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News

Capital Punishment Education Project (CPEP) goes National

For the past three years CPEP has been educating students and teachers in Washington, DC on matters of criminal justice and the death penalty. CPEP encourages high schools to teach and study the death penalty through an award winning and non-biased high school curriculum that was created by Michigan State University.  Students and teachers in our program have found it to be a balanced and thought provoking way of teaching critical thinking skills while gaining insights about on of our nation's most debated issues.  Therefore, we have decided to expand CPEP nationwide.     

The Capital Punishment Education Project (CPEP) is a partnership of the American Civil Liberties Union Capital Punishment Project (ACLU-CPP), the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) and a local partner.  In Washington, DC, our partner is the Street Law Clinic at Georgetown Law School.  Last week, CPEP was expanded to Austin, Texas, where CPEP is a partnership between the ACLU-CPP, DPIC, University of Texas Law School and the Austin, Texas public school system.

The integral components of CPEP is teaching of the curriculum to high school students, often by local law students, bringing speakers into the classroom and culminating the year with a Teen Summit that brings all the students and schools together to show off what they've learned and hear from VIPs like members of Congress, professional athletes, etc.

For more information on CPEP and other resources for students: http://www.studentsagainstthedeathpenalty.org/resources/highschool.shtml 

Mental Illness and the Death Penalty

            The appeal of schizophrenic death-row inmate Scott Jude Bourque spurred the Louisiana Supreme Court, on Monday, February 2, to formally request that the Louisiana Legislature draw guidelines to determine when a prisoner's mental illness should prevent execution. The Louisiana Supreme Court stayed Bourque's execution until the Louisiana Legislature passes the guidelines, unless the Legislature fails to act this year, in which case, the Louisiana Supreme Court will determine its own guidelines.  

            In a similar case, Scott Panetti was scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on February 5^th, until he received a stay 1 day prior to his execution, to allow a competency hearing to be conducted.  Panetti was deemed mentally ill at least 10 years before the crime that sent him to death row.  During his capital murder trial, in which Panetti was allowed to represent himself, Panetti dressed as a cowboy, filed requests to subpoena Jesus Christ and JFK, and rambled incoherently, prompting even the daughter of the victims to describe the trial as a ""big joke."" At issue now is Scott's competency to be executed.  Does Panetti know that his execution is imminent and does he know why he's being executed? With the recent stay, Scott should receive this competency hearing. 

As mentally handicapped men and convicted prisoners, Panetti and Bourque are only two instances of a growing concern with the justice system: Like those with mental retardation and juvenile offenders, should mentally ill people be excluded from being sentenced to death because of their mental, emotional and other problems? 

Controversial California Execution Stayed

With less than eight hours before his scheduled death by lethal injection, Kevin Cooper received a stay of execution on Monday from the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by a vote of 9-2.  Furthermore, the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that tests must be completed on the blood on a t-shirt and blond hairs that police found, in order to determine the possibility of Kevin Cooper's innocence.  Activists from throughout California and around the country mounted a very impressive and successful campaign to stop Kevin's execution.  

To stay informed on Kevin's case: Death Penalty Focus: www.deathpenalty.org, Campaign to End the Death Penalty: www.nodeathpenalty.org   

Death Row Shrinking

(February 6, 2004) 

The death row population in Maryland has fallen by half over the last three years.  For the first time since the 1980's, the State's death row population has fallen into the single digits, from 18 to 9.  Neither executions nor exonerations account for this decline, but rather this decrease reflects a U.S. trend in the declining number of death sentences handed down.  The decrease in Maryland's death row populations reflects a nationwide decline in executions and the death row population.  Maryland has not put anyone to death since 1998, and has only exonerated one person, Kirk Bloodsworth, in 1993.   In 2003, California juries sent 16 individuals to death row, the lowest number since 1985 and a dramatic decline from 1999's total of 42 new death sentences. The two factors likely most responsible for this decline in death sentences is a better educated jury pool, in terms of both the alternate sentencing option of Life Without Parole and a stronger understanding of the unfairness of the death penalty system, as well as a greater reluctance by prosecutors to seek the death penalty.  

