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Tax
dollars are being spent to build prisons instead of schools, that
alone is absurd. Tax dollars, 19 Billion of them, will be
spent on a "drug war", that only keeps out 2% of the drugs
trafficked into the USA. -- We Believe Group |
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Death
Penalty Reports 2008
Highlights from the 2008 Report
Decline in the Number of
Executions and Death Sentences
37
executions took place in 2008, marking a 14-year low and
continuing a downward trend that began in 2000. . . . 95% of all
executions occurred in the South in 2008; 49% were in one state
- Texas. . . . The annual number of death sentences has dropped
by 60% since the 1990s.
Innocence and Clemency
Four
death row inmates were exonerated and four had their sentences
commuted to life in prison without parole during the course of
this year. The total number of exonerations since 1973 is 130.
Costs of the Death Penalty
A
California commission reported that the state is spending $138
million per year on a death penalty system that they described
as "broken" and "close to collapse." . . . A study in Maryland
indicated that the state had spent $37 million for each
execution when all the costs of the death penalty were included.
. . . With the average time spent on death row increasing to
12.7 years in 2007, death penalty cases continue to place a
significant financial burden on state budgets. . . . State
supreme courts in Utah and New Mexico have warned that the death
penalty would be stopped unless more funding is provided for
indigent defense.
Expansion of the Death Penalty
Denied
In
June, the Supreme Court rejected the expansion of the death
penalty to non-homicide crimes against individuals in Kennedy
v. Louisiana.
To
read the complete report,
click here. See also
DPIC's Press Release
|
12-12-08 --
The Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment
has released their report.
Click here to downlad the full report.
The Commission voted 13-9 to recommend repealing the
death penalty. The Commission was created by the
Maryland legislature at the beginning of the year
and tasked with studying all aspects of the death
penalty in Maryland. Five public hearings were held
with extensive testimony of those directly impacted
by the death penalty.
The basic findings of the Commission are as follows:
▪
Racial disparities
exist in Maryland's capital sentencing system.
▪
Jurisdictional
disparities exist in Maryland's capital sentencing
system.
▪
Due to a lack of
research on socio-economic disparities in Maryland,
the Commission does not reach a conclusion on
this matter.
▪
The costs associated
with cases in which a death sentence is sought are
substantially higher than the costs associated with
cases in which a sentence of life without the
possibility of parole is sought.
▪
While both life without
the possibility of parole and death penalty cases
are extremely hard on families of victims, the
Commission finds that the effects of capital cases
are more detrimental to families than are life
without the possibility of parole cases. The
Commission recommends an increase of the services
and resources already provided to families of
victims as recommended by the Victims' Subcommittee.
▪
Despite the advance of
forensic sciences, particularly DNA testing, the
risk of execution of an innocent person is a real
possibility.
▪
While DNA testing has
become a widely accepted method for determining
guilt or innocence, it does not eliminate the risk
of sentencing innocent persons to death since, in
many cases, DNA evidence is not available and, even
when it is available, is subject to contamination or
error at the scene of the offense or in the
laboratory.
▪
The Commission finds
that there is no persuasive evidence that the death
penalty deters homicides in Maryland.
Ultimate Recommendation: The Commission recommends
abolition of capital punishment in the state of
Maryland.
A
minority report was also submitted saying that the
death penalty should be retained as a sentencing
option for horrific crimes. |
|
DPIC Releases 2008
Year End Report on the Death Penalty
Highlights from the Report
Decline in the Number of Executions and Death
Sentences
▪
37 executions took place in 2008, marking a 14-year
low and continuing a downward trend that began in
2000.
▪
95% of all executions occurred in the South in 2008;
49% were in one state - Texas.
▪
The annual number of death sentences has dropped by
60% since the 1990s.
Innocence and Clemency
▪
Four death row inmates were exonerated and four had
their sentences commuted to life in prison without
parole during the course of this year. The total
number of exonerations since 1973 is 130.
Costs of the Death Penalty
▪
A California commission reported that the state is
spending $138 million per year on a death penalty
system that they described as "broken" and "close to
collapse."
