IFRAME: //www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-TL3CP4 * Home * Issues * Get Involved * Join * Donate Sign in or register Search site _______________ Search Amnesty International UK / Issues Death penalty amnesty-candle Death penalty intro Depending on where you live, you can be beheaded for charges of sorcery, stoned for adultery, or hanged for drugs smuggling. This is 2015, and the death penalty is still very much alive. We campaign for an end to all executions around the world - no matter what the circumstances. Find out the latest on our work to end the death penalty, the ultimate denial of human rights. Title: Death penalty Video Wrongly imprisoned on death row in Texas: Anthony's story Anthony Graves faced execution in Texas for 18 years before he was cleared of the crime that put him there. How does it feel to spend 6,641 days on death row, knowing that you shouldn't be there? Watch Anthony tell his story. Blog People can change – if you let them live Indonesia has executed eight men for drugs offences, despite international outcry. One prisoner, Mary Jane Veloso, was spared execution. The executions will not fix the drugs trade. Their needless deaths only wrench apart the families of prisoners who have served their time. And, as Australian prisoner Myuran said, people can change. Campaign lowdown Why we’re working to end the death penalty There are plenty of countries still executing civilians, even today. So why are we doing all we can to work for an end to executions? Find out why the death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights, and why you should care about its use around the world. Show More Blog The long road to death penalty abolition in Mongolia "It has been a long and difficult road to finally convince the Mongolian authorities to abolish this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. We faced many challenges along the way, but never lost hope." Our campaigner in Mongolia on the historic abolition of the death penalty in the country. Article An execution every two days: Saudi Arabia's surge in killings In the first six months of 2015, Saudi Arabia has executed more people than in all of last year. The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to claim they only use the death penalty for the ‘most serious crimes’, and only after thorough judicial proceedings. We don't agree. Juvenile offender Shafqat Hussain executed in Pakistan Shafqat was 14 when he was sentenced to death, after he was tortured into 'confessing' a crime. During 2015 had five executions set, but there were concerns about his age and 'elegibility' for execution. A decade after he was sentenced to death, Pakistan hanged Shafqat, after resuming executions across the country. Show More Exhibition Paintings from Indonesia's death row - an exhibition by Myuran Sukumaran Myuran Sukumaran has been on death row in Indonesia for ten years for drugs charges. He is due to face a firing squad. To help raise awareness of his case, we hosted an exhibition of his paintings from death row. Here you can see some of the artworks included. Blog The immoral maze of the death penalty Treating execution like an operating procedure may make it more palatable to the executioners - and in wider society. A number of American states have sought alternative methods to lethal injection as the drugs dry up. But is death by firing squad, nitrogen gas or the electric chair any more or less barbaric than lethal injection? And does it matter? Real lives Escaping the gallows in Nigeria ThankGod spent nearly two decades on death row in Nigeria. He told us that every night he had the same nightmare - a guard would open the prison cell door and walk ThankGod to the room where he would be executed. Eventually, ThankGod's nightmare became reality - but miraculously, he has survived to tell his story of his time on death row. Show More Death sentences and executions in 2014 By the start of this year, nearly 20,000 people were awaiting execution - many more people than the previous year. So who are the worst offenders? And what about the countries executions are a secret? We aim to record all executions and death sentences around the world - unfortunately the death penalty remains very much alive. Blog 'I felt the shadow of execution over my head': A letter from Iran's death row Hamed was hanged along with five other men in Iran. All of them were executed for the vague crime of 'enmity against god'; each was a Sunni Muslim from Iran's Kurdish minority. Before Hamed was hanged in March this year, he snuck out a letter detailing his experience on death row, awaiting execution every day. Ten ways that Saudi Arabia violates human rights Raif Badawi is now known worldwide as the blogger Saudi Arabia flogged for advocating free speech, but he is just one of many people punished for exercising their human rights in the Kingdom. We list some of the rights denied by King Salman's regime in Saudi Arabia today. Show More Blog This is not a lawful execution: Iran’s attempt to kill Saman Naseem "They told me that they would kill me right there and would cover my grave with cement." Saman was just 17 when he was arrested. Tortured by police till he couldn't bear it any more, threatened with beatings by the judge at his trial, 22-year-old Saman has been appallingly mistreated - and now his execution is imminent. Action 'Awaiting my execution': Stop Saman's execution Saman Naseem awaits execution any day. Just 17 when he was arrested in Iran for being a member of an opposition group, he was sentenced to death after an unfair trial and torture in detention. Ask the Iranian authorities not to execute Saman, and instead review his case and investigate his claims of torture. British grandfather Mohammad Asghar awaits execution for blasphemy in Pakistan 70-year-old British grandfather Mohammad Asghar is currently awaiting execution in Pakistan for 'blasphemy'. We are calling on the government of Pakistan to release Mohammad immediately, and let him return home to his family in Edinburgh, where he can receive medical support for his paranoid schizophrenia. Show More Blog Is 'the Penalty' worth the price? Lifting the lid on the death penalty Last year, filmmaker Will Francome set out across America to record ten stories investigating what it was like to be innocent and on death row. Now Will's going back to look at how the death penalty affects everyone it touches - the families, lawmakers, police - and the choices the US makes when it keeps executing. The last British death sentence, 50 years ago today Half a century since the last hanging in Britain and public support for the death penalty is falling. The death penalty is a relic of the past. Here's why we should continue to campaign to keep it that way. Blog Do you believe in the death penalty? Arizona executed Joseph Wood using a secret cocktail of drugs. Wood had filed a legal case over the unknown contents of the injection, but it was overturned. After being injected, he convulsed and gasped for two hours before he eventually died. Surely it's time for America to review its tortuous capital punishment system? Show More Meriam Ibrahim freed from death row in Sudan Six weeks after she was sentenced to be hanged for apostasy, Meriam Ibrahim, a 27-year-old mother in Sudan, has been freed from death row. Over a million people around the world joined our call to Sudan to free Meriam - including a quarter of a million people in the UK. Thank you. 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All rights reserved. 0 [screenshot.png] the Death of the Death Penalty Why the era of capital punishment is ending By David Von Drehle gavel The case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev absorbed Americans as no death-penalty drama has in years. The saga of his crime and punishment began with the shocking bloodbath at the 2013 Boston Marathon, continued through the televised manhunt that paralyzed a major city and culminated in the death sentence handed down by a federal jury on May 15 after a two-phase trial. Justice was done, in the opinion of 70% of those surveyed for a Washington Post–ABC News poll in April. Support for capital punishment has sagged in recent years, but it remains strong in a situation like this, where the offense is so outrageous, the process so open, the defense so robust and guilt beyond dispute. Even so, Tsarnaev is in no danger of imminent death. He is one of more than 60 federal prisoners under sentence of execution in a country where only three federal death sentences have been carried out in the past half-century. A dozen years have passed since the last one. Death Penalty Time Magazine Cover Photograph by Lucinda Devlin, from her book The Omega Suites The situation is similar in state courts and prisons. Despite extraordinary efforts by the courts and enormous expense to taxpayers, the modern death penalty remains slow, costly and uncertain. For the overwhelming majority of condemned prisoners, the final step—that last short march with the strap-down team—will never be taken. The relative few who are killed continue to be selected by a mostly random cull. Tsarnaev aside, the tide is turning on capital punishment in the U.S., as previously supportive judges, lawmakers and politicians come out against it. Change is not coming quickly or easily. Americans have stuck with grim determination to the idea of the ultimate penalty even as other Western democracies have turned against it. On this issue, our peer group is not Britain and France; it’s Iran and China. Most U.S. states authorize the death penalty, although few of them actually use it. We value tolerance and diversity—but certain outrages we will not put up with. Maybe it’s the teenage terrorist who plants a bomb near an 8-year-old boy. Maybe it’s a failed neuroscientist who turns a Colorado movie theater into an abattoir. We like to think we know them when we see them. Half a century of inconclusive legal wrangling over the process for choosing the worst of the worst says otherwise. On May 27, the conservative Nebraska state legislature abolished the death penalty in that state despite a veto attempt by Governor Pete Ricketts. A parallel bill passed the Delaware state senate in March and picked up the endorsement of Governor Jack Markell, formerly a supporter of the ultimate sanction. Only a single vote in a House committee kept the bill bottled up, and supporters vowed to keep pressing the issue. In February, Markell’s neighboring governor, Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, declared an open-ended moratorium on executions. That officially idles the fifth largest death row in America. The largest, in California, is also at a standstill while a federal appeals court weighs the question of whether long delays and infrequent executions render the penalty unconstitutional. Even in Texas, which leads the nation in executions since 1976 (when the U.S. Supreme Court approved the practice after a brief moratorium), the wheels are coming off the bandwagon. From a peak of 40 executions in 2000, the Lone Star State put 10 prisoners to death last year and seven so far in 2015. According to the state’s Department of Corrections, the number of new death sentences imposed by Texas courts this year is precisely zero. There, as elsewhere, prosecutors, judges and jurors are concluding that the modern death penalty is a failed experiment. The shift is more pragmatic than moral, as Americans realize that our balky system of state-sanctioned killing simply isn’t fixable. As a leader of the Georgia Republican Party, attorney David J. Burge, recently put it, “Capital punishment runs counter to core conservative principles of life, fiscal responsibility and limited government. The reality is that capital punishment is nothing more than an expensive, wasteful and risky government program.” This unmistakable trend dates back to the turn of the century. The number of inmates put to death in 2014 was the fewest in 20 years, while the number of new death sentences imposed by U.S. courts—72—was the fewest in modern American history, according to data collected by the Death Penalty Information Center. Only one state, Missouri, has accelerated its rate of executions during that period, but even in the Show Me State, the number of new sentences has plunged. Thirty-two states allow capital punishment for the most heinous crimes. And yet in most of the country, the penalty is now hollow. Since the start of 2014, all but two of the nation’s 49 executions have been carried out by just five states: Texas, Missouri, Florida, Oklahoma and Georgia. For the first time in the nearly 30 years that I have