen­tences, and oth­er relat­ed issues. Please call Brenda Bowser at 202 – 293-6970 or Valerie Holford at (202) 365‑5336 to arrange an inter­view, or to receive addi­tion­al nation­al and state-by-state sta­tis­tics.

# # #

RICHARD C. DIETER
Executive Director, Author of the Report
Death Penalty Information Center
(202) 293‑6970

Contacts for Additional Comment

SAMUEL R. GROSS
Professor
University of Michigan Law School
(734) 764‑1519

KATHLEEN HAWK NORMAN
Founder, Jurors for Justice
(504) 484‑6411

JAMES LIEBMAN
Professor
Columbia Law School
(212) 854‑3423

NINA MORRISON
The Innocence Project
Cardozo Law School
(212) 364‑5384

MICHAEL RADELET
Professor, Department of Sociology
University of Colorado
(303) 735‑5811

BETH WILKINSON
Partner, Latham & Watkins
Federal Prosecutor, Oklahoma City Bombing Case
(202) 637‑2200 X2163