▪
A study in Maryland indicated that the state had
spent $37 million for each execution when all the
costs of the death penalty were included.
▪
With the average time spent on death row increasing
to 12.7 years in 2007, death penalty cases continue
to place a significant financial burden on state
budgets.
▪
State supreme courts in
Utah
and New Mexico have warned that the death penalty
would be stopped unless more funding is provided for
indigent defense.
Expansion of the Death Penalty Denied
In
June, the Supreme Court rejected the expansion of
the death penalty to non-homicide crimes against
individuals in Kennedy v. Louisiana.
To read the complete report,
click here. |
|
 Maryland
Commission on Capital Punishment Examines State Death
Penalty
On
July
28, 2008, the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment
held the first of several public hearings to assess
whether
Maryland death penalty procedures meet basic standards of
fairness and avoid bias and error. Established earlier
this year by
Maryland’s General Assembly, the 23-member commission is
examining issues including racial disparities in the
application of the death penalty, the costs of
litigating prolonged capital cases as compared to life
imprisonment, and the risk of executing the innocent.
Following the hearings, the Commission will submit a
final report of its findings and recommendations by
December 15, 2008. |
|
Excerpts from Testimony: |
|
"To be meaningful, justice should be swift and sure. Life
without parole, which begins immediately, is both of
these; the death penalty is neither. Capital punishment
drags victims' loved ones through an agonizing and
lengthy process, holding out the promise of one
punishment in the beginning and often resulting in a
life sentence in the end anyway." - letter to
Commission from murder victims' families read by Lisa
Delity, sister of murder victim,
8/19/08
-§§§-
"I
left the state’s attorney’s office more than ten years
ago, but I still remember the agony of attempting to
make the fundamental decision of whether to ask a jury
or judge to condemn someone to death. Our system invests
an individual prosecutor with unfettered discretion to
make that decision. I now believe that to do so
rationally and fairly is beyond human capabilities." -
Judge Andrew L. Sonner, former MD state prosecutor,
8/19/08
-§§§-
"It
is difficult to sympathize with a cold-blooded killer,
but it makes no sense that a murderer in one county is
subject to the death penalty when an identical crime
would be treated in an entirely different way, if it
were committed in another county." - Deborah Poritz,
former Chief Justice of the
New
Jersey Supreme Court, 7/28/08
-§§§-
“We
elect our trial-level prosecutors by county so that
local people have local control over how the discretion
of the office is exercised. If the voters of suburban
Baltimore
County choose to elect a prosecutor who seeks the death
penalty frequently, while the voters of downtown
Baltimore City elect one who seeks it rarely, that is
their choice.” - Kent Sheiddegger, "Smoke & Mirrors
on Race and the Death Penalty" - report presented to
Commission,
7/28/08
-§§§-
"The
death penalty is a bankrupt policy that wastes
increasingly scarce state and federal resources. Our
state desperately needs to invest more in caring for
those traumatized by violence, particularly youth, if we
are ever going to break the cycle of violence in of our
communities. Our tax dollars would be much more
effectively invested in education, mental and physical
health care, childcare – and other essential ingredients
of opportunity, equality and public safety."
– Meldridge James, NAACP,
7/28/08
See
Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment.
See also
Studies. |
California
Commission Finds
State Death Penalty
to be "Broken" and
"Dysfunctional"
 In
2004, the California
State Senate created the
California Commission on
the Fair Administration
of Justice. The
Commission, chaired by
former Attorney General
John Van de Kamp,
includes judges,
prosecutors, defense
lawyers, elected
officials, law
enforcement officials,
and representatives of
victims' organizations.
The Commission issued
its report on
California's death
penalty on June 30,
2008, after conducting
public hearings around
the state.
Excerpts from the
report:
Delays:
-
“The elapsed time
between judgment and
execution in
California exceeds
that of every other
death penalty state.
California now has
the largest death
row in the nation,
with 670 awaiting
execution."
