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Entries tagged with “Political Leaders”

Facts & Research

Clemency

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New Voices

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Sep 18, 2007

BACKGROUND ON RECENT COMMUTATION: ​“Grossly Inadequate” Representation in a System that ​“Broke Down”

Just two days after Tennessee’s first elec­tro­cu­tion in near­ly 50 years, Governor Phil Bredesen (pic­tured) com­mut­ed the death sen­tence of Michael Joe Boyd to life in prison with­out parole. The Governor called the rep­re­sen­ta­tion Boyd received dur­ing his appeals ​“gross­ly inad­e­quate,” adding that Boyd’s claims were nev­er com­pre­hen­sive­ly reviewed because his appel­late attor­ney — Dan Seward — failed to pro­vide evi­dence to sup­port Boyd’s ini­tial claim that he was poor­ly rep­re­sent­ed dur­ing his tri­al. Bredesen observed, ​“I’ve always tak­en the posi­tion that I’m not try­ing to be the 13th juror;…

Facts & Research

Recent Legislative Activity

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New Voices

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Jan 23, 2019

Bill to Abolish Wyoming’s Death Penalty Introduced with Bipartisan Support

A bipar­ti­san coali­tion of Wyoming leg­is­la­tors has intro­duced a bill to abol­ish the state’s death penal­ty. On January 15, 2019, Cheyenne Republican State Representative Jared Olsen (pic­tured, left) and Republican State Senator Brian Boner (pic­tured, right), intro­duced HB145, which would repeal the death penal­ty and replace it with a judi­cial­ly imposed sen­tence of life with­out parole or life impris­on­ment. The bill, co-spon­sored by six­teen oth­er rep­re­sen­ta­tives and sen­a­tors, has the back­ing of sev­er­al leg­isla­tive lead­ers, includ­ing Speaker of the House Steve Harshman, R‑Casper, and Senate Minority Leader Chris Rothfuss, D‑Laramie.…

Policy Issues

Costs

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Victims' Families

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Recent Legislative Activity

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New Voices

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Jan 16, 2018

Bipartisan Effort to Abolish Death Penalty Gains Momentum in Washington

With the back­ing of the state’s gov­er­nor and attor­ney gen­er­al, Democratic and Republican spon­sors of a bill to repeal Washington’s cap­i­tal-pun­ish­ment statute have expressed opti­mism that the state may abol­ish the death penal­ty in 2018. In 2017, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, was joined by for­mer Attorney General Rob McKenna, a Republican, in call­ing on the leg­is­la­ture to end the state’s death penal­ty. Ferguson, who has said “[t]here is no role for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in a fair, equi­table and humane jus­tice sys­tem,” is press­ing leg­is­la­tors to take up the…

Policy Issues

Costs

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Innocence

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Race

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Clemency

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Executions Overview

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Lethal Injection

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Mar 13, 2019

California Governor Announces Moratorium on Executions

California Governor Gavin Newsom on March 13, 2019 declared a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in the state with the nation’s largest death row. Newsom imple­ment­ed the mora­to­ri­um through an exec­u­tive order grant­i­ng reprieves to the 737 pris­on­ers cur­rent­ly on California’s death row. He also announced that he was with­draw­ing the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col — the admin­is­tra­tive plan by which exe­cu­tions are car­ried out — and was clos­ing down the state’s exe­cu­tion cham­ber. In his exec­u­tive order impos­ing the mora­to­ri­um, Newsom said, ​“I will not over­see the exe­cu­tion of any per­son while Governor.”

Policy Issues

Costs

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Deterrence

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Victims' Families

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Recent Legislative Activity

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Religion

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New Voices

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Jan 08, 2018

Conservative Voices Continue to Call for End of Death Penalty

From October 2016 to October 2017, sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment among those iden­ti­fy­ing them­selves as Republicans fell by ten perc­etage points. Two op-eds pub­lished towards the end of the year illus­trate the grow­ing con­ser­v­a­tive oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty. Writing in The Seattle Times on December 27, Republican State Senator Mark Miloscia (pic­tured, l.) called for bipar­ti­san efforts to repeal Washington’s death-penal­ty statute. In a December 13 com­men­tary in the Washington Times, con­ser­v­a­tive polit­i­cal strate­gist Richard Viguerie (pic­tured, r.) describes what he calls the ​“stun­ning” surge in Republican spon­sor­ship of…

