On December 20, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released its annual set of statistical tables on the death penalty in the United States, covering information for 2010. Hightlights from the report include: -The average time spent on death row for those executed in 2010 was longer than for any previous year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The average time between sentencing and execution for those executed in 2010 was 14.8 years.
-During 2010, 119 inmates were removed from death row: 53 had their sentences or convictions overturned or were granted commutations; 20 died by means other than execution; and 46 (38%) were executed.
-At the close of 2010, there were 388 Hispanics on death row, accounting for 12% of the nation's death row population. -Four states (California, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania) accounted for more than 50% of all inmates on death row.
-Of the 7,879 inmates sentenced to death between 1977 and 2010, 16% have been executed. Six percent (6%) died by causes other than execution, and 39% eventually received other dispositions.
On December 19, Dallas District Court Judge Teresa Hawthorne held that Texas’s death penalty was unconstitutional because it could lead to death sentences that were arbitrarily sought and obtained. In ruling in favor of a defense motion, Judge Hawthorne acknowledged that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and other courts have upheld the statute, but judges still have the obligation to review the law based on its current practice. The judge found parts of Texas's statute regarding findings of future dangerousness and the definition of mitigating evidence to be vague or misleading. The prosecution has filed a motion to recuse Judge Hawthorne from the case. In 2010, another Texas judge, 
On December 15, the Death Penalty Information Center released its latest report, “
In a recent op-ed in Oregon's Statesman Journal, former Texas Governor Mark White (pictured) applauded Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s decision to grant a reprieve to death row inmate Gary Haugen and to halt all executions in the state. Governor White wrote, “I think Kitzhaber's decision is respectable and courageous. In Oregon, as in Texas, it is clearly within the constitutional authority of the governor to grant reprieves and commutations. With that authority comes the responsibility to ensure the state's laws are carried out fairly and within the state and federal constitutions. He concluded that Oregon's death penalty as a system was not passing that test.” Governor White also said that Governor Kitzhaber’s decision now allows time for the state to study the death penalty and address serious concerns about the system. Governor White concluded, “Such a decision should be welcomed by all who value justice, regardless of their personal beliefs about the death penalty.” Read full op-ed below.
DPIC is pleased to announce the completion of our 
A recent study by David McCord, Professor of Law at Drake University Law School, titled What's Messing with Texas Death Sentences?, found five significant causes for the recent decline in death sentences in Texas. McCord sought to explain a 65% drop in Texas death sentences from their peak five-year period of 1992-1996 (when there was an annual average of 40 death sentences) to the recent five-year period of 2005-2009 (when only 14 death sentences were handed down on average each year). The study pointed to numerous developments in Texas that have likely contributed to this decline, including changes in the legal landscape and changes on the county level. McCord cited the advent of life-wthout-parole sentences in Texas as the strongest legal factor in reducing death sentences, and the political changes in Harris County (Houston) as a significant contributor on the county level.
Bob Van Steenburg (pictured), served for 27 years in the military and retired as a United States Army Colonel in 1991. He currently serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. On Veterans Day, he reflected on how his opposition to the death penalty grew from his commitments as a soldier. He wrote, “
The Texas Forensic Science Commission recently closed its inquiry into the case of Cameron Todd Willingham (pictured), who was executed in Texas in 2004. The Commission was told by the Texas Attorney General that it did not have jurisdiction to rule on the Willingham case. Hence, in its final report on October 28 on the matter, it declined to issue any finding regarding allegations of negligence or misconduct by the City of Corsicana or the Texas State Fire Marshal in the Willingham matter. The Commission, however, acknowledged that outdated science regarding arsons played a role in Willingham’s 1991 murder conviction. Willingham was convicted of setting the fire that killed his three daughters. Since then, modern fire experts have determined that none of the more than 20 arson indicators identified by the standards of arson science in 1991 are reliable evidence of intentional fire. Experts say that the cause of fire should have been "undetermined." Stephen Saloom, policy director for the Innocence Project in New York, said, "The world should now know that the evidence relied upon to convict and execute Cameron Todd Willingham for the fire that killed his daughters was based on scientifically invalid and unreliable evidence.” The Commission’s final report also included a commitment from the state fire marshal’s office to review old arson rulings to determine whether convictions were based on the now-debunked science."