-
"Thirty persons have
been on California’s
death row for more
than 25 years; 119
have been on death
row for more than 20
years; and 240 have
been on death row
for more than 15
years."
-
"The families of
murder victims are
cruelly deluded into
believing that
justice will be
delivered with
finality during
their lifetimes.”
-
“The additional cost
of confining an
inmate to death row,
as compared to the
maximum security
prisons where those
sentenced to life
without possibility
of parole ordinarily
serve their
sentences, is
$90,000 per year per
inmate. With
California’s current
death row population
of 670, that
accounts for $63.3
million annually.”
-
“With a
dysfunctional death
penalty law, the
reality is that most
California death
sentences are
actually sentences
of lifetime
incarceration. The
defendant will die
in prison before he
or she is ever
executed. The same
result can be
achieved at a
savings of well over
one hundred million
dollars by
sentencing the
defendant to
lifetime
incarceration
without possibility
of parole.”
San Quentin,
location of Calif.'s
death row
Alternatives
Offered:
-
Narrowing the list
of special
circumstances that
make a case eligible
for a death
sentence:
-
Establishing the
maximum penalty at
lifetime
incarceration
-
Estimating and
comparing the annual
costs of available
alternatives
For the full report
click here. See
also
Studies,
Costs, and
Time on Death Row.
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June 2008
SUPREME COURT'S LANDMARK DECISION:
KENNEDY V. LOUISIANA
June 25, 2008
Quotes from
Opinion by Justice Kennedy:
"Consistent with evolving standards of decency and the teachings
of our precedents we conclude that, in determining whether the
death penalty is excessive, there is a distinction between
intentional first-degree murder on the one hand and nonhomicide
crimes against individual persons, even including child rape, on
the other. The latter crimes may be devastating in their harm,
as here, but “in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to
the person and to the public,” they cannot be compared to murder
in their “severity and irrevocability.” (citing Coker v.
Georgia)
~
"The experience of the
amici who work with child victims indicates that, when the
punishment is death, both the victim and the victim’s family
members may be more likely to shield the perpetrator from
discovery, thus increasing underreporting. As a result,
punishment by death may not result in more deterrence or more
effective enforcement."
~
"After reviewing the
authorities informed by contemporary norms, including the
history of the death penalty for this and other nonhomicide
crimes, current state statutes and new enactments, and the
number of executions since 1964, we conclude there is a national
consensus against capital punishment for the crime of child
rape."
~
"Difficulties in
administering the penalty to ensure against its arbitrary and
capricious application require adherence to a rule reserving its
use, at this stage of evolving standards and in cases of crimes
against individuals, for crimes that take the life of the
victim."
~
"When the law punishes by
death, it risks its own sudden descent into brutality,
transgressing the constitutional commitment to decency and
restraint."
From the Dissent by Justice Alito:
"With respect to the question of the harm caused by the rape of
child in relation to the harm caused by murder, it is certainly
true that the loss of human life represents a unique harm, but
that does not explain why other grievous harms are insufficient
to permit a death sentence."
April
2008
|
128th Inmate Freed
From Death Row |
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"California's Death
Penalty is Broken" |
|
On March 28, 2008 two letters were sent to the
California Commission on the Fair Administration of
Justice--one from members of the law enforcement
community and the other from judges, raising concerns
about the state's death penalty.
Thirty law enforcement officers, including current and
former prosecutors, police chiefs and other officers,
signed a letter stating that “California’s death
penalty is broken.” The letter cites multiple reasons
why the state’s death penalty system is not working,
such as the excessive costs of capital cases, the risk
of wrongful convictions, and the stress placed on
victims’ families. The signers noted,
By
pursuing life without parole sentences instead of
death, resources now spent on the death penalty
prosecutions and appeals could be used to
investigate unsolved homicides, modernize crime
labs, and expand effective violence prevention
programs.
Signatories included San Francisco Sheriff Michael
Hennessey, the Police Chief of Newark Ray Samuels,
former Director of the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation Jeanne Woodford, former
Deputy Attorney General John Duree, and eleven current
and former Deputy District Attorneys from counties
across California.