Policy Issues

Race

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New Voices

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Mar 23, 2017

Florida Black Caucus, Victim’s Parents Urge Governor to Rescind Order Removing Prosecutor For Not Seeking Death Penalty

The Florida Legislative Black Caucus has joined more than 100 lawyers and legal experts and the par­ents of mur­der vic­tim Sade Dixon in urg­ing Governor Rick Scott to rescind his order remov­ing Orange-Osceola County State Attorney Aramis Ayala (pic­tured) from a high-pro­file dou­ble mur­der case in which she decid­ed to not seek the death penal­ty. The oth­er vic­tim in the case, Lt. Debra Clayton, was an Orlando police offi­cer. Governor Scott did not speak with Dixon’s fam­i­ly before issu­ing an order remov­ing Ayala and appoint­ing a Special Prosecutor to the…

Mar 10, 2004

Florida Capital Punishment Supporter Urges State to Abandon Juvenile Death Penalty

Florida Senator Victor Crist (R‑Tampa), a long-time death penal­ty sup­port­er, is ask­ing his leg­isla­tive col­leagues to sup­port a bill to bar the juve­nile death penal­ty in Florida. ​“In my heart and soul I believe it’s the right thing to do. There is a cer­tain essence of juve­niles that make them dif­fer­ent,” said Crist. Research sup­ports that notion. David Fassler, a Vermont psy­chi­a­trist who helped the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry draft its pol­i­cy against cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for juve­niles stat­ed, “[L]aws rais­ing the drink­ing age to 21 or setting…

Policy Issues

Costs

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International

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New Voices

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Jun 16, 2017

Former Governor Bill Richardson: Death Penalty Is Bad for Business, Out of Step With World’s Views

In a Washington Post op-ed, for­mer New Mexico Governor and United Nations Ambassador Bill Richardson (pic­tured) — who in 2009 signed a bill to abol­ish his state’s death penal­ty — urged that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment be abol­ished in the United States, say­ing “[t]he prac­tice is wrong and I hope it isn’t long for this world.”

Policy Issues

Costs

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New Voices

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Jan 11, 2018

Idaho County Considers Leaving State Defense Fund As Way to Deter Capital Prosecutions

To deter future use of the death penal­ty in their coun­ty, the Blaine County, Idaho County Commissioners on January 2 vot­ed to con­sid­er with­draw­ing from the state’s Capital Crimes Defense Fund as a way to choke off state fund­ing in cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions. ​“This is a way for our coun­ty to say we don’t sup­port the death penal­ty, and that we don’t want the pros­e­cu­tor seek­ing it in Blaine County,” said Commissioner Larry Schoen (pic­tured), who pro­posed the with­draw­al. Two days lat­er, how­ev­er, the com­mis­sion­ers back­tracked after learn­ing that par­tic­i­pa­tion in…

Policy Issues

Costs

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Recent Legislative Activity

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New Voices

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Jul 10, 2018

Kentucky Legislature Conducts Hearing on the Commonwealth’s Death Penalty

A joint com­mit­tee of the Kentucky leg­is­la­ture con­duct­ed a hear­ing on July 6, 2018 on the Commonwealth’s rarely used death penal­ty, includ­ing a pre­sen­ta­tion by sup­port­ers and oppo­nents of a bill to abol­ish cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The General Assembly’s Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary took tes­ti­mo­ny from pros­e­cu­tors, defense attor­neys, cor­rec­tion­al offi­cials, and leg­is­la­tors on issues rang­ing from costs and arbi­trari­ness to the length of the appeal process.