According to recent national statistics, the number of new death penalty sentences being imposed each year has dropped dramatically, by nearly half.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, from 1994 to 2000, an average of 296 people were given death sentences each year.  In 2000, the number was well below the average at 226, which marked the beginning of this current decline.  In 2001, the number fell significantly to 155, which was the lowest recorded number since 1973.  For 2002, the numbers were slightly higher, with 159 death sentences being handed down. Also attributing to this decline is the increasing availability of life without parole sentences, which has diverted some defendants who may have been sentenced to death. The death penalty is also becoming increasingly unpopular.  According to the latest October 2003 Gallup Poll, support for the death penalty has dropped to 64 percent, its lowest since 1978.  According to the poll, 32 percent of Americans oppose the death penalty, which represents the most opposition since 1972.   However, when life without parole was offered as an alternative sentence, support drops significantly to 53 percent.  

Read An Article From the Washington Post 

Supreme Court To Rule On Juvenile Death Penalty

(January 26, 2004)  

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of executing people younger than 18 for their crimes, revisiting an important death penalty issues it last addressed 15 years ago.  The case that the Court took is Roper v. Simmons. Chris Simmons, who was 17 at the time of his crime for which he was sentenced to death, had his death sentence commuted to Life Without Parole by the Missouri Supreme Court in August 2003.  In its ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court stated that, ""a national consensus has developed against the execution of juvenile offenders,"" citing a number of states that have banned the practice of executing juveniles, and condemned the practice as unconstitutional.  The juvenile death penalty has become increasingly unpopular in the United States.  According to a 2002 Gallup Poll, 69 percent of the people polled opposed the death penalty for juveniles; only 26 percent supported the execution of juvenile offenders, and 5 percent offered no opinion.  The United States is one of 123 countries that currently utilize the death penalty as a form of punishment.  Of those counties, the United States and Iran impose the majority of death sentences on juvenile offenders.  Since 1973, 21 juvenile offenders have been executed in the United States, a total of 226 juvenile death sentences have been handed down, and 78 juveniles are presently on death row.  Only 28 states and the federal government prohibit the execution of persons who committed crimes as juveniles.  Of the 21 states that execute juvenile offenders, 16 states allow 16 year olds to receive death sentence, and the remaining 5 permit the execution of 17 year olds.  

Despite committing his crime as a minor, and regardless of the pending Supreme Simmons case that will decide the constitutionality of executing juvenile offenders, Houston District Judge William Harmon ruled on January 29 that Edward Capetillo will receive lethal injection on March 30^th in Texas.  Traditionally, state courts have stayed executions until the Supreme Court answers relevant constitutional questions that may involve the case.  Capetillo's attorney will likely appeal the decision of Judge Harmon to the federal court level.

Learn More About The Juvenile Death Penalty 

Illinois Supreme Court Backs Ryan On Commutations

(January 23, 2004)

The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that former Governor George Ryan had the power to commute the sentences of all 167 death row inmates awaiting execution.  The Court agreed unanimously that Ryan did not overstep his authority in the case of 32 inmates who either had not asked for clemency or whose death sentence was not final.  While the Court did censure the idea of blanket commutations, the Court ruled that Ryan had the power to grant communications has he saw fit.  Justice Bob Thomas wrote, ""We believe that grant of authority given the governor?is sufficiently broad to allow former Governor Ryan to do what he did?Our hope is that governors will use the clemency power in its intended manner - to prevent miscarriages of justice in individual cases.""     In early January 2003, Ryan commuted the sentences of 163 death row inmates to life imprisonment, and exonerated four others, leaving no prisoners on Illinois' death row.  In a speech delivered at Northwestern University, Governor Ryan stated, ""Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error: error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die."" Ryan's action came two days before he was to leave office.  The Illinois Supreme Court's decision will likely put an end to the legal battle surrounding Governor Ryan's decision to clear death row.  

