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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
April
2008
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128th Inmate Freed
From Death Row |
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"California's Death
Penalty is Broken" |
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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) |
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Kennedy v Louisiana |
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For information, including briefs filed, in the Supreme
Court case of Kennedy v. Louisiana, visit DPIC's new
page:
http://www.KennedyvLouisiana.org. |
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Native Americans
and the Death Penalty |
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See DPIC's new page:
Native Americans and the Death Penalty. |
March
2008
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Kennedy v. Louisiana |
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For information, including briefs filed, in the Supreme
Court case of Kennedy v. Louisiana, visit DPIC's new
page:
http://www.KennedyvLouisiana.org. |
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Native Americans and the Death Penalty
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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. |
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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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