Policy Issues

Innocence

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New Voices

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Feb 22, 2006

Lawmakers Apologize to the 100th Person Freed From Death Row

Several mem­bers of the Arizona House and Senate recent­ly offered apolo­gies to Ray Krone (pic­tured), a for­mer Arizona death row inmate who was freed in 2002 fol­low­ing new DNA tests. The apolo­gies fol­lowed stand­ing ova­tions from mem­bers of the state’s House and Senate when Krone was intro­duced to the leg­is­la­tors in each cham­ber dur­ing floor ses­sions. Krone, who now trav­els the nation edu­cat­ing peo­ple about the prob­lems with the death penal­ty, accept­ed the leg­is­la­tors’ apolo­gies and stat­ed, ​“It’s a recog­ni­tion from actu­al elect­ed offi­cials of the wrong that was done…

Policy Issues

Costs

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Deterrence

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Recent Legislative Activity

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Religion

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New Voices

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Apr 12, 2017

Louisiana Legislature Considers Bipartisan Measure to Abolish Death Penalty

Three Louisiana leg­is­la­tors, all of them for­mer law enforce­ment offi­cials, have pro­posed leg­is­la­tion to abol­ish the state’s death penal­ty. Sen. Dan Claitor (R‑Baton Rouge, pic­tured), a for­mer New Orleans pros­e­cu­tor who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, is the pri­ma­ry author of Senate Bill 142, which would elim­i­nate the death penal­ty for offens­es com­mit­ted on or after August 1, 2017. The bil­l’s coun­ter­part in the House of Representatives, House Bill 101, is spon­sored by Rep. Terry Landry (D‑Lafayette), a for­mer state police super­in­ten­dent, with sup­port from Rep. Steven Pylant (R‑Winnsboro), a…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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New Voices

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Aug 08, 2017

Mark White, Former Governor of Texas and Death-Penalty Critic, Dies at 77

Mark White (offi­cial por­trait, pic­tured), a for­mer gov­er­nor and attor­ney gen­er­al of Texas who became an out­spo­ken crit­ic of the death penal­ty, died on August 5 at the age of 77. Mr. White served as gov­er­nor from 1983 to 1987, dur­ing which time he over­saw 19 exe­cu­tions. In an unsuc­cess­ful come­back bid in 1990, a cam­paign ad tout­ed his strong sup­port for the death penal­ty, fea­tur­ing pho­tos of the men exe­cut­ed dur­ing his tenure as gov­er­nor and declar­ing, ​“Only a gov­er­nor can make exe­cu­tions hap­pen. I did and I will.”…

Facts & Research

Recent Legislative Activity

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Sentencing Data

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New Voices

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Executions Overview

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Jan 27, 2016

Missouri Likely to See Change After Historic High in Executions

A decline in exe­cu­tions is like­ly in Missouri after two years of unusu­al­ly high num­bers. In 2014, Missouri tied with Texas for the most exe­cu­tions in the U.S., and it was sec­ond to Texas in 2015. However, chang­ing atti­tudes about the death penal­ty – sim­i­lar to nation­al shifts – are evi­dent in Missouri’s sen­tenc­ing trends: no one was sen­tenced to death in Missouri in 2014 or 2015, and less than one per­son per year has been sen­tenced to death in the past sev­en years. Moreover, a bill with bi-par­ti­san sup­port has been intro­duced to…

Policy Issues

Race

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New Voices

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Jan 09, 2017

National Black Caucus of State Legislators Call for Repeal of Death Penalty

Saying that ​“race plays a deci­sive role in who lives and who dies” in cap­i­tal cas­es in the United States, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) vot­ed at its 40th annu­al con­fer­ence on December 14, 2016, to adopt its first ever res­o­lu­tion call­ing for the abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty. The res­o­lu­tion states that ​“racial bias in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem, includ­ing the death penal­ty and its appli­ca­tion, is an undis­put­ed fact,” and notes that ​“from slav­ery to Jim Crow to the present day, the death penal­ty has…

Policy Issues

Race

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New Voices

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Sep 07, 2016

National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators Calls for Abolition of Death Penalty

Calling racial bias in the admin­is­tra­tion of the death penal­ty ​“an undis­put­ed fact,” the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL), a group of 320 Hispanic leg­is­la­tors, has passed a res­o­lu­tion urg­ing leg­isla­tive action in all state and fed­er­al juris­dic­tions to repeal the death penal­ty across the United States. The leg­is­la­tors note that the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem sub­jects ​“Black, Latino, Native Americans, and all peo­ple of col­or” to more puni­tive treat­ment, includ­ing being ​“more like­ly to be sen­tenced to death.” The res­o­lu­tion high­lights racial inequities that occur at sev­er­al key…