Read An Article From the Chicago Tribune 

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate Exonerated

(January 17, 2004) 

After spending more than half of his life in prison, Nicholas Yarris has become the 112^th death row inmate exonerated from death row after prosecutors dropped charges against him.  Yarris was sentenced to death in 1983 for the rape and murder of Linda Craig.  In December 2003, DNA tests excluded him from committing the crime.  Yarris, who spent 21 years on death row and always maintained his innocence, is the fifth death row inmate exonerated in Pennsylvania, and the state's first DNA exoneration.  Of the 112 death row exonerations since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, only 13 have resulted from DNA testing.  Over the past few years, there has been a steady increase in exonerations on death row inmates.  In 1999 and 2000, each year eight death row inmates were exonerated; in 2001, five death row inmates were exonerated; and in 2002, 4 death row inmates were exonerated.  In 2003, a total of 10 death row inmates have been exonerated, which is the highest number of exonerations in one year.     

Read Death Penalty Information Center's Press Release 

Learn More About Innocence and the Death Penalty

Upcoming Executions 

NCADP Execution Alerts 

Action Alerts

Action Alerts From the ACLU

Action Alerts From Amnesty International

Action Alerts From the NCADP Legislative Action Center

Legislative Update

Federal Legislation

Innocence Projection Act

On October 1, bipartisan members of both the House and Senate introduced an Omnibus Bill called ""the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act"".  Title III of the bill contains a revised version of the Innocence Protection Act that was introduced in the 107^th Congress. This version of the IPA would, among other things, set up a process for federal prisoners who meet the standards in the bill to obtain access to DNA testing and obtain relief if exonerated by the DNA results. Title III would also encourage states to set up similar mechanisms and provide funding to local prosecutors and defense lawyers to improve the quality of representation in death penalty cases. 

Other provisions of the Omnibus bill would however, greatly expand the categories of individuals at the federal and state level whose DNA information could be stored in the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Current law permits DNA information for those convicted of violent federal crimes and those convicted of state felonies to be stored. This new measure would extend the reach of CODIS to those convicted of additional federal crimes, those convicted of any state offense and any other offense for which DNA information has been collected under state law or practice-going well beyond those who have been convicted of committing a crime.

 Another provision would indefinitely toll the statute of limitations for federal felonies so that it does not begin to run until the government implicates the individual by means of DNA testing. This provision raises a number of serious due process concerns stemming from the possibility of indictments being handed down decades since a crime occurred.   

The House of Representatives has already passed the Advancing Justice Through DNA Testing Act.  IPA supporters are working toward Senate action.  

Support the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act

On June 24, 2003, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced HR 2574, the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2003. This legislation, which is a companion bill to Senate legislation introduced by Senator Feingold (D-WI), will put an immediate halt to executions and forbid the imposition of the death penalty as a sentence for violations of federal law. Please contact your U.S. Representative today to urge him/her to co-sponsor and support this important legislation! Note: If your Congressional Representative is an original co-sponsor, you may not take this action.

State Legislation

State Juvenile Death Penalty Repeal Efforts Gaining Momentum (SD and NH)

South Dakota and New Hampshire are two of a handful of states that have the juvenile death penalty on their books, but don't have any juvenile offenders on their death row nor have they ever executed juvenile offenders.  Both states have seen significant progress over the last week on bills that would raise the minimum age for the death penalty from 17 to 18 and thus eliminating the juvenile death penalty.  

New Hampshire Residents/constituents of your organizations from New Hampshire should contact their state legislator and urge them to support SB 513:

http://capwiz.com/ncadp/issues/bills/?bill=5032741 

South Dakota Residents/constituents of your organizations from South Dakota should contact their representative and urge them to support SB 182. This bill just passed the South Dakota Senate by a 23-11 vote:

http://capwiz.