Student Resources

The latest edition of the educational text, The Death Penalty in a Nutshell by Victor Streib, is now available. Prof. Streib presents the substantive and procedural law of capital cases, along with its relevant history, jurisprudence and constitutional applications. Streib also addresses international issues, the complex role of defense counsel, the risk of systemic bias, and the potential execution of innocent defendants. This new edition provides an analysis of emerging trends in the death penalty, including that fewer states have the death penalty on their books, fewer capital offenders are being sentenced to death, and fewer yet are being executed. Victor Streib is currently the Ella and Ernest Fisher Professor of Law at the Ohio Northern University College of Law.

As many schools are beginning their new terms, the Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to remind you of our two educational curricula on the death penalty. Our college-level curriculum, Capital Punishment in Context, contains detailed case studies of four individuals who were sentenced to death in the U.S. The curriculum provides a complete narrative of each case, including original resources such as homicide reports, affidavits, and transcripts of testimony from witnesses. The narratives are followed by a discussion of the issues raised by each case, enabling students to research further into a broad variety of topics. Our award-winning high school program, Educational Curriculum on the Death Penalty, includes 10-day lesson plans, interactive maps and exercises, and a presentation of pros and cons on the death penalty for discussion and debate. Our high-school curriculum will soon be available as a free, e-textbook through the Apple iBook store. Both curricula are widely used by educators across the country in the fields of sociology, civics, criminal justice and many other areas.

The latest edition of the Death Penalty Information Center's series of podcasts, DPIC on the Issues, is now available for listening or downloading. This podcast--the 16th in the series--discusses the little-understood world of death row, exploring the conditions on the row and the length of time prisoners spend there. The podcast discusses some of the legal issues that have arisen regarding the extended deprivation and isolation common to death rows around the country, including the risk of mental deterioration among the inmates.  First-hand descriptions of the death-row experience are also offered. Click here to listen to this latest podcast.  Generally, these podcasts offer concise, informative discussions of important death penalty issues. Other recent episodes focused on the U.S. Supreme Court and the Legal Process involved in a capital case. You can subscribe to receive automatic updates through iTunes when new episodes are posted and receive access to all previous episodes. Other audio and video resources, along with all of DPIC's podcasts, can be found on our Multimedia page.

Northwestern University School of Law, in conjunction with the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, has compiled a new resource on the use of the death penalty in every country around the world.  This searchable database, www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org, contains information on each country’s death penalty status, methods of execution, number of executions, and crimes punishable by the death penalty. The database also includes demographic information on each country, relevant treaties signed, and contacts for more information. All of the materials are carefully referenced. The database allows searches by geographical regions and is part of Death Penalty Worldwide's website, which features a blog and other resources.