Facts & Research

Recent Legislative Activity

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Apr 12, 2019

New Hampshire Senate Passes Death-Penalty Repeal With Veto-Proof Majority

In a vote death-penal­ty oppo­nents praised as ​“his­toric,” a veto-proof super­ma­jor­i­ty of the New Hampshire leg­is­la­ture gave final approval to a bill that would repeal the state’s death penal­ty statute. By a vote of 17 – 6, the sen­a­tors vot­ed on April 11, 2019 to end cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions in the Granite State, exceed­ing the two-thirds major­i­ty nec­es­sary to over­ride an antic­i­pat­ed veto by Governor Chris Sununu. In March, the state House of Representatives passed the same abo­li­tion bill, HB 455, by a veto-proof 279 – 88 super­ma­jor­i­ty. For the sec­ond con­sec­u­tive year, the bill…

Facts & Research

New Voices

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May 07, 2008

NEW VOICES: ​“How New Jersey Abolished the Death Penalty”

In 1982, as a sec­ond term Assemblyman, Raymond Lesniak vot­ed to rein­state the death penal­ty in New Jersey. In December 2007, New Jersey vot­ed to abol­ish the death penal­ty, becom­ing the first state in 40 years to accom­plish this. Senator Lesniak was one of the spon­sors and leg­isla­tive lead­ers of the abo­li­tion bill. He has writ­ten a new book: ​“The Road to Abolition: How New Jersey Abolished the Death Penatly.” In com­ment­ing on the book, Senator Lesniak said, ​“Why do I care so much about the mur­der­ers on death row…

Dec 15, 2004

NEW VOICES: Andrew Cuomo Calls for Reexamination of NY’s Death Penalty

Andrew Cuomo (pic­tured), who served as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1997 to 2001, recent­ly urged New York law­mak­ers to put an end to the death penal­ty. The state is hold­ing hear­ings on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the wake of a N.Y. Court of Appeals deci­sion find­ing the statute uncon­sti­tu­tion­al ear­li­er this year. In his op-ed in The New York Times, Cuomo not­ed: The Democrats, who con­trol the Assembly, should make it clear that they will not pass a new death penal­ty law. This will take courage, but…

Sep 28, 2004

NEW VOICES: Author of Arizona’s Death Penalty Law Has Second Thoughts

When Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was a sen­a­tor in Arizona, one of the peo­ple she asked to draft the state’s death penal­ty law was Rudolph Gerber. She request­ed that he ​“write a law we can live with.” Mr. Gerber went on to become a pros­e­cu­tor, an Arizona tri­al judge, and even­tu­al­ly a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals for 13 years. He recent­ly expressed his chang­ing views on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment as he expe­ri­enced how the law was put into prac­tice: ​“My expe­ri­ence, not atyp­i­cal by any means, revealed some…

Dec 09, 2003

NEW VOICES: Author of Law Establishing Lethal Injection Reflects on Politicization of Death Penalty

Twenty-six years ago, Bill Wiseman draft­ed the first lethal-injec­tion law in U.S. his­to­ry, for­ev­er chang­ing the way most death penal­ty states admin­is­ter exe­cu­tions. He now says that guilt com­pelled him to draft the leg­is­la­tion after vot­ing to rein­state the death penal­ty in Oklahoma despite the fact that he had always been an oppo­nent of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. At the time, Wiseman was a first-term law­mak­er in Oklahoma’s assem­bly, and he knew oppos­ing the state’s 1976 mea­sure to bring back cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment would be polit­i­cal sui­cide. Wiseman recalls, ​“I said, ​‘Oh jeez,…

Policy Issues

Mental Illness

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Recent Legislative Activity

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New Voices

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Mar 30, 2017

NEW VOICES: Bipartisan Former Governors Support Death Penalty Exemption for Those With Severe Mental Illness

In a joint op-ed for The Washington Post, for­mer gov­er­nors Bob Taft (pic­tured, l.) and Joseph E. Kernan (pic­tured, r.) have expressed bipar­ti­san sup­port for pro­posed leg­is­la­tion that would pro­hib­it the use of the death penal­ty against peo­ple who have severe men­tal ill­ness. Taft, a for­mer Republican gov­er­nor of Ohio, and Kernan, a for­mer Democratic gov­er­nor of Indiana, call the exe­cu­tion of men­tal­ly ill defen­dants ​“an inhu­mane prac­tice that fails to respect com­mon stan­dards of decen­cy and com­port with rec­om­men­da­tions of men­tal-health experts.” They high­light recent exe­cu­tions of Adam Ward,…

