From DPIC images

EXECUTIONS IN 2008

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding Kentucky's lethal injection process on April 16, there have been 9 executions:

William Lynd
GA
5/6/08
Earl Berry
MS
5/21/08
Kevin Green

Excerpts from the Supreme Court Opinion in Baze v. Rees
April 16, 2008


Opinion of the Chief Justice announcing the judgment of the Court

"Some risk of pain is inherent in any method of execution—no matter how humane—if only from the prospect of error in following the required procedure. It is clear, then, that the Constitution does not demand the avoidance of all risk of pain in carrying out executions."

Study Reveals Maryland's Death Penalty is Costing Taxpayers $186 Million
A study released on March 6, 2008 found that Maryland taxpayers are paying $186 million dollars for a system that has resulted in five executions since 1978 when the state reenacted the death penalty.  That would be equivalent to $37.2 per execution.  The study, prepared by the Urban Institute, estimates that the average cost to Maryland taxpayers for reaching a single death sentence is $3 million - $1.9 million more than the cost of a non-death penalty case. The study examined 162 capital cases that were prosecuted between 1978 and 1999 and found that seeking the death penalty in those cases cost $186 million more than what those cases would have cost had the death penalty not been sought. At every phase of a case, according to the study, capital murder cases cost more than non-capital murder cases.

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.

United Nations Calls for Moratorium on Executions A resolution for a global moratorium on executions was passed on Nov. 15 by the UN General Assembly's Third (Human Rights) Committee by a vote of 99-52, with 33 abstentions. The General Assembly is expected to endorse the decision in a plenary session in December. Similar resolutions were introduced in 1994 and 1999 but were either narrowly defeated or withdrawn.

The resolutions calls on countries to: