http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org The Death Penalty Information Center is a non-profit organization serving the media and the public with analysis and information on issues concerning capital punishment. The Center was founded in 1990 and prepares in-depth reports, issues press releases, conducts briefings for journalists, and serves as a resource to those working on this issue. The Center is widely quoted and consulted by all those concerned with the death penalty. http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2770 A new study published in the American Journal of Political Science investigates the connection between death penalty decisions and the practice of electing judges. “The analysis presented considers public opinion’s influence on the composition of courts … and its influence on judge votes in capital punishment cases. In elective state supreme courts, public support for capital punishment influences the ideological composition of those courts and judge willingness to uphold death sentences. Notably, public support for capital punishment has no measurable effect on nonelective state supreme courts.” Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:00:39 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2768 Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry granted a 30-day stay of execution for Kevin Young who was scheduled to die on July 22. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended clemency for Young a week earlier after hearing tape recorded statements from jurors stating that they hadn’t wanted to give Young the death sentence but didn’t receive clarification when they asked whether he would be eligible for parole if he was sentenced to life without parole. One juror explained, “We felt that the crime did not warrant the death penalty. We did not want this man on the street ever. Period. When we asked for clarification, we were told that we had all the information that we needed to make a decision. We’re not lawyers, and all we knew is what we saw on TV.” Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:02:42 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2767 The International Court of Justice has granted Mexico’s request for an order to stay the execution of five Mexican citizens on death row in the U.S. Mexico had requested the U.N.'s highest court, commonly referred to as the World Court, to intervene because the United States has failed to comply with an earlier ICJ judgment ordering a hearing to review the trials of the Mexican citizens. The World Court ruled in 2004 that the U.S. violated the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations because it had not provided the Mexican inmates access to their home country’s consular officials prior to their trials. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:33:24 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2766 Death penalty prosecutions in Missouri illustrate the arbitrariness that is applied county by county across the country in capital cases. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, whose jurisdiction covers the city, has never taken a capital case to trial since her election in 2001. But Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch, whose jurisdiction is the suburban county, has won death sentences against 10 people since 2000, despite the fact that the county has only one-fourth as many murders as the city. The two longtime Democrats have adjacent jurisdictions with one urban and one more rural. Their decisions fit into a pattern around the country: urban prosecutors are less likely than their suburban or rural counterparts to go after death sentences. Hence, what side of the county line a crime is committed on can be a matter of life and death. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:46:12 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2765 Researchers Marvin Zalman, Brad Smith, and Angie Kiger of Wayne State University's Criminal Justice Department recently published a study in the Justice Quarterly on the frequency of wrongful convictions. After a comprehensive review of the literature concerning innocence, they reported the results of their survey of Michigan police officers, prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges regarding their "estimates of the frequency of wrongful conviction." Respondents were asked about the percentage of innocence cases among convictions in their own jurisdictions and in other jurisdictions. They compared their findings to a similar study conducted with Ohio criminal justice officials and discussed the policy implications of their findings. Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:03:14 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2764 The latest version of Death Row U.S.A. has been released by the Capital Punishment Project of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. The report contains death row and execution data for all states and federal jurisdictions as of January 1, 2008. The report lists inmates by state, name, and race. The report also contains information on each person executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, and information on U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The last version of DRUSA was Jan. 1, 2007. Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:40:27 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2763 Murder and the Death Penalty in Massachusetts by Alan Rogers explores the unique history of the capital punishment in Massachusetts. Rogers chronicles the more than 300 years that Massachusetts executed men and women in the state through to the eventual abolition of the punishment in 1984. The historical approach recounts the Puritans’ views on capital punishment in the 1700’s, the 1830’s House vote that almost abolished the death penalty, and the cases that were the turning point for the state. Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:57:31 EST http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2762 On July 10, Carlton Akee Turner is scheduled to be put to death in Texas for the murder of his adoptive parents when he was 19 years old. But a majority of the victims’ relatives are speaking out against the execution. Victim Tonya Carlton's brother, Kelly Johnson, wrote in a petition to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, “I do not wish to see my sister’s only child executed. I believe in my heart that my sister would only have wanted Akee to receive the help that he needed to restore his mind to a sound state.” Tonya’s first cousin and close friend Krishell Colemen said, “I don’t think Carlton [the defendant] should be executed. I don’t want him to be executed. Now that I know more of the details that led to the murders, I realize that he needs help. Killing him is just another murder. Nothing is going to bring my cousin back. Killing him will just hurt our family again, the way Tonya and Carlton’s murders did.” Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:14:53 EST