Oct 19, 2004

NEW VOICES: Bush and Kerry Express Views on Executing Juvenile Offenders

In a forum host­ed by the New Voters Project, U.S. Presidential can­di­dates George Bush and John Kerry expressed their views on exe­cut­ing juve­nile offend­ers. ​“Federal law pro­hibits exe­cu­tion of those under 18 when the offense was com­mit­ted, and I see no rea­son to change that statute,” said President Bush. Senator John Kerry stat­ed, ​“I do not think that exe­cut­ing minors is good pol­i­cy.” (Knight-Ridder, October 17, 2004). On October 13th, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argu­ments in Roper v. Simmons, a case that will deter­mine whether the exe­cu­tion of…

Feb 24, 2004

NEW VOICES: Connecticut Lags Behind in Death Penalty Reforms

The Chair of Connecticut’s Judiciary Committee has called for enact­ment of death penal­ty reforms to pro­tect against wrong­ful con­vic­tions. Of the six reforms rec­om­mend­ed after a 13-month spe­cial com­mis­sion on Connecticut’s death penal­ty, only one has been enact­ed. Members of the com­mis­sion not­ed, ​“Experiences in oth­er states through­out the coun­try sug­gest that Connecticut can­not be com­pla­cent and ​‘best prac­tices’ should be the watch­word.” Among the rec­om­men­da­tions are video tap­ing of inter­ro­ga­tions, a blind and sequen­tial wit­ness ID process to reduce false iden­ti­fi­ca­tions, pre-tri­al hear­ings to eval­u­ate the valid­i­ty of jail…

Policy Issues

International

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New Voices

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Jan 26, 2006

NEW VOICES: Former Ambassador to France Addresses Impact of Death Penalty on Foreign Relations

In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, Felix G. Rohatyn (pic­tured), the U.S. Ambassador to France from 1997 to 2001, not­ed that dur­ing his tenure ​“no sin­gle issue was viewed with as much hos­til­i­ty as our sup­port for the death penal­ty.” Rohatyn urged the U.S. to con­sid­er the impact of main­tain­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment on our rela­tions with our allies, and he stat­ed that con­sid­er­a­tion of inter­na­tion­al trends is appro­pri­ate when cas­es are reviewed by the Supreme Court. Rohatyn wrote:

Jan 23, 2004

NEW VOICES: Former Kansas State Senator Urges Legislators to Enact Moratorium

Former Kansas Republican state sen­a­tor Tim Emert recent­ly urged mem­bers of the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee to enact a mora­to­ri­um on impos­ing the death sen­tence and exe­cut­ing those who have already been sen­tenced to die. Noting that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was his most trou­bling issue when he was a mem­ber of the Kansas leg­is­la­ture, Emert stat­ed, ​“I came to the con­clu­sion the only vote I could live with was a ​‘no’ vote on the death penal­ty in Kansas. I could not, in my mind, be pro-life and pro death penal­ty.” Emert’s…

Apr 21, 2011

NEW VOICES: Former Supporter Will Oppose Any Measure to Restore Minnesota Death Penalty

Minnesota Senator Tom Neuville, the lead­ing Republican com­mit­tee mem­ber on the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee, says he will oppose Governor Tim Pawlenty’s efforts to rein­state death penal­ty. Neuville’s basic oppo­si­tion is moral: ​“If we solve vio­lence by becom­ing vio­lent our­selves, we become dimin­ished.” Neuville, a for­mer death penal­ty sup­port­er whose reex­am­i­na­tion of his pro-life beliefs led him to change his mind on the issue, feels that many of his col­leagues share his con­cerns. ​“Life is a gift from God. It isn’t up to us to take it away,” Neuville said.…

Dec 09, 2003

NEW VOICES: Former Supporter Will Oppose Any Measure to Restore Minnesota Death Penalty

Minnesota Senator Tom Neuville, the lead­ing Republican com­mit­tee mem­ber on the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee, says he will oppose Governor Tim Pawlenty’s efforts to rein­state death penal­ty. Neuville’s basic oppo­si­tion is moral: ​“If we solve vio­lence by becom­ing vio­lent our­selves, we become dimin­ished.” Neuville, a for­mer death penal­ty sup­port­er whose reex­am­i­na­tion of his pro-life beliefs led him to change his mind on the issue, feels that many of his col­leagues share his con­cerns. ​“Life is a gift from God. It isn’t up to us to take it away,” Neuville said.…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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New Voices

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Aug 25, 2008

NEW VOICES: Former U.S. Senator Joseph Tydings Speaks About the Death Penalty

Joseph D. Tydings is a for­mer U.S. Senator from Maryland who has both pros­e­cut­ed and defend­ed death penal­ty cas­es. In a recent op-ed in the Baltimore Sun he wrote of his grow­ing con­cerns about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment gen­er­al­ly, and about Maryland’s death penal­ty in par­tic­u­lar. His expe­ri­ence with the death penal­ty led him to the con­clu­sion that ​“deep and irrefutable flaws are built into our present sys­tem of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. These flaws hold the most risk for those at the mar­gins of soci­ety. Given that insuf­fi­cient pro­tec­tions exist for those facing…

Apr 14, 2004

NEW VOICES: Law Enforcement Officials Support Bill to End Juvenile Death Penalty

A bipar­ti­san mea­sure to elim­i­nate the juve­nile death penal­ty in Florida has passed the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and is now on its way to the full Senate for con­sid­er­a­tion. The mea­sure was intro­duced by Republican Senator Victor Crist, a death penal­ty sup­port­er who notes that young peo­ple are dif­fer­ent because they don’t have the same under­stand­ing of con­se­quences as an adult. .The bill also has sup­port from the state’s top law enforce­ment offi­cers, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnel. ​“You need…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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New Voices

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Feb 01, 2006

NEW VOICES: Legislator Who Pushed for Faster Executions Now Has Changed His Mind

Pennsylvania State Representative Michael McGeehan, a tough-on-crime law­mak­er from Philadelphia, who ear­li­er had pushed for expe­dit­ed exe­cu­tions, now regrets that stance. He is spon­sor­ing leg­is­la­tion that would com­pen­sate those who have been wrong­ly con­vict­ed. McGeehan’s bill, which would also imme­di­ate­ly expunge a wrong­ly con­vict­ed per­son­’s crim­i­nal record, was prompt­ed by his out­rage at the num­ber of peo­ple who have been wrong­ly con­vict­ed and released from prison.

Sep 16, 2004

NEW VOICES: Many Call For A More Thorough Review of the Death Penalty in NY

New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a long time sup­port­er of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, called for New York’s leg­is­la­ture to step back and more thor­ough­ly review the state’s death penal­ty sys­tem, which has not result­ed in any exe­cu­tions and has cost the state more than $170 mil­lion in the last decade. Speaker Silver said that his cham­ber would not fol­low the lead of the state Senate, which passed an amend­ment to fix the state’s death penal­ty law with­out hear­ings. ​“After 10 years of hav­ing the death penal­ty, and very limited…

May 04, 2004

NEW VOICES: Massachusetts District Attorneys Criticize Governor’s Death Penalty Plan

District attor­neys from sev­er­al Massachusetts coun­ties, includ­ing Suffolk, Norfolk, Middlesex, Essex and Barnstable, had strong reser­va­tions about Governor Mitt Romney’s attempt to estab­lish a near­ly ​“fool­proof” death penal­ty sys­tem in the state. Some not­ed that noth­ing can elim­i­nate the pos­si­bil­i­ty of human error in such cas­es. The dis­trict attor­neys said that the state’s med­ical examiner’s office and crime labs are cur­rent­ly over­whelmed with work, and that the labs do not have the capac­i­ty to add the addi­tion­al respon­si­bil­i­ty of car­ry­ing out Romney’s plan. ​“Let’s fix what’s wrong first,” said Barnstable…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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New Voices

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Feb 07, 2007

NEW VOICES: Missouri Representative Calls for Halt to Executions

Missouri Rep. Bill Deeken (pic­tured), a Republican death penal­ty pro­po­nent, has intro­duced leg­is­la­tion that would halt exe­cu­tions in the state until 2011 and would cre­ate a cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment com­mis­sion to exam­ine the fair­ness and accu­ra­cy of Missouri’s death penal­ty. Deeken stat­ed that his moti­va­tion for the bill came after real­iz­ing that the state’s death penal­ty has not been imple­ment­ed fair­ly in all cas­es and it does not ade­quate­ly pre­vent wrong­ful con­vic­tions. He not­ed, ​“I am not against the death penal­ty. But what I am for is to make sure that…