In
addition,
seventeen current and former judges signed a letter to
the Commission stating:
We
write to express our concerns about the current
application and administration of the death penalty
in California.
The
letter points to the incredible strain capital cases
have put on the entire judicial system in California.
The letter concludes:
Any
attempt to reform California’s death penalty must be
comprehensive, and must ensure a means of providing
sustained and sufficient resources for the entire
system. We urge the Commission to consider
recommending a moratorium on the death penalty in
California until systemic reforms are implemented.
The
signatory judges served on the California Supreme Court,
Courts of Appeal, and Superior Court in California.
The
California Commission on the Fair Administration of
Justice was created in 2004 to investigate wrongful
convictions, and to recommend reforms to make
California’s criminal justice system “just, fair, and
accurate.” The letters were delivered for the
Commission’s third and final public death penalty
hearing in March.
(“47
Members of Law Enforcement from California Cite Problems
with the Death Penalty and Call for Reforms,” Death
Penalty Focus Press Release, March 27, 2008) |
|
Kennedy v Louisiana |
|
For information, including briefs filed, in the Supreme
Court case of Kennedy v. Louisiana, visit DPIC's new
page:
http://www.KennedyvLouisiana.org. |
|
Native Americans
and the Death Penalty |
|
See DPIC's new page:
Native Americans and the Death Penalty. |
March
2008
|
Kennedy v. Louisiana |
|
For information, including briefs filed, in the Supreme
Court case of Kennedy v. Louisiana, visit DPIC's new
page:
http://www.KennedyvLouisiana.org. |
|
Native Americans and the Death Penalty
|
|
See DPIC's new page:
Native Americans and the Death Penalty. |
Study Reveals Maryland
Pays $37 Million Per Execution |
 A
study released on March 6, 2008 found that Maryland
taxpayers have paid at least $37.2 million for each of
the state’s five executions since 1978, when the state
reenacted the death penalty. 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.
 The
106 cases in which a death sentence was sought but not
handed down in Maryland cost the state an additional
$71 million. Those costs were incurred simply to
seek the death penalty where the ultimate
outcome was a life or long-term prison sentence.
Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley,
noted, "This is a compelling argument against the death
penalty - the enormous costs to the state's taxpayers."
The costs report comes as Maryland lawmakers are
debating whether to repeal the death penalty and holding
hearings in Annapolis.
What the study found:
- The death penalty has cost Maryland at least
$186 million. This is state spending over and above
what Maryland would have spent had there been no
death penalty.
- The cost of a single death sentence in Maryland
is approximately three times higher – or $1.9
million more – than the costs of a comparable
non-death penalty case, even taking into account the
costs of long-term incarceration.
- The cost for prosecutors to seek but not get a
death sentence is $670,000 more ($1.8 million total)
for a single case than for a comparable non-death
case – for the same outcome of a life or long-term
prison sentence.
- When the death penalty is imposed, the court
costs alone jump to almost seven times higher ($1.7
million compared to $250,000).
(“Death
penalty costs Md. more than life term,” by
Jennifer McMenamin, The
Baltimore Sun, March 6, 2008). See
Costs. Read the
entire study here. |
|
The Truth About False Confessions
Alan Hirsch IS a professor/attorney/writer, educated at Amherst and
Yale Law School (J.D., 1985). During the last five years he has
focused his attention on false confessions – studying it, writing
about it, and assisting attorneys. |
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False confessions are a terrible tragedy that is largely
preventable. His website has four specific goals for combating
the tragedy:
1. to educate the public and policymakers and deepen
understanding of all aspects of the problem;
2. to promote specific reforms;
3. to highlight cases where public pressure might make a
difference; and
4. to assist attorneys. |
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WEB PAGES
OF DEATH ROW INMATES CLAIMING THEY ARE
INNOCENT |
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Death in Missouri
In July of 1992, Brian J. Kinder was
sentenced to die in Missouri by lethal
injection. This page is dedicated to
telling his story.
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