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News and Developments 2007: Executions

2007: DPIC's Year End Report

Posted: December 26, 2007
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U.S. Supreme Court stayed the Alabama execution scheduled for night of Jan. 31.


Watch the Independent Film Channel's piece on the U.S. Supreme Court case regarding lethal injection, Baze v. Rees. The video also includes a discussion of death penalty trends with DPIC's Richard Dieter and an interview with former Texas death row chaplain Carroll Pickett.

DPIC RELEASES 2007 YEAR END REPORT NOTING DECLINE IN DEATH PENALTY USE

Posted: December 19, 2007
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The Death Penalty Information Center has released its 13th annual Year End Report, noting that executions have dropped to a 13-year low as a de facto moratorium took hold in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s examination of lethal injection procedures. Death sentences have also dropped considerably in recent years.  DPIC projected 110 new death sentences in 2007 - the lowest number since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, and a 60% drop since 1999.

NEW VOICES: Former Texas Warden Reconsiders the Death Penalty

Posted: November 20, 2007
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Jim Willet, former warden of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Walls Unit where Texas executions take place, recently described his experiences to the Dallas Observer as emotionally difficult for him. As warden during 1998-2001, three of the busiest years for Texas’ death chamber, Willet oversaw 89 executions.

ARTICLES: Lethal Injections and the Overall Decline in the Death Penalty

Posted: November 15, 2007
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A recent Newsweek article by Evan Thomas and Martha Brant compares the historical search for humane methods of execution with the current decline in the use of the death penalty in the U.S.:

Supreme Court Review of Lethal Injections Attracts Advocates from Many Disciplines

Posted: November 14, 2007
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In addition to the main brief submitted by the Petitioner in Baze v. Rees, several amicus curiae briefs have been filed in support of the inmates from Kentucky who are challenging the constitutionality of lethal injections as practiced in their state before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is likely to be heard in January 2008 and decided by June. It appears that executions around the country have been put on hold pending the Court's decision.

The amicus (“friend of the court”) briefs submitted include:

Court Rules California's New Lethal Injection Procedures are Invalid

Posted: November 02, 2007
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Superior Court Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor held that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed to follow proper procedure for instituting new regulations when it issued new lethal injection protocols in May. Under state law, an agency that adopts new regulations must first publish the text, invite public comments, hold a hearing if a member of the public requests one, and submit the final draft to the Office of Administrative Law, which decides whether the proposed rule was legally authorized.

Texas Prosecutors Ask for Delay in Executions Until Supreme Court Issues Lethal Injection Ruling

Posted: November 01, 2007
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As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to consider the constitutionality of Kentucky's lethal injection procedures, prosecutors in three Texas counties have decided to await the Justices' ruling rather than ask judges to set execution dates and press forward through the courts. "It seems the common-sense thing to do at this point," said Roe Wilson, who handles death penalty appeals for the Harris County District Attorney's Office in Houston. Harris County sends more inmates to death row than any other county in Texas.

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION RENEWS CALL FOR NATIONAL MORATORIUM ON EXECUTIONS

Posted: October 30, 2007
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AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
RENEWS CALL FOR NATIONAL MORATORIUM
ON EXECUTIONS
The American Bar Association (ABA) renewed its call for a nationwide halt to executions following a series of state studies that found serious problems in their death penalty systems.

Lethal Injection Controversy Rises to National Importance with Stays of Execution

Posted: October 18, 2007
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With the stays of execution in Virginia on October 17 and in Georgia on October 18, it appears likely that no more lethal injections will take place in this country until the U.S. Supreme Court renders a decision in Baze v. Rees, a case challenging the lethal injection process in Kentucky. Christopher Emmett in Virginia was granted a stay by the U.S. Supreme Court just hours before his execution. Jack Alderman's lethal injection was stayed by the Georgia Supreme Court a day before it was to occur.

NEW RESOURCE: Amnesty International Issues Lethal Injection Report

Posted: October 04, 2007
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A new report released by Amnesty International, Execution by lethal injection - a quarter century of state poisoning, calls on medical professionals to refuse to participate in executions and details ongoing concerns about current lethal injection protocols that could result in inmates feeling excruciating pain during their executions. “Governments are putting doctors and nurses in an impossible position by asking them to do something that goes against their ethical oath. ...