Nov 23, 2004

NEW VOICES: New York Lawmakers Say Death Penalty’s Future May Be in Doubt

According to promi­nent New York law­mak­ers, there is lit­tle chance that leg­is­la­tors will pass a bill this year to fix the state’s uncon­sti­tu­tion­al death penal­ty. Many experts believe that the state’s statute, which N.Y.‘s high­est court struck down ear­li­er this year, may nev­er be re-enact­ed. Republican Senator Dale M. Volker not­ed that when the Court of Appeals struck down the law, New York heard ​“the death knell of the death penal­ty, for the time being.” Sheldon Silver, the Democratic Speaker of the Assembly and a death penal­ty pro­po­nent, not­ed that…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

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New Voices

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Sep 25, 2006

NEW VOICES: NJ Assemblyman Changes Position on Death Penalty — Legislator Also Lost A Family Member

State Assemblyman Nelson T. Albano of Cape May, New Jersey, announced at a forum on the death penal­ty that he has changed his mind and now oppos­es cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Albano said that his change of heart came after read­ing a book about Kirk Bloodsworth, the 1st death-row inmate in the United States to be exon­er­at­ed by DNA evi­dence. The book led him to the insight into that the cap­i­tal-pun­ish­ment sys­tem is flawed and should be put on hold.

Policy Issues

Costs

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Innocence

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Recent Legislative Activity

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New Voices

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Mar 01, 2016

NEW VOICES: Republican Former Death Penalty Supporter Leads Repeal Effort in Utah

Stephen Urquhart (pic­tured), a Republican state sen­a­tor in Utah, sup­port­ed the death penal­ty until about a year ago, when a friend con­vinced him that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment did­n’t fit his con­ser­v­a­tive beliefs. Now Urquhart sees the death penal­ty as inef­fi­cient, cost­ly, and wrong and is the lead spon­sor of a bill to repeal the state’s death penal­ty. He said con­cerns about the cost of the death penal­ty and the risk of exe­cut­ing an inno­cent per­son changed his stance on the issue. In dis­cus­sions with his col­leagues in the leg­is­la­ture, he draws…

Jun 29, 2004

NEW VOICES: Texas Democrats Endorse Moratorium on Executions, End to Juvenile Death Penalty

The Texas Democratic Party has adopt­ed an his­toric par­ty plat­form that con­tains a num­ber of death penal­ty reform rec­om­men­da­tions, includ­ing a call for leg­is­la­tors to enact a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, to ban the exe­cu­tion of juve­nile offend­ers and the men­tal­ly ill, and to con­sid­er adopt­ing a life with­out paroles sen­tence in Texas. More than 1,700 atten­dees at the Democratic Party’s state con­ven­tion signed a res­o­lu­tion call­ing for the mora­to­ri­um, sur­pass­ing the 30% sig­na­ture thresh­old required to bring a mea­sure before the full vot­ing body. That vot­ing block over­whelm­ing­ly sup­port­ed the…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Innocence

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New Voices

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Oct 04, 2007

NEW VOICES: Texas Lt. Governor Backs Creation of Innocence Commission, Urges Review of the Death Penalty for Accomplices

In a recent meet­ing with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board, Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst (pic­tured) urged leg­is­la­tors to re-exam­ine the state law that allows an accom­plice to be tried by the same judge and jury as the shoot­er in mur­der cas­es, adding that he agreed with Governor Rick Perry’s deci­sion to com­mute Kenneth Eugene Foster’s death sen­tence to life in prison based on sim­i­lar con­cerns. Dewhurst also called on leg­is­la­tors to estab­lish a state inno­cence com­mis­sion to study wrong­ful con­vic­tions and pos­si­ble reforms to the crim­i­nal jus­tice system.…