been studying and writing about the death penalty, the end of this troubled system is creeping into view. And I’ll give you five reasons why. [screenshot.png] Reason 1: Despite decades of effort, we’re not getting better at it. In Arizona on July 23, prison officials needed nearly two hours to complete the execution of double murderer Joseph Wood. That was not an aberration. In April 2014, Oklahoma authorities spent some 40 minutes trying to kill Clayton Lockett before he finally died of a heart attack. Our long search for the perfect mode of killing—quiet, tidy and superficially humane—has brought us to this: rooms full of witnesses shifting miserably in their seats as unconscious men writhe and snort and gasp while strapped to gurneys. Lethal injection was intended to be a superior alternative to electrocution, gassing or hanging, all of which are known to go wrong in gruesome ways. But when pharmaceutical companies began refusing to provide their drugs for deadly use and stories of botched injections became commonplace, the same legal qualms that had turned courts against the earlier methods were raised about lethal injections. Alex Kozinski, the conservative chief judge of the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, recently wrote that Americans must either give up on capital punishment or embrace its difficult, brutal nature. Rather than pretend that execution is a sort of medical procedure involving heart monitors and IV lines—a charade that actual medical professionals refuse to be part of—we should use firing squads or the guillotine. (Utah, which abandoned execution by firing squad in 2004, restored the option in April. No other U.S. jurisdiction has used rifles for an execution in more than 50 years.) “Of course, it does raise the question of whether we are really comfortable with having a death penalty that literally sheds blood,” Kozinski allowed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “The thing about the drugs is that it’s a mask.” The legal machinery of capital punishment—the endless process of appeals and reviews—is equally miserable to ponder. Consider this: Last year, Florida executed Askari Muhammad, a man known as Thomas Knight when he was sent to death row in 1975 after kidnapping, robbing and murdering a couple from Miami Beach. Five years later he stabbed a prison guard to death with a sharpened spoon. To detail all the reasons it took nearly 39 years to execute Knight/Muhammad would require a chapter of a book, not a paragraph of an essay. Suffice it to say, a legal system that requires half a lifetime to conclude the case of a proven lethal recidivist is not a well-functioning operation. Nor is that case unusual. In Florida alone, three other men who arrived on death row in 1975 are still there, marking their 40-year anniversaries—part of a total death-row population in that state of 394. (In those 40 years, Florida has carried out 90 executions. At that rate, the Sunshine State would need about 175 years to clear out its death row.) Of the 14 inmates executed so far this year in the U.S., five spent from 20 to 30 years on death row, five more languished from 15 to 19 years, and not one spent less than a decade awaiting execution. On May 24, Nebraska death-row inmate Michael Ryan died of cancer, nearly 30 years after he was sentenced to be executed by the state. State and federal courts are so backlogged with capital cases that they can never catch up. Roughly half of California’s 750 condemned inmates have not even begun their appeals because they are waiting for the state’s underfunded defense bureaucracy to give them a lawyer. Moving faster creates its own problems. The risks involved in trying to speed executions are apparent in the growing list of innocent and likely innocent death-row prisoners set free—more than 150 since 1975. In Ohio, Wiley Bridgeman walked free 39 years after he was sentenced to death when the key witness at his trial—a 12-year-old boy at the time—admitted that he invented his story to try to help the police. In general, scientific advances have undermined confidence in the reliability of eyewitness testimony and exposed flaws in the use of hair and fiber evidence. DNA analysis, meanwhile, has offered concrete proof that the criminal justice system can go disastrously wrong, even in major felony cases. In North Carolina last year, two men sentenced to death as teenagers were released after DNA evidence proved they weren’t guilty. The exoneration came after 30 years in prison. Incompetent investigators, using discredited science, sent two men to death row in Texas for alleged arson murders. One of them, Ernest Willis, was freed in 2004 after his attorneys commissioned a review by an expert in fire science, who concluded that neither blaze was caused by the suspects. But the findings came too late for the other man, Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed that same year. In this instance, and perhaps in others, Texas may have killed an innocent man. Reason 2: The crime rate has plunged. Public support for capital punishment ebbs and flows. During the low-crime years of the late 1950s and early ’60s, surveys by Gallup charted a fairly steady drop in support—down to a nadir of 42%. That trend contributed to the brief abolition of the death penalty by order of the Supreme Court in 1972. But by then, a new crime wave was building, and states rushed to restore capital punishment by passing laws meant to eliminate arbitrary results and racial discrimination. After the Supreme Court approved the modern penalty in 1976, support for the death penalty skyrocketed in lockstep with the murder rate. By the time New York City recorded more than 2,200 murders in the single year of 1990, 4 of 5 Americans were pro-death-penalty, according to Gallup. Now crime rates have fallen back to levels unseen since the placid early 1960s. In New York City alone, there are roughly 1,900 fewer murders per year now compared with the goriest days of the early 1990s. Although pockets of violence remain in cities, the vast majority of Americans are much safer today than a generation ago. Gallup has measured the result: support for capital punishment has hovered in recent years at just above 60%, lower than at any time since 1972. It’s a big number, but not as big as before. Shifting public opinion makes it easier for judges and legislators to train a skeptical eye on a dysfunctional system of punishment. Former Virginia attorney general Mark Earley supported the death penalty while presiding over the execution of 36 inmates from 1989 to 2001. In March he published an essay calling for an end to capital punishment. He had “come to the conclusion that the death penalty is based on a false utopian premise. That false premise is that we have had, do have, and will have 100% accuracy in death penalty convictions and executions.” The reduced political pressure has made it possible for six states to abolish the death penalty since 2007; Nebraska makes it seven. In a number of other state capitals, the energy is also moving in that direction. New Hampshire’s legislature came within a single vote of abolition in 2014, while governors of Washington, Oregon and Colorado have indicated that they will not allow executions. against Reason 3. Dwindling Justifications. The death penalty has been made to serve three kinds of purposes. One was highly practical. For most of American history, governments did not have secure prisons in which violent criminals could be safely housed for long periods of time. A town or county jail was suitable for short stays only, and the state prison wasn’t much better. There was little alternative to killing prisoners who could not be set free. That has changed. Improvements in staffing and technology have given us so-called supermax facilities where life-without-parole sentences can be served in relative safety. The fact that this alternative to capital punishment is now a practical possibility has fed the shift in public opinion, for most people realize that being locked in a solitary cell forever is a terrible punishment. Indeed, some argue it is a fate worse than death. Whatever deterrent capital punishment provides can likely be matched by the threat of permanent lockup. The second historical purpose has been discredited by time: the death penalty was a powerful tool of white supremacy. The antebellum South was haunted by the possibility of slave uprisings; capital punishment was used to tamp down resistance. You can see it in the early Virginia law that made it a capital offense for slaves to administer medicine—it might be poison! Or the early Georgia statute that invoked the death penalty if a slave struck his master hard enough to leave a bruise. The late Watt Espy, an eccentric Alabaman whose passion for this topic produced the most complete record ever made of executions in the U.S., documented nearly 15,000 sanctioned killings from 1608 to 1972. The racial disparity is arresting. In a mostly white America, significantly more blacks than whites were put to death. Whites were almost never executed for crimes—even murder—involving black victims. But blacks were so frequently executed for sexual assault that newspapers could report that a prisoner was hanged or electrocuted “for the usual crime” and everyone would know what that meant. Some analysts still find vestiges of racial bias in the modern system, but the overt racism of the old order is now plainly unconstitutional. If there is a bias propping up today’s death penalty, it is one of class rather than race. The best defense lawyers cost a lot of money. As a favorite saying on death row goes: Those without the capital get the punishment. This leaves only the question of justice, which is a visceral and compelling force. It’s the force that has kept the death penalty going as long as it has. Capital punishment is an expression of the principle that certain extreme boundaries cannot be crossed—that some crimes are so terrible that death is the only punishment sufficient to balance the scales. It shows how seriously we take our laws and the moral traditions underlying them. Anti-death-penalty thinkers have tried to knock down this idea for hundreds of years. Perhaps you’ve seen the bumper sticker that goes, “Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?” But they haven’t had much success in winning the philosophical battle. Momentum is moving away from the death penalty not because it offends the sense of justice but because it is a system that costs too much and delivers too little. Which brings us to … against Reason 4. Governments are going broke. Across the country, governments are wrestling with tight budgets, which are likely to get tighter. Aging populations mean a rising demand for health care and retirement benefits. When more is spent to meet those commitments, less is available for everything else. The American death-penalty system is so slow, inconsistent and inefficient that it costs far more than the life-without-parole alternative. This fact may puzzle many Americans. But think of it this way: as the country recently saw in the Tsarnaev case, a death sentence involves not one trial but two. The first procedure decides guilt or innocence, and the second weighs the proper punishment. This doubly burdensome process is followed by strict appellate review that consumes hundreds if not thousands of billable hours on the part of lawyers, clerks, investigators and judges. Compared with the cost of a complicated lawsuit, the cost of incarceration is minimal. When I examined the cost of Florida’s death penalty many years ago, I concluded that seeing a death sentence through to execution costs at least six times as much as a life sentence. A more recent study by a federal commission pegged the difference in the costs of the trials at eight times as much. Duke University professor Philip J. Cook studied North Carolina’s system and concluded that the Tar Heel State could save $11 million per year by abolishing the death penalty. California’s system incurs excess costs estimated at some $200 million per year. From Kansas to Maryland, Tennessee to Pennsylvania, studies have all reached similar conclusions. Rising pressure to cut wasteful spending will cause more and more legislators and law-enforcement officials to look hard at these findings—especially in a climate of low crime rates and secure prisons. It’s happening even in Texas, where Liberty County prosecutor Stephen Taylor told a reporter last year that cost is a factor in deciding whether to pursue the death penalty. “You have to be very responsible in selecting where you want to spend your money,” he said. And if Texas has reached that point, imagine what is going through the minds of governors, lawmakers and prosecutors in states that rarely see an execution—which is the vast majority. As more states consider joining Nebraska in abolishing capital punishment, they may create a momentum that will, in time, sway the U.S. Supreme Court. Reason 5. The Justices. Few issues have caused the U.S. Supreme Court more pain over the past half-century than the death penalty. The subject is never far from the court’s docket. This year’s biggest capital case involves the possible risks in a lethal-injection formula. And yet the many opinions issued since 1972 form such a tangled thicket that the late Justice Harry Blackmun ultimately dismissed the entire enterprise as “tinker[ing] with the machinery of death.” Several other Justices have turned against the process after leaving the court, including two of the three architects of the system, Lewis Powell and John Paul Stevens. Amid the confusion, one principle has remained clear: death is different. The main reason the court abolished the old death penalty was that there were no standards for deciding who would live or die. Even among murderers, the chance of being executed was as random as being struck by lightning, as Justice Potter Stewart observed. The modern death penalty was designed to guide prosecutors, judges and juries toward the criminals most deserving of death. But after four decades of tinkering, capital punishment is still a matter of occasional lightning bolts. And judges are taking notice. Last July, a federal judge in Southern California—a Republican appointee named Cormac J. Carney—issued an explosive ruling that the death penalty in America’s largest state has become unconstitutionally random. History is on his side. In 1972, when the Supreme Court found the death penalty to be “arbitrary and capricious,” there were about 600 prisoners condemned to die in the U.S., and fewer than 100 had been executed in the previous 10 years. Today in California, the numbers are far worse: 750 death-row inmates, three executions in the past 10 years. “For the rest, the dysfunctional administration of California’s death-penalty system has resulted, and will continue to result, in an inordinate and unpredictable period of delay preceding their actual execution,” Carney argued. “Indeed, for most, systemic delay has made their execution so unlikely that the death sentence carefully and deliberately imposed by the jury has been transformed into one no rational jury or legislature could ever impose: life in prison, with the remote possibility of death.” Such a sentence, the judge concluded, violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments. It is a long way from one district judge’s ruling to a decision by the Supreme Court. But Carney’s reasoning follows a path already blazed in dissenting opinions by Justice Stevens when he was still a member of the high court and Justice Stephen Breyer. They too have noticed that a system that produces these bizarre and unpredictable results makes a mockery of the legal system at a cost of billions of dollars. Carney’s decision is currently under review by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It is one more sign that the end of this failed experiment is beginning to emerge. One by one, states will abandon their rarely used death penalty. At the same time, other judges will follow Carney’s lead. Here’s Judge Tom Price of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals—a red-state Republican member of what is probably the toughest court in the land when it comes to the death penalty: “Having spent the last 40 years as a judge for the state of Texas, of which the last 18 years have been as a judge on this court, I have given a substantial amount of consideration to the propriety of the death penalty as a form of punishment for those who commit capital murder, and I now believe that it should be abolished.” Actions of the legislatures, lower-court judges and governors can all be read by the Supreme Court as signs of “evolving standards of decency” in society, a doctrine dating from 1958 that has been used by the court to ban executions of juveniles, mentally retarded inmates and rapists who did not kill their victims. No step or statement is decisive in itself. But when five or more of the Justices decide the time has come to put an end to this fiasco, they will use these signs of “evolving standards” as their justification to end capital punishment for good. Critics complain that the idea of “evolving standards” is a mere pretense to wrap personal preferences in a scarf of constitutional law. But more than half a century after the concept was coined, “evolving standards” is deeply woven into Supreme Court tradition. The Justices all know that the modern death penalty is a failure. When they finally decide to get rid of it, “evolving standards” is how they will do it. The facts are irrefutable, and the logic is clear. Exhausted by so many years of trying to prop up this broken system, the court will one day throw in the towel. David Von Drehle, a TIME editor-at-large, is the author of Among the Lowest of the Dead, an award-winning history of the modern death penalty. This story was originally published in the June 8, 2015, issue of TIME. 0 Your browser is out of date. Please update your browser at http://update.microsoft.com * Home * U.S. * Politics * World * Business * Tech * Health * Science * Entertainment * Newsfeed * Living * Ideas * Parents * Sports * History * The TIME Vault * Magazine * Subscribe * Give a Gift * TIME Shop * Newsletters * Customer Service * Site Map * Privacy Policy * Your California Privacy Rights * Terms of Use * Advertising * Ad Choices Ad Choices © 2016 Time Inc. All rights reserved. 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Thank you to everyone who helped make our 2015 Volunteer Recognition & Awards Event a great success! Visit the event page for photos and more! Volunteer Attorney Experience & Advice Our volunteer attorneys answer questions and share stories about their experiences with pro bono death penalty work! Advertisement Highlights N/A About the Project We are the ABA’s expert on issues related to legal representation in death penalty cases. Learn more about our work to educate the public, train defenders, recruit volunteers, and reform counsel systems. Guidelines and Standards for Capital Representation Information and standards about the appointment and performance of defense counsel in capital cases, including the 1989 and 2003 ABA Guidelines, as well as analysis of Bobby v. Van Hook. Learn from Volunteers! Listen to recorded testimonials from several of our most experienced volunteer attorneys! Each recording addresses a different topic or question of interest to new volunteers. 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Amnesty International opposes the death penalty on the grounds that it is a violation of the right to life and the right not to be subject to cruel or inhumane treatment or punishment. These rights are fundamental rights enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However in practice the death penalty regularly violates many other human rights: * The death penalty disproportionately affects the poor * The death penalty disproportionately affects visible minorities and other marginalised groups * Death sentences in many parts of the world routinely result from evidence extracted through torture * Innocent people have been executed and nothing short of abolition can guarantee that no innocent person will be executed * Capital punishment is often used for crimes or circumstances which international law or standards say should not have a death penalty such as against those who were under the age of 18 at the time of the offence, following an unfair trial and for non-lethal crimes such as drug trafficking or political offences. Furthermore, study after study has shown the death penalty is: * Ineffective at deterring crime * Extremely costly, draining resources that could more effectively be used to solve and prevent crime Every year executions take place in a number of countries. Regularly countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and the United States feature as countries with the highest number of executions in the world. But there is reason for hope. Each year more countries abolish the death penalty in law or practice. Several UN General Assembly motions have been passed in recent years calling for a universal moratorium on executions with a view to abolition. By far more countries have abolished the death penalty than practice it and each year executions only take place in a small number of countries. 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More and more Member States from all regions acknowledge that the death penalty undermines human dignity, and that its abolition, or at least a moratorium on its use, contributes to the enhancement and progressive development of human rights. More than 160 Members States of the United Nations with a variety of legal systems, traditions, cultures and religious backgrounds, have either abolished the death penalty or do not practice it. Yet, prisoners in a number of countries continue to face execution. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with its mandate to promote and protect all human rights, advocates for the universal abolition of the death penalty. The UN Human Rights Office argues this position for other reasons as well, including the fundamental nature of the right to life; the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people; and the absence of proof that the death penalty serves as a deterrent to crime. In line with General Assembly resolutions calling for a phasing out of capital punishment , the UN Human Rights Office supports Member States, civil society and other stakeholders campaigning for a moratorium on the death penalty and ultimately its abolition worldwide. __________________________________________________________________ The international framework From the early 1960s, although a majority of countries still used the death penalty, the draftees of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) had already begun moves for its abolition in international law. Although Article 6 of the ICCPR permits the use of the death penalty in limited circumstances, it also provides that “nothing in this article shall be invoked to delay or to prevent the abolition of capital punishment by any State Party to the present Covenant.” Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty In 1984, the UN Economic and Social Council adopted Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty. Second Optional Protocol to ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty In 1989, 33 years after the adoption of the Covenant itself, the UN General Assembly adopted the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR that gave abolition decisive new momentum. Member States which became parties to the Protocol agreed not to execute anyone within their jurisdictions. UN General Assembly resolutions In a series of four resolutions adopted in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013, the General Assembly urged States to respect international standards that protect the rights of those facing the death penalty, to progressively restrict its use and reduce the number of offences whichare punishable by death. Latest press releases, statements and briefing notes Zeid hails end of death penalty in Mongolia 9 December 2015 States should do more to protect their citizens facing the death penalty abroad - UN expert 30 October 2015 More News... __________________________________________________________________ Videos 5 November 2015 Book launch event (1H) More Videos... __________________________________________________________________ Feature stories At event on moving away from the death penalty, Ban stresses need to respect rights of victims’ families At event on moving away from the death penalty, Ban stresses need to respect rights of victims’ families 30 September 2015 UN marks World Day against Death Penalty with strong calls to end UN marks World Day against Death Penalty with strong calls to end 'cruel practice' 10 October 2014 World must continue to strive for abolition of death penalty, says senior UN official World must continue to strive for abolition of death penalty, says senior UN official 9 October 2014 More stories... __________________________________________________________________ Meetings, events and workshops 5 November 2015, New York Book Launch event with the UN Secretary General: Moving away from the Death Penalty 12 November 2015 Meeting on “moratorium on the death penalty with a view to its future abolition in Malawi” - Agenda and Concept note Archive of meetings, events and Workshops... __________________________________________________________________ Studies, reports and papers Moving Away from the Death Penalty: Arguments, trends, and perspectives (2015) Capital punishment and the implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty - Yearly supplement of the Secretary-General to his quinquennial report. This report discusses consequences of the imposition and application of the death penalty on the enjoyment of various human rights Summary report on the high-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty, focusing on regional efforts aiming at the abolition of the death penalty and related challenges Capital punishment and implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty - Report of the Secretary-General OHCHR publication: "Moving Away from the Death Penalty. Lessons in South-East Asia" A/69/288 - Report of the Secretary General on moratorium on the use of the death penalty A/HRC/27/23 - Question of the death penalty - Report of the Secretary-General A/HRC/27/26 - Summary of the high-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty - Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Question of the death penalty - Report of the Secretary-General (2013) Question of the death penalty - Report of the Secretary-General (2011) Moratoriums on the use of the death penalty Report of the Secretary-General (2010) Moving Away from the Death Penalty: Lessons from National Experiences In this section Overview Feature stories Latest news Videos Related links More from UN.org Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Contact us * Home * Frequently Asked Questions * OHCHR on Social Media * OHCHR Memorial * Employment * Site Map * © OHCHR 1996-2016 Third section * Lorem ipsum * Dolor si amet * Consegur * Toussa man #alternate HuffPost Search alternate alternate The Full Feed Latest News The Blog Featured Posts alternate [view-mobile-icon.png] View mobile site HuffPost's QuickRead... 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Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about FacebookEmailTwitterGoogle+LinkedInPinterest Pensacola murder may reshape death penalty The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing whether the death penalty should require a unanimous jury decision in Florida Loading… Post to Facebook ____________________ ____________________ ____________________ Pensacola murder may reshape death penalty _________________ ____________________________________________________________ The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing whether the death penal ____________________________________________________________ Check out this story on pnj.com: http://on.pnj.com/1Lrh4aV_ {# IFRAME: http://api.recaptcha.net/noscript?k=6Lf7fuESAAAAAJ3_KMIDbkQySsEE0vMkLXU kq4eY #} CancelSend Sent! A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. 7 Join the Conversation To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Subscribe Today Log In Subscribed, but don't have a login? Activate your digital access. Pensacola murder may reshape death penalty [635591058482880512-PNJBrd-01-17-2015-NewsJournal-1-A001-2015-01-16-IMG -Kevin-Robinson.jpg-1-1-G39MQ3NV-L550168184-IMG-Kevin-Robinson.jpg-1-1- G39MQ3NV.jpg] Kevin Robinson, krobinson4@pnj.com 12:10 p.m. CDT October 13, 2015 635802400077706347-Timothy-Hurst Buy Photo In 2012, Timothy Hurst was sentenced to the death penalty Thursday for the brutal 1998 murder of Popeyes manager Cynthia Harrison.(Photo: Ben Twingley/btwingley@pnj.com) Buy Photo 9 CONNECTTWEETLINKEDIN 7 COMMENTEMAILMORE A brutal Pensacola murder case may end up setting a new standard for how Florida handles the death penalty. Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments in the case of Timothy Hurst, a former fast food worker found guilty of tying up his manager in a Popeyes freezer and stabbing her to death. A jury recommended 7-5 that Hurst be executed, and a judge sentenced him to death. Now, Hurst is challenging the process as unconstitutional. Florida is one of a few states where judges issue the death penalty and juries play a strictly advisory role. Florida is the only state where the jury doesn't have to be unanimous or explain what factors weighed in their decision. The state's policy seems to go against a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said juries should decide both when the death penalty will be imposed and what aggravating factors make the death penalty appropriate. Hurst's attorneys argued that Florida policies violate the the Sixth or Eighth amendments. "Of the 35 death penalty states, only Florida permits imposition of a death sentence without a jury concluding that either,1., at least one specified aggravating factor is present or ,2., that a death sentence is warranted," Hurst's attorney wrote. "Twenty seven of these states require both findings. Florida requires neither." Hurst's counsel wrote that jurors recommended capital punishment by only the slimmest of margins and without any explanation of their votes. He said it's possible they weren't even considering the same aggravating factors. "This possibility hardly inspires confidence that Florida has any clue what the jury's vote meant in this case," the document said. "The jury's vote gave no clear voice of the community that death was justified." In 1998, Hurst was an employee at the Popeyes on Nine Mile Road. Witnesses testified Hurst bound his manager, 28-year-old Cynthia Harrison, with electrical tape, slashed her with a box cutter more than 60 times and left her body in a freezer. Hurst was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2000, and a jury recommended death 11-1. Hurst won an appeal and re-sentencing because his counsel was not allowed to present evidence that Hurst may have a mental disability. He was sentenced to death again in 2012. Public Defender Bruce Miller said the Supreme Court's ruling on the case could have far-reaching impacts on all the state's capital cases. "In virtually every case where the state sought death, the defense counsel has routinely found Florida's sentencing is unconstitutional," Miller said. "It's overdue that the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take on this issue. 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Share Link http://www.gallup.co Share: * Share on Facebook * Share on Twitter * Share on LinkedIn Death Penalty Trend: Are You in Favor of the Death Penalty for a Person Convicted of Murder? Trend: Are You in Favor of the Death Penalty for a Person Convicted of Murder? Trend: In your opinion, is the death penalty imposed -- [ROTATED: too often, about the right amount, or not often enough]? Generally speaking, do you believe the death penalty is applied fairly or unfairly in this country today? Trend: Next, I'm going to read you a list of issues. Regardless of whether or not you think it should be legal, for each one, please tell me whether you personally believe that in general it is morally acceptable or morally wrong. How about the death penalty? Trend: Why do you favor the death penalty for persons convicted of murder? [Open-ended] Why do you oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder? [Open-ended] Trend: If you could choose between the following two approaches, which do you think is the better penalty for murder -- [ROTATED: the death penalty (or) life imprisonment, with absolutely no possibility of parole]? What form of punishment do you consider to be the most humane - the electric chair, the gas chamber, lethal injection, firing squad, or hanging? Do you feel that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to the commitment of murder, that it lowers the murder rate, or not? Yes, does No, does not No opinion % % % 2011 Oct 6-9 32 64 4 2006 May 8-11 34 64 2 2004 May 2-4 35 62 3 1991 Jun 13-16 51 41 8 1986 Jan 10-13 61 32 7 1985 Jan 11-14 62 31 7 How often do you think that a person has been executed under the death penalty who was, in fact, innocent of the crime he or she was charged with -- do you think this has happened in the past five years, or not? Yes, in past five years No, not No opinion % % % 2009 Oct 1-4 59 31 10 2006 May 8-11 63 27 10 2005 May 2-5 59 33 8 2003 May 5-7 73 22 5 Just your best guess, about what percent of people who are executed under the death penalty are really innocent of the crime they were charged with? [BASED ON ADULTS WHO SAY SOMEONE HAS BEEN EXECUTED UNDER THE DEATH PENALTY IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS WHO WAS INNOCENT OF THE CRIME] 2005 May 2-5 2003 May 5-7 % % None -- * 1-5% 57 55 6-10% 14 13 11-20% 10 8 21-50% 9 15 More than 50% 2 2 No opinion 8 7 Mean 10.7% 11.7% Median 5% 5% * Less than 0.5% Which comes closer to your view -- [ROTATED: states should be allowed to execute prisoners sentenced to the death penalty by means of lethal injection, (or) lethal injection of death row prisoners represents cruel and unusual punishment that should not be permitted]? Allowed by means of lethal injection Not permit lethal injection No opinion 2004 Mar 26-28 75% 21 4 Do you favor or oppose the death penalty for -- [RANDOM ORDER]? How about for -- [INSERT NEXT ITEM]? Women Favor Oppose No opinion 2002 May 6-9 68% 29 3 The mentally ill Favor Oppose No opinion 2002 May 6-9 19% 75 6 The mentally retarded Favor Oppose No opinion 2002 May 6-9 13% 82 5 Juveniles Favor Oppose No opinion 2002 May 6-9 26% 69 5 Get Articles in Related Topics: * Crime * Moral Issues * Religion and Social Trends * Social Issues * Trends A to Z Gallup Daily Gallup Good Jobs 45.1% -0.1 Engaged at Work 33.8% -0.1 Economic Confidence -7 +4 Consumer Spending $85 -3 Obama Approval 47% +3 Updates daily at 1 p.m.ET; reflects one-day change. [gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==] [xvwbkt1z7ksbxfe0jrwdfg.jpg] Politics Government, Economy Return as Most Important U.S. Problems by Rebecca Riffkin Report Worldwide, Where Do People Feel Safe? Not in Latin America Gallup Global Law and Order 2015 Report Related News In Depth: Topics A to Z Crime Politics Oct 15, 2015 Solid Majority Continue to Support Death Penalty Social Issues May 26, 2015 Americans Continue to Shift Left on Key Moral Issues Social Issues Oct 23, 2014 Americans: "Eye for an Eye" Top Reason for Death Penalty [gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==] [aud9eul7f0soc25vwwyrew.png] Business Journal Jan 12, 2016 Tough Task: Recruiting Top Leaders From Other Companies Most talented leaders don't want to leave their current company. Attracting them requires knowing what matters most to them. Gallup http://www.gallup.com/poll/1606/death-penalty.aspx Gallup World Headquarters, 901 F Street, Washington, D.C., 20001, U.S.A +1 202.715.3030 Latest News Politics 3 Hours Ago The 2016 State of the Union: Considering the Public’s Opinion Gallup analyzes the public opinion context surrounding many of the proposals and statements President Barack Obama made in his Tuesday State of the Union address. Politics 17 Hours Ago Americans’ Dissatisfaction With U.S. Gun Laws at New High Americans' dissatisfaction with the nation's gun laws climbed to 62% in 2016, a record high in Gallup's trend. Dissatisfaction with policies to reduce or control crime is also at a new high. Analytics and Advice About Everything That Matters Politics Jan 14, 2016 Government, Economy Return as “Most Important” U.S. Problems The government and the economy again top the list of the "most important problem" in the U.S. in January. Mentions of terrorism, which led in December, fell significantly in January. Politics Jan 13, 2016 U.S. Split on Whether Obama, GOP Congress Should Set Course Americans are mostly divided as to whether they want the Republicans in Congress (46%) or President Obama (42%) to have more influence over the direction the nation takes in the next year. This is similar to most readings since 2010. Employee Engagement Jan 13, 2016 Employee Engagement in U.S. Stagnant in 2015 Although steady, U.S. employee engagement levels remained low in 2015. An average of 32% of workers were engaged in their jobs this past year, compared with 31.5% in 2014. Employee engagement levels largely have not moved since 2000. Politics Jan 12, 2016 As Obama Delivers SOTU, 23% Satisfied With Direction of U.S. As Obama prepares to deliver his final State of the Union address, 23% of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the U.S. This is lower than most figures recorded in 2015, but it matches the average for Obama's time in office. 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Reproduction prohibited without the express permission of Gallup, Inc. * Home * Our Work * News * About EJI + What We Do + Who We Are + Fellowships/Internships + Contact Us * Contribute * Resources + Multimedia + Fact Sheets + Reports + Manuals Equal Justice Initiative Equal Justice Initiative * Home * Our Work * News * About EJI + What We Do + Who We Are + Fellowships/Internships + Contact Us * Contribute * Resources + Multimedia + Fact Sheets + Reports + Manuals Alabama has the nation's highest death sentencing rate Email: * Join our mailing lis Suscribe * * * Search Search this site: _______________ Search Home » Death Penalty Our Work * Race and Poverty + A History of Racial Injustice + Race and Jury Selection + Counsel for the Poor + Sentencing Bias * Children in Prison + Death in Prison Sentences for Children + Reform and Re-entry * Mass Incarceration + Parole Reform + Excessive Sentences * Death Penalty + Innocence + Judge Override + Inadequate Counsel + Race Death Penalty Print Print E-Mail E-Mail "" Share 3095 people in the United States currently are under a death sentence. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 1369 men, women, children, and mentally ill people have been shot, hanged, asphyxiated, lethally injected, and electrocuted by States and the federal government. Mounting evidence shows that innocent people have been sentenced to death and that serious legal errors infect the administration of capital punishment. For every ten people executed in this country, one innocent person on death row has been identified and exonerated. In response to growing concerns about reliability, many states have suspended executions or experienced a decline in the use of capital punishment, but most southern states have continued to condemn and execute large numbers of people who disproportionately are poor and racial minorities. Alabama currently has 192 men and women on its death row. Alabama sentences more people to death per capita than any other state, due in part to elected judges who are allowed to override a jury’s verdict of life. Alabama is the only state in the country that allows elected state court judges to override jury verdicts of life imprisonment and impose death sentences without strict limiting standards. Nearly 20 percent of the people on Alabama's death row received a life verdict that was overridden by a trial judge. Alabama is also the only state in the country without a state-funded program to provide legal assistance to death row prisoners. Nearly half of the people currently under sentence of death in Alabama were represented at trial by appointed counsel whose compensation for trial preparation was capped by law at just $1000. News Supreme Court Strikes Down Florida Death Sentence January 12, 2016 The United States Supreme Court today held in Hurst v. Florida that Florida's capital... Read More Anthony Ray Hinton Featured on 60 Minutes January 11, 2016 Read More EJI Assists Clients Leaving Prison In Meeting Challenges of Re-Entry January 10, 2016 When Anthony Ray Hinton walked out of jail after 30 years on Alabama's death row, the... Read More Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds the Governor’s Authority to Issue Temporary Death Penalty Reprieves December 26, 2015 Executions in Pennsylvania will continue to be postponed. On Monday, the Pennsylvania... Read More NYU Law Students Complete EJI Clinical Program December 24, 2015 Eight New York University School of Law students completed a semester-long clinical... Read More View All Learn More Alabama Death Row Map Interactive map shows current death sentences in Alabama. [Hayes.jpg] EJI audio Video: Bryan Stevenson on Up with Chris Hayes discusses economic arguments against the death penalty. Judge Override in Alabama Facts and materials about Alabama's unique and arbitrary practice of permitting elected trial judges to override jury life verdicts and impose death sentences. The Death Penalty in the U.S. Summarizing nationwide data on the death penalty. The Death Penalty in Alabama Facts on Alabama’s death row, judicial override, inadequate counsel, racial bias, and more. Alabama's Disproportionately High Rate of Death Sentencing Fact sheet showing that Alabama leads the nation in death sentencing and execution rate. Alabama Executions Information about death row prisoners scheduled to be executed in Alabama and about recent executions, plus list of all executions in Alabama since the death penalty was reinstated. EJI audio "Death In Dixie" Film featuring former First Lady Rosalynn Carter explores race and the death penalty and profiles three Alabama wrongful conviction cases. Watch the preview and purchase the DVD. Questions of Death Row Justice For Poor People in Alabama New York Times article on counsel for indigent capital defendants in Alabama. Birmingham News Editorial Series on the Death Penalty in Alabama Series of articles examining Alabama’s Death Penalty. Birmingham News Blog: Alabama Too Often Skirts Rules in Death Penalty Cases Gadsden Times Editorial: Execution to Death Row Protecting Human Rights from Death Article on the death penalty by Bryan Stevenson. EJI audio Speaking of Justice Bryan Stevenson speaks about Maryland Commission's recommendation to abolish death penalty. 122 Commerce Street, Montgomery, Alabama 36104 | 334.269.1803 © 2014 Equal Justice Initiative | Contact REFRESH(0 sec): file://localhost/home/wang/PPE/PROJET-SUR-LE-MOT/PAGES-ASPIREES/1/stude nt/index.html #Death Penalty Project The Death Penalty Project * * * * * * * Home * Who we are * What we do * Where we operate * News & Events * Legal resources * Internships We are prepared to work wherever the death penalty is imposed – we will never turn a case down. Donate For more than twenty years we have worked to promote and protect the human rights of those facing the death penalty. Our main objectives are: * To provide free and effective legal representation and assistance to those individuals who are facing the death penalty; * To promote the restriction of the death penalty in line with international minimum legal requirements; * To uphold and develop human rights standards and the criminal law; and * To promote increased awareness and greater dialogue with key stakeholders on the death penalty. Although we operate in all jurisdictions where the death penalty remains an enforceable punishment, our actions are concentrated in those countries which retain the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London as their final court of appeal and in other Commonwealth countries, principally in the Caribbean, Africa and South East Asia. [5year_annual-report-icon.jpg] The five-year report outlines the work of the DPP since it was granted charitable status in 2006. [dpp-video-thumbnail.jpg] Watch a short video about the DPP: a snapshot of the organisation and our work [Intelligent-Life-cover-140x140.jpg] LATEST NEWS Intelligent Life: Capital punishment is slowly dying out, one country at a time * Twitter * Facebook * YouTube * Follow @DeathPenaltyP * * Contact us | Site map | Terms and conditions | Privacy Policy #Death Penalty Project: India » Feed Death Penalty Project: India » Comments Feed Oops! It appears that you have disabled your Javascript. In order for you to see this page as it is meant to appear, we ask that you please re-enable your Javascript! Skip to Main Content * Home * Death Penalty Information + Prisoner Information + Death Penalty in India + Judiciary + Executions + Opinion + External Resources * Research Project + About Us + Members + Project Resources + Media + Death Penalty Litigation Clinic * Contact Us Search for: ____________________ (BUTTON) Death Penalty Project: India * Members * Project Resources * Media * Opinion (BUTTON) Menu * Members * Project Resources * Media * Opinion Latest Posts 24 Oct 2014 1 Feb: All India Convention against Death Penalty by drpadmin | posted in: Uncategorized | 0 While the executions had been more or less on hold for the past two decades, since 2012- 2013 with two surreptitious and secretive executions and rejection of mercy petitions of 23 persons by the President, an abhorring trend was being … Continued 22 Oct 2014 Will I be hanged now? by drpadmin | posted in: Articles | 0 * All names of persons and places have been changed to maintain confidentiality. The interviewee, a fragile looking man in his sixties, while discussing the details of the pre-trial stage of his case, suddenly begins to shake violently. He … Continued 31 Jul 2014 Legitimate aim, unconstitutional means by drpadmin | posted in: Uncategorized | 0 The 117th Constitution Amendment Bill has failed to define low representation of SCs/STs which is necessary to make reservation in promotions possible There is certainly a strong argument to be made in favour of reservation for the Scheduled Castes and … Continued 15 May 2014 India among few countries still using death penalty: report by drpadmin | posted in: Blogs & Videos | 0 [youtube id=”YyJ0-Xwxfhg” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”] The World Death Penalty Report 2014, to be launched by Amnesty International on Thursday, has found that executions in India were not announced prior to being carried out, neither to the public nor to the … Continued 7 May 2014 On the verge of unconscionable hangings by drpadmin | posted in: Blogs & Videos | 0 After correctly acknowledging the possibility of reformation as a ground to commute the death sentence, the Supreme Court must now consider the case of 22 individuals awaiting execution in the same vein Three judges of the Supreme Court, including the … Continued 7 May 2014 Death is entirely discriminatory by drpadmin | posted in: Articles | 0 A life term for Kodnani and the hangman’s noose for Kasab show the arbitrariness in the judicial administration of capital punishment Judge Jyotsna Yagnik’s invocation of human dignity while not awarding the death penalty in the Naroda-Patiya massacre case and … Continued 5 May 2014 Redeeming the Supreme Court by drpadmin | posted in: Articles | 0 The Supreme Court has taken the position that it cannot be expected to abandon its role of being the guardian of the fundamental rights of all persons within the territory of India In a span of about 45 days, the … Continued Twitter Tweets by @deathpen_nlud Quick Links * External Resources * Prisoner Information * Media © 2016 Death Penalty Project: India - WordPress Theme by Kadence Themes Skip to main content Search URJ.org and the other Reform websites: Search ____________________________________________________________ (Apply) Apply * Home * About the RAC * Advocacy & Activism * Programs * Congregational Tools * Latest Updates rac-smct-text-block Press Room | Facebook | Twitter | DONATE January 15, 2016 | 5 Shevat, 5776 rac-smct-text-block Press Room | Facebook | Twitter | DONATE Home Search URJ.org and the other Reform websites: Search ____________________________________________________________ (Apply) Apply * About the RAC * Advocacy & Activism * Programs * Congregational Tools * Latest Updates * Home Position of the Reform Movement on the Death Penalty Print * Since 1959, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) have formally opposed the death penalty. The CCAR resolved in 1979 that "both in concept and in practice, Jewish tradition found capital punishment repugnant" and there is no persuasive evidence "that capital punishment serves as a deterrent to crime." The URJ notes that: "We believe that there is no crime for which the taking of human life by society is justified, and that it is the obligation of society to evolve other methods in dealing with crime. We appeal to our congregants and to our co-religionists and to all who cherish God's mercy and love to join in efforts to eliminate this practice [of capital punishment] which lies as a stain upon civilization and our religious conscience." In December 1999, at the 65th biennial convention, the URJ passed a resolution entitled Race and the United States Criminal Justice System, which among other things, committed the Reform Jewish Movement to continue its efforts in opposition to the death penalty and to determine whether the "disparate treatment of those sentenced to death is attributable to the race or ethnicity of the defendants or the victims and act to eliminate the disparities, where they exist." In regards to matters of legal representation, the URJ calls for reforming the existing system to "ensure that all those accused of capital offenses are afforded competent counsel and that they have adequate funding to ensure that their defenses are fully investigated." 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Search URJ.org and the other Reform websites: Search ____________________________________________________________ (Apply) Apply WRJ Shop MRC WRJ 5776/2015-16 Art Calendar For over 100 years, WRJ has annually published the Art Calendar to showcase Jewish artists and to give them a larger and more knowledgeable audience. $18 Bring it Home Elemental Religion Note Cards The artwork on this note card is featured on the cover of the 5776/2015-16 WRJ Art Calendar, and was created by Helaine Bach for the WRJ/NFTY Art Calendar Contest. $7.50/pack Bring it Home #Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty » Feed Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty » Comments Feed Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty RSS * Home * News * Events * Get Involved + Contact Your Senator + Join the Action Committee + Letter Writing + Write a Letter to the Editor + Become a Point Person + Organize a Community Conversation * Death Penalty Info + The Case for Repeal + Cost to Nebraskans + For Murder Victims’ Families + Faith Based Positions + Nebraska’s Death Row + Nebraska Mistakes + Conservative Concerns + Death Penalty Links * Conservative Concerns * About NADP + NADP Staff + Contact Us * Donate! ____________________ We still need you – get involved with the next phase of our campaign September 29, 2015 NADP is a founding member and partner organization in Nebraskans for Public Safety (N4PS) the campaign that led the Decline to Sign effort this summer, and will work to ensure repeal is protected at the 2016 general elections. Here is the latest update from Nebraskans for Public Safety: We have successfully laid the foundation for what will be a strong General Election campaign. Because of you, we can compete with the deep pockets of our opponents. While we are going to work tirelessly to monitor the petition validation process to ensure that it is fair and legal, we are going to start looking ahead to the work that needs to be done in order to keep our broken death penalty where it belongs, in the past. This is where you come in. One way you can help us is by writing or submitting a letter to the editor to your local paper. We are in need of letters to the editor every week in every paper across this state. We are willing to help draft the letters and assist your supporters in whatever way necessary. In addition to letters, we are going to begin collecting hundreds of personal stories of why Nebraskans are opposed to the death penalty. We would like these stories to come from all across the state. We will create a central hub for our stories through our website where Nebraskans can go to read about why the death penalty is broken and the pain it causes so many who become ensnared in the system. Stay tuned for more information about how you can share your story. Finally, we are looking for strong volunteers to step up and serve as “County Captains” for our general election campaign. The County Campaign will help us in three main areas: Serve as a central location to mail campaign materials when necessary. Research community organizations, leaders, and groups that might be willing to join our effort and passing our campaign message along to them. Monitor their local papers and report any stories and LTEs relating to our issues to the campaign. This will ensure we have eyes and ears on the ground to respond immediately to any false claims made by our opponents. Please email us at matt@nadp.net if you would like more information, or want to sign up with help with letters to the editor and/or becoming a County Captain. Could the Courts throw out the ballot initiative? September 29, 2015 A lawsuit filed last week says the ballot initiative process to try to undo death penalty repeal didn’t properly identify the leaders behind the effort and thus the ballot initiative isn’t valid. “Petition signers should have been told the “true and actual sponsors” of the referendum drive because it could have influenced their decision, the lawsuit says. It also argues that Ricketts used his title as governor to raise money in letters to residents over the summer.” Read the full article here. $25,000 shipment of illegal drugs held back in India September 29, 2015 This Buzzfeed story has the latest in the ongoing saga over attempts to illegally import executions drugs into our state: “Nebraska ordered more than $50,000 of sodium thiopental and other execution drugs from a distributor in India named Chris Harris in May. The Food and Drug Administration has consistently maintained that importing the drug would be illegal, but the state has shown every intention of moving forward regardless. The FDA says it will not allow the drug into the U.S.” Could we execute an innocent man in 2015? September 29, 2015 Richard Glossip is the Oklahoma death row inmate who was scheduled to be executed September 16th but received a last minute stay due to the many troubling questions in his case. Read this letter from a variety of community leaders explaining the troubling details of his case, including Barry Switzer, head football coach at the University of Oklahoma. “The writers of this letter have a wide range of professional backgrounds and political perspectives. But we share a deep concern about the integrity of the criminal justice system in Oklahoma and throughout the United States. We are particularly concerned about the danger of executing an innocent man. Could that really happen? In the United States, in 2015? Yes, it could.” Read the whole letter here. NADP statement with latest financial filing for referendum September 28, 2015 Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NADP) said the latest finance report filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission on behalf of those who are seeking a return of the death penalty shows that Nebraskans have other priorities. In the latest filing, Nebraskans for the Death Penalty spent $903, 000 to put the death penalty on the ballot in November 2016. “Frankly, I’m stunned that they would spend so extravagantly just to collect signatures. Nebraskans are more concerned with a fair tax rate, fixing roads and affordable healthcare than they are with the effort to bring back the death penalty,” said Rev. Stephen Griffith, Executive Director of NADP. “The governor could not convince the Legislature to keep a failed system, so he used his own money to pay for the referendum,” said Matt Maly, state coordinator of Nebraska Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. “Our compassionate, grassroots campaign will take the same information to the voters that we shared with State Senators; showing the death penalty’s many failures and how it violates basic conservative principles.” During the next 14 months NADP will continue doing what it has done for three decades; having conversations with Nebraskans about why capital punishment has failed our state. Stand with us now as we head to 2016 August 27, 2015 It won’t be official until the Secretary of State’s office confirms the signatures over the next 40 days, but it seems death penalty repeal will be on the November 2016 ballot. We are confident the more people learn about the death penalty the less likely they are to support it. Please stick with us through 2016 as we continue to spread the word about the realities of the death penalty. A statement from NADP: Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NADP) is closely monitoring the initial results of the death penalty referendum signature gathering campaign, and will await the official decision from the Secretary of State’s office. However, today proponents of the death penalty are claiming to have enough signatures to suspend the legislature’s bi-partisan repeal of capital punishment in advance of the 2016 general election. “In spite of apparently qualifying, the number of signatures appears to be underwhelming given the expectations created by those who would like to keep this broken and wasteful system that we can’t use and don’t need,” said Rev. Stephen Griffith, incoming Executive Director of NADP. “Just like the legislators they elected, we believe the more Nebraskans learn about the failures of capital punishment, the more they will be inclined to get rid of it.” Although the death penalty referendum appears to have obtained signatures from 10-percent of registered voters, it failed to attract broad-based financial support, with governor Ricketts, his father, and a handful of their associates providing the bulk of funds. “It is evident that grassroots Nebraskans have already rejected the death penalty with their pocketbooks,” Griffith said. During the next 14 months NADP and their project, Nebraska Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty (CCATDP), will continue doing what it has done for three decades; having conversations with Nebraskans across the political spectrum about why capital punishment has failed our state. Matt Maly, Coordinator for Nebraska CCATDP said, “As Nebraskans keep learning about the risk of executing innocents, the prolonged anguish for victims’ families, and the tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars, we’re confident they’ll keep turning against the death penalty.” The undeniable and unfixable problems with capital punishment caused the Nebraska Legislature to vote overwhelmingly three times to repeal the death penalty and then override the governor’s veto. Maly said, “Once our state’s Second House learns all of the facts, we are confident they too will reject our broken death penalty.” Stephen Griffith, Retired Minister, to lead Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty July 29, 2015 NADP Executive Director Stephen Griffith The Board of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty has announced that Rev. Stephen Griffith will become Executive Director of the organization. Rev. Griffith, a life-long Nebraskan, has served United Methodist congregations in Hardy, Bertrand, Loomis, Lexington, Osceola, Omaha, and Lincoln. His ministerial career concluded in June after 13 years serving Saint Paul United Methodist in downtown Lincoln. “The voices of faith leaders have been important as Nebraskans realize that the death penalty is a broken system that fails to provide justice,” said Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Board President Laurel Johnson. “Since 1981, it has been NADP’s mission to have a conversation with all Nebraskans about this failed experiment. We are thrilled that Rev. Griffith will be talking to Nebraskans about why alternatives to the death penalty makes the most sense for taxpayers and for public safety as well as the broad support of death penalty alternatives from faith leaders.” “It was 32 years ago that I first spoke publicly about the sacredness of all life and the ineffectiveness of the death penalty,” said Rev. Griffith. “I may have retired from the pulpit but my lifelong work is to carry a message of compassion and hope. While my support of death penalty alternatives comes from my faith and belief that God can work in the life of every person, I’m excited to join with other Nebraskans who oppose the death penalty for many reasons: faith, the waste of taxpayer dollars and the harm it does to victims’ families. In many roles I’ve brought together and leaders from business, health care, education, human service organizations, neighborhoods, state, city and county government. I believe most Nebraskans already understand that Nebraska’s death penalty is unworkable. I’m excited to continue the conversation about smart alternatives that NADP has been having for over three decades.” Victims’ Families Speak Out! June 16, 2015 EJUSA-Ad-for-Omaha-Herald-RevO Nebraska’s death penalty is repealed! May 28, 2015 Vote board on the motion to override the Governor's veto of death penalty repeal. Vote board on the motion to override the Governor’s veto of death penalty repeal. We did it! After overcoming two filibusters and a veto, the Nebraska Unicameral voted 30-19 to repeal the death penalty. A tremendous thank you to the thousands of people who brought us to this moment after decades of hard work. Please take a moment to thank your Senator for their repeal support! Then follow-up with a handwritten thank you note for added effect. There is nothing more touching than a personal thank you. These 30 Senators deserve to hear congratulatory messages from their dedicated constituents! Media coverage People across the country are taking notice of the landmark victory in Nebraska! We’ve received mountains of positive press, in both Nebraska and around the globe. Check out some of the great articles below: “Nebraska’s death penalty is repealed” – Lincoln Journal Star “Hansen: One Nebraska state senator’s long, hard journey from death penalty backer to execution opponent” – Omaha World Herald “How America’s Death Penalty Ends” – Politco “Bipartisan effort ends death penalty in Nebraska” – National Catholic Reporter “Nebraska vote ‘signals death knell’ for US capital punishment” – The Telegraph (UK) “Nebraska becomes first conservative state in 40 years to repeal the death penalty” –Mother Jones “Nebraska bans death penalty, defying a veto” – New York Times * [Sign-Up.jpg] * Upcoming Events No events to display. + + + + IFRAME: http://www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?id=59906318232&wid th=240&connections=12&stream=false&header=true&height=390 + Tweets by @https://twitter.com/N_A_D_P + NADP Feed o We still need you – get involved with the next phase of our campaign ... 3 months ago o Could the Courts throw out the ballot initiative? ... 3 months ago o $25,000 shipment of illegal drugs held back in India ... 3 months ago o Could we execute an innocent man in 2015? ... 3 months ago o NADP statement with latest financial filing for referendum ... 3 months ago o Stand with us now as we head to 2016 ... 4 months ago o Stephen Griffith, Retired Minister, to lead Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty ... 5 months ago o Victims’ Families Speak Out! ... 7 months ago Nebraskans for Alternatives the Death Penalty 941 'O' Street, Suite 725 Lincoln, NE 68508 IFRAME: //www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-MKBD2W Skip to main content Home Search Menu * Research Research Areas Adolescents and Youth Aging Children Crime and Justice Economic Growth and Productivity Education and Training Families Finance Food and Nutrition Health and Health Policy Housing and Housing Finance Immigrants and Immigration Income and Wealth International Development Job Market and Labor Force Neighborhoods, Cities, and Metros Nonprofits and Philanthropy Pay for Success Poverty, Vulnerability, and the Safety Net Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Taxes and Budget Data & Methods All Publications * Experts Research Areas Adolescents and Youth Aging Children Crime and Justice Economic Growth and Productivity Education and Training Families Finance Food and Nutrition Health and Health Policy Housing and Housing Finance Immigrants and Immigration Income and Wealth International Development Job Market and Labor Force Neighborhoods, Cities, and Metros Nonprofits and Philanthropy Pay for Success Poverty, Vulnerability, and the Safety Net Race, Ethnicity, and Gender Taxes and Budget Find an Expert______ Search View All * Policy Centers Policy Centers Policy Centers Center on International Development and Governance Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy Health Policy Center Housing Finance Policy Center Income and Benefits Policy Center Justice Policy Center Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center Policy Advisory Group Statistical Methods Group Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center Cross-Center Initiatives Inequality and Mobility Kids in Context Low-Income Working Families Neighborhoods and Youth Development Opportunity and Ownership Performance Measurement and Management Program on Retirement Policy Social Determinants of Health State and Local Finance Initiative Tax Policy and Charities Washington, DC, Research Initiative * Events 1/27 Wednesday 9:00 AM Desperate Measures: Survival Strategies of the Poorest of the Poor 1/21 Thursday 12:30 PM Federal Reserve Surveys of the Economic Well-Being of US Households 12/17 Thursday 1:00 PM Addressing Ex-Prisoner Reentry at the Community Level Upcoming events » Past events » * About About Urban Institute Our mission: to open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions through economic and social policy research. 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[Select Center_____________________________________] [Select Initiative_____________________] DATE RANGE | Narrow your search by date. ____________________ to ____________________ 0 Results [BUTTON Input] (not implemented)_______________ Clear All Or try using Power Search Home * Urban Wire * Data/ Viz * Features * Policy Debates * In the Field * 2016 Analysis The Cost of the Death Penalty in Maryland Secondary tabs * Overview(active tab) * Full Report The Cost of the Death Penalty in Maryland Research Report The Cost of the Death Penalty in Maryland [roman-john_5.jpg?itok=uykbCkIS] [7710-Aaron-Chalfin_0.jpg?itok=gloQG7NQ] [7817-Aaron-Sundquist_0.jpg?itok=5mLyhize] [7818-Carly-Knight_0.jpg?itok=DUUshSjT] [7819-Askar-Darmenov_0.jpg?itok=qb4v2hDJ] John Roman Aaron Chalfin Aaron Sundquist Carly Knight Askar Darmenov March 6, 2008 Download PDF Print Share Secondary tabs * Overview(active tab) * Full Report Abstract This study assesses the death penalty's costs to Maryland taxpayers by examining a sample of the 1,136 death-eligible murder cases occurring between 1978 and 1999. We find that an average capital-eligible case in which prosecutors did not seek the death penalty will cost approximately $1.1 million over the lifetime of the case. A capital-eligible case in which prosecutors unsuccessfully sought the death penalty will cost $1.8 million and a capital-eligible case resulting in a death sentence will cost approximately $3 million. In total, we forecast that the lifetime costs to Maryland taxpayers of these capitally-prosecuted cases will be $186 million. Research Area: Crime and Justice Centers Centers: Justice Policy Center To reuse content from Urban Institute, visit copyright.com, search for the publications, choose from a list of licenses, and complete the transaction. Meet The Authors * [roman-john_5.jpg?itok=D-ih_I-v] John Roman Senior Fellow * [7710-Aaron-Chalfin_0.jpg?itok=KbCmKZub] Aaron Chalfin * [7817-Aaron-Sundquist_0.jpg?itok=P6_dMwpg] Aaron Sundquist * [7818-Carly-Knight_0.jpg?itok=8BLs59L0] Carly Knight * [7819-Askar-Darmenov_0.jpg?itok=a19ASZir] Askar Darmenov * Support Urban Institute * About * Contact * Careers * Newsletters * Privacy * Terms of Service Follow Us * Facebook * Twitter * LinkedIn * Google+ * YouTube #Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty RSS Skip to main content Home Like OADP on Facebook Follow OADP on Twitter Connect with OADP on Google+ Follow OADP on Vimeo Follow OADP on YouTube Connect with OADP on LinkedIn Email OADP RSS Feed Search form Search _______________ Search Menu (BUTTON) * Home * About + About OADP + Connect With OADP + Contact OADP + OADP Board of Directors + OADP's Ultimate Goals + OADP Mission Statement + Press * News + Oregon Death Penalty Repeal + Death Penalty News + Press Releases + Newsletters o September 2015 Update Newsletter o December 2015 Update Newsletter o June 2015 Update Newsletter o March 2015 Update Newsletter o 2014 Newsletter Archives # December 2014 Update Newsletter # August 2014 Update Newsletter # April 2014 Update Newsletter # March 2014 Update Newsletter o 2013 Newsletter Archives # March 2013 Update Newsletter # August 2013 Update Newsletter # December 2013 Update Newsletter o 2012 Newsletter Archives # April 2012 Update Newsletter # June 2012 Update Newsletter # October 2012 Update Newsletter # December 2012 Update Newsletter o 2011 Newsletter Archives # October 2011 Update Newsletter o Full Newsletter Archives * Events + Upcoming Events + Events Calendar + Past Events * Facts + Alternatives to the Death Penalty + Cost of the Death Penalty + Deterrence + Family Members + Innocence and Murder + Justice + Public Safety + Religion and the Bible + We are the State + 13 Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty * Issues + Arbitrariness + Costs + Fairness + Federal Death Penalty + Foreign Nationals + Innocence + Mental Illness + Mental Retardation + Oregon Death Row + Race + US Military + Women * Resources * Supporters + OADP Advisory Council + Secular Organizations for Repeal + Religious Organizations for Repeal + Oregon Religious Leaders Voice Opposition to Death Penalty + Attorneys Supporting Repeal + Proclamations + Individuals for Repeal * Take Action + Sign Up for Newsletter + Donate Get Involved! Donate to OADP 18 14 Russ Feingold It's just really tragic that after all the horrors of the last 1,000 years, we can't leave behind something as primitive as government sponsored execution. -Russ Feingold Aberon Waugh The main objection to killing people as a punishment...is that killing people is wrong. -Aberon Waugh Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death. -Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun John Donne Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. -John Donne Helen Prejean Government... can't be trusted to control its own bureaucrats or collect taxes equitably or fill a pothole, much less decide which of it's citizens to kill. -Sister Helen Prejean Death Penalty Facts The Marshall Project - The Next To Die Justice: Does Killing Convicted Murderers Provide Victims with Justice, Revenge or Retribution? Innocence and Mistakes: Have we had mistakes in Oregon? Murder Victim Families Against the Death Penalty Deterrence: Does the Death Penalty Prevent More Murders? What is the cost of the death penalty in Oregon? Death Penalty Facts - Public Safety OADP Death Penalty Facts - Religion and the Bible We the People Are the State of Oregon Alternatives to the Death Penalty in Oregon 13 Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty in Oregon News & Press OADP Press and News Get Informed! Get Involved! Help us abolish the death penalty in Oregon. Donate to OADP Donate to OADP DPIC Releases Year End Report: Historic Declines in Use of Death Penalty in 2015 Submitted by OADPEditor on Thu, 12/17/2015 - 1:08pm December 16, 2015On December 16, DPIC released its annual report on the latest developments in capital punishment, "The Death Penalty in 2015: Year End Report." The death penalty declined by virtually every measure in 2015. 28 people were executed, the fewest since 1991. Death sentences dropped 33% from last year's historic low, with 49 people being sentenced to death this year. There have now been fewer death sentences imposed in the last decade than in the decade before the U.S. Supreme Court declared existing death penalty laws unconstitutional in 1972. IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A//www.oadp .org/press-releases-death-penalty-facts-news/dpic-releases-year-end-rep ort-historic-declines-in-use-of&send=false&layout=button_count&width=88 &show_faces=true&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=&height=21&appId= Tweet * Read more about DPIC Releases Year End Report: Historic Declines in Use of Death Penalty in 2015 OADP Supports Taxpayer coalition effort to replace California death penalty Submitted by OADPEditor on Thu, 12/17/2015 - 1:03pm Oregonians for Alternatives supports and applauds the announcement by California Taxpayers for Sentencing Reform that it is launch a signature campaign for a November 2016 ballot initiative to end the state’s dysfunctional and costly death penalty system. The coalition that includes conservatives, liberals, law enforcement, religious leaders, and victims’ families made the announcement on Dec. 14th. IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A//www.oadp .org/press-releases/oadp-supports-taxpayer-coalition-effort-to-replace- california-death-penalty&send=false&layout=button_count&width=88&show_f aces=true&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=&height=21&appId= Tweet * Read more about OADP Supports Taxpayer coalition effort to replace California death penalty JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson Submitted by OADP on Tue, 12/15/2015 - 5:53pm JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson - A story of justice and redemption. "Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird" The New York Review of Books "Searing, moving….Bryan Stevenson may indeed, be America’s Mandela." Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times and Oregon native. IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A//www.oadp .org/just-mercy-by-bryan-stevenson&send=false&layout=button_count&width =88&show_faces=true&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=&height=21&appId = Tweet * Read more about JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson Justice That Works: Taxpayer coalition launches effort to replace California death penalty Submitted by OADPEditor on Tue, 12/15/2015 - 12:26pm Signature-gathering begins for initiative to end costly, dysfunctional, ineffective system SACRAMENTO – Dec. 14, 2015 - Taxpayers for Sentencing Reform, a coalition that includes conservatives, liberals, law enforcement, religious leaders, and victims’ families, announced today that it is collecting signatures for a November 2016 ballot initiative to end the state’s dysfunctional and costly death penalty system. IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A//www.oadp .org/press-releases-news/justice-that-works-taxpayer-coalition-launches -effort-to-replace-california&send=false&layout=button_count&width=88&s how_faces=true&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=&height=21&appId= Tweet * Read more about Justice That Works: Taxpayer coalition launches effort to replace California death penalty Death Penalty Discussion Jan 4th Submitted by OADP on Fri, 12/04/2015 - 4:41pm OADP is sponsoring an informal discussion about repealing the death penalty in Oregon every first Monday. Everyone is welcome to come and share your ideas about making Oregon a more peaceful place. Talk about, learn about and get involved in the efforts to repeal the Oregon death penalty. Discussion will take place at The Ike Box Green Room in Salem, from 7 to 8pm. Event Details Event: Death Penalty Discussion at the IKE Box Green Room Date: Monday, January 4, 2016 - 7:00pm to 8:00pm Location: The IKE Box Green Room 299 Cottage St NE 97301 Salem , OR See map: Google Maps IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A//www.oadp .org/events/death-penalty-discussion-jan-4th&send=false&layout=box_coun t&width=48&show_faces=true&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=&height=9 0&appId= Tweet * Read more about Death Penalty Discussion Jan 4th Dayton Rogers Sentenced to Death Submitted by OADP on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 12:36pm Oregonians to pay millions more for an execution date that will never arrive Opinion By Frank Thompson - Retired Superintendent, Oregon State Penitentiary IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A//www.oadp .org/alternatives/dayton-rogers-sentenced-to-death&send=false&layout=bu tton_count&width=88&show_faces=true&action=like&colorscheme=light&font= &height=21&appId= Tweet * Read more about Dayton Rogers Sentenced to Death December 2015 Update Newsletter Submitted by OADP on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 4:45pm [growth_sm.jpg] Investing in our growth and progress As we grow, the opportunities to do even more also present themselves. [criminal-justice_sm.jpg] Oregon's Justice Reinvestment Act and "Smart" Solutions for Criminal Justice Viable alternatives to the death penalty that work, are less costly, and bring life. [evangelical_sm.jpg] Evangelical shift show conservatives' concerns about the death penalty Fiscal and religious conservatives are moving away from DP support. [advisory-council_sm.jpg] Advisory Council valuable component in repeal efforts The Advisory Council is of enormous help as we strive to get on the ballot soon and repeal the Oregon death penalty for good. [new-board-member_sm.jpg] OADP adds new board member Francisco Lopez Lopez's community organizing and networking capabilities will be a welcomed addition to a board focused on repeal of the death penalty and alternatives that keep the public safe, while lifting up people in need of important social services. [Upcoming-Events_sm.jpg] Mark your calendar Florida's death row Chaplain, Dale Recinella, speaking in March 2016. [chris-geidner_sm.jpg] Things to see and to read Some good videos and articles: • An award-winning short film that looks at social issues including criminal justice; • The Marshall Project brings attention to executions and "The Next to Die"; • The death penalty abolition movement is coming out into the open through the 8th Amendment Project. [DPIC-news_sm.jpg] Additional national news from the DPIC Important news articles from the Death Penalty Information Center: • Battle Scars: Military Veterans and the Death Penalty; • Deadliest Prosecutors, Worst Defense Lawyers Linked to High Rates of Death Sentences in Heavy-Use Counties. * Read more about December 2015 Update Newsletter Evangelical Group Changes Long-Standing Position on Death Penalty as 66% of Americans Support Capital Punishment Submitted by OADPEditor on Sat, 10/24/2015 - 12:23pm Recognizing that "a growing number of evangelicals now call" for a shift away from the death penalty, the National Association of Evangelicals - an umbrella group for congregations representing millions of evangelical Christians in the United States - has backed away from its prior strong support for capital punishment. IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A//www.oadp .org/evangelical-group-changes-long-standing-position-on-death-penalty- as-66-of-americans-support-capital&send=false&layout=button_count&width =88&show_faces=true&action=like&colorscheme=light&font=&height=21&appId = Tweet * Read more about Evangelical Group Changes Long-Standing Position on Death Penalty as 66% of Americans Support Capital Punishment * Log in to post comments New York Times: Unable to Obtain Drugs, Ohio Suspends Executions Submitted by OADPEditor on Sat, 10/24/2015 - 12:16pm October 19, 2015 With the suspension of executions in Ohio, the New Your Times has a report on the Ohio suspension of executions until at least 2017. Ohio now joins Oklahoma and Arkansas as states with at least a de facto moritorium. The majority of the 50 states now either have already abolished the death penalty, have an official moratorium, like Oregon, or a de facto moritorium. IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A//www.oadp .org/new-york-times-unable-to-obtain-drugs-ohio-suspends-executions&sen d=false&layout=button_count&width=88&show_faces=true&action=like&colors cheme=light&font=&height=21&appId= Tweet * Read more about New York Times: Unable to Obtain Drugs, Ohio Suspends Executions * Log in to post comments Ohio suspends all executions until 2017 as lethal injection drug runs out Submitted by OADPEditor on Sat, 10/24/2015 - 12:05pm Supplies of sodium thiopental and pentobarbital dry up as other states also forced into moratorium by botched procedures or legal challenges Monday 19 October 2015 Ohio is putting off executions until at least 2017 as the state struggles to obtain supplies of lethal injection drugs, delaying capital punishment for a full two years, the prisons department has announced. Ohio has run out of supplies of its previous drugs and has unsuccessfully sought new amounts, including so-far failed attempts to import chemicals from overseas. It is one of several states scrambling to obtain drugs for executions, since European pharmaceutical companies began blocking the use of their products in lethal injections. IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A//www.oadp .org/news/ohio-suspends-all-executions-until-2017-as-lethal-injection-d rug-runs-out&send=false&layout=button_count&width=88&show_faces=true&ac tion=like&colorscheme=light&font=&height=21&appId= Tweet * Read more about Ohio suspends all executions until 2017 as lethal injection drug runs out * Log in to post comments Pages * 1 * 2 * next › * last » Common Questions Does Oregon currently have the death penalty? Capital punishment is legal in the U.S. state of Oregon. The first execution under the territorial government was in 1851. Capital punishment was made explicitly legal by statute in 1864, and executions have been carried out exclusively at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem since 1904. The death penalty was outlawed between 1914 and 1920, again between 1964 and 1978, and then again between a 1981 Oregon Supreme Court ruling and a 1984 ballot measure. Since 1904, about 60 individuals have been executed in Oregon. Aggravated murder is the only crime subject to the penalty of death under Oregon law. Is there anyone currently on death row in Oregon? Thirty-four people are currently on Oregon's death row. What is the method of execution in Oregon? The current method of execution in Oregon is lethal injection. Mission Statement The mission of Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (OADP) is to repeal the death penalty in Oregon as an essential step toward a more cost-effective, humane and restorative response to violent crime, and thus toward safer, more peaceful and just communities. What's New DPIC Releases Year End Report: Historic Declines in Use of Death Penalty in 2015 OADP Supports Taxpayer coalition effort to replace California death penalty JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson Justice That Works: Taxpayer coalition launches effort to replace California death penalty Death Penalty Discussion Jan 4th * Most Popular * Most Recent * Hugo Bedau, a supporter of abolition Supporters of Abolition (16) * 11 Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty Death Penalty Information (12) * Donate to OADP Donate (7) * Religious Organizations for Repeal Religious Organizations for Repeal (6) * Judges’ Dissents for Death Row Inmates Are Rising (6) more DPIC Releases Year End Report: Historic Declines in Use of Death Penalty in 2015 OADP Supports Taxpayer coalition effort to replace California death penalty JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson Justice That Works: Taxpayer coalition launches effort to replace California death penalty Death Penalty Discussion Jan 4th Log In Username * _______________ Password * _______________ * Request new password Sign in using Facebook Connect Log in Like Us on Facebook IFRAME: //www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook. com%2Foadp.org&width=233&height=379&colorscheme=light&show_faces=true&h eader=false&stream=false&show_border=false&appId=473786286052372 Follow Us on Twitter Tweets by @RepealORDP Follow Us on Google+ Watch OADP's Videos IFRAME: //player.vimeo.com/hubnut/user/oadp/uploaded_videos?color=006bac&backgr ound=032f48&slideshow=0&video_title=0&video_byline=0 Vimeo Back to Top * Home * Site Map * Account Copyright © 2015 Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (OADP) All Rights Reserved. OADP - PO Box 2765 Salem, Oregon 97308 - (503) 990-7060 - info@oadp.org - oadp.org Website design and SEO by [tait-marketing.png] tait marketing. #Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona » Feed Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona » Comments Feed Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona * Home * Donate * News & Events * About Us * Contact * ____________________ Search Save the Date: Annual Meeting Former Chief Justice Stanley Feldman Former Chief Justice Stanley Feldman Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona will hold its annual meeting on Saturday, January 16, 2016 in Tucson, featuring keynote speaker Stanley Feldman, former chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. More information about the event is below. All who come in peace are welcome! * Date: Saturday, January 16, 2016 * Time: 9 AM to conclusion (which will be around noon) * Location: Monterey Court, 505 W Miracle Mile Dr, Tucson, Arizona * Keynote speaker: Stanley Feldman, retired Chief Justice, Arizona Supreme Court * Food: there will be music and a buffet lunch Email List, News & Events, and More * To sign up for Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona news and events, please use the email signup form on the right side of the page, or send us an email to info@azdeathpenalty.org. * You can visit our News & Events page for the latest events, announcements, and newsletters * We rely on donations, so please contribute! * Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter * You can always reach us at info@azdeathpenalty.org. Easy Online Donation Help end the death penalty in Arizona by donating. Please go to our easy online donation form by clicking the button below. 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Family members of Shafqat Hussain, who was convicted and hanged in Pakistan in August for killing a boy in 2004, waited to receive his body outside the central jail in Karachi. Pakistan executed more than 300 people last year. Family members of Shafqat Hussain, who was convicted and hanged in Pakistan in August for killing a boy in 2004, waited to receive his body outside the central jail in Karachi. Pakistan executed more than 300 people last year. Fareed Khan/AP hide caption toggle caption Fareed Khan/AP Parallels Fewer Countries Are Relying On Death Penalty, But They're Executing More January 7, 2016 • Saudi Arabia's spate of 47 executions last week continued a trend from 2015, in which several countries that have the death penalty used it more often. Listen Loading… 3:53 * Playlist * Download * Embed Embed