Policy Issues

Victims' Families

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Recent Legislative Activity

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New Voices

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Jan 17, 2006

NEW VOICES: Virginia Legislators And Victims Speak Against Death Penalty

Two Virginia law­mak­ers who have had a fam­i­ly mem­ber mur­dered recent­ly spoke in oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty. During a sen­ate com­mit­tee hear­ing on a bill to impose a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, Senators Henry L. Marsh III and Janet D. Howell not­ed that their oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty was based in their expe­ri­ence of los­ing a loved one to mur­der. Howell’s father-in-law was mur­dered in his home eight years ago. She not­ed, ​“Up until then, I was in favor of the death penal­ty. But when my father-in-law was murdered,…

Aug 06, 2003

NYC Mayor Restates Concerns About Innocence, Opposition to the Death Penalty

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, reit­er­at­ed his oppo­si­tion to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Bloomberg not­ed, ​“The death penal­ty I’ve always had a prob­lem with, because too many times in the past you’ve seen inno­cent peo­ple incar­cer­at­ed and, trag­i­cal­ly, every once in a while they’ve been exe­cut­ed. And until you can show me that the process nev­er would ever con­vict some­body that lat­er on we find out was inno­cent of a crime, mur­der is mur­der no mat­ter who does it, and I think we as a soci­ety can afford to…

Policy Issues

Costs

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New Voices

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Aug 03, 2017

Political Analysis: Is Conservative Support the Future of Death-Penalty Abolition?

In a forth­com­ing arti­cle in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, released online in July, Ben Jones argues that, despite the pop­u­lar con­cep­tion of death-penal­ty abo­li­tion as a polit­i­cal­ly pro­gres­sive cause, its future suc­cess may well depend upon build­ing sup­port among Republicans and polit­i­cal con­ser­v­a­tives. In The Republican Party, Conservatives, and the Future of Capital Punishment, Jones — the Assistant Director of Rock Ethics Institute at Pennsylvania State University — traces the ide­o­log­i­cal roots of the recent emer­gence of Republican law­mak­ers as cham­pi­ons of death penal­ty repeal to long-held con­ser­v­a­tive views. He writes,…

Facts & Research

New Voices

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May 18, 2016

Support for the Death Penalty by Republican Legislators No Longer a Sure Thing

One year after the Nebraska leg­is­la­ture vot­ed to repeal the death penal­ty and over­rode a guber­na­to­r­i­al veto of that mea­sure, actions in leg­is­la­tures across the coun­try sug­gest that the state’s efforts sig­nalled a grow­ing move­ment against the death penal­ty by con­ser­v­a­tive leg­is­la­tors and that sup­port for the death penal­ty among Republican leg­is­la­tors is no longer a giv­en. Reporting in The Washington Post, Amber Phillips writes that Republican leg­is­la­tors in ten states spon­sored or co-spon­sored leg­is­la­tion to repeal cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment dur­ing the cur­rent leg­isla­tive ses­sions. She reports that although these repeal…

Policy Issues

Representation

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New Voices

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Aug 16, 2007

U.S. Senators Question Justice Department’s Plan to Expedite Executions

U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D‑VT) and Arlen Specter (R‑PA) (pic­tured) are urg­ing the Justice Department to delay new rules that would give Attorney General Alberto Gonzales author­i­ty to lim­it the time death row inmates spend pur­su­ing appeals before being exe­cut­ed. Senator Leahy chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Specter is the rank­ing Republican mem­ber of that com­mit­tee. The two recent­ly sent a bipar­ti­san let­ter to Gonzales express­ing con­cerns about whether states have ade­quate pro­tec­tions in place to ensure com­pe­tent legal coun­sel for indi­gent defen­dants fac­ing the death penal­ty. ​“States…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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New Voices

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Apr 14, 2017

With Looming Execution and Serious Innocence Concerns, Calls Mount for Virginia to Grant Clemency to Ivan Teleguz

Amid mount­ing con­cerns that Virginia may exe­cute an inno­cent man on April 25, a diverse group of reli­gious, polit­i­cal, and busi­ness lead­ers are call­ing on Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to grant clemen­cy to Ivan Teleguz (pic­tured). Their pleas for clemen­cy stress that Teleguz was con­vict­ed based upon high­ly unre­li­able tes­ti­mo­ny and sen­tenced to death based upon false tes­ti­mo­ny that he had been involved in a fab­ri­cat­ed Pennsylvania mur­der that had, in fact, nev­er occurred. Teleguz was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death on charges that he had hired Michael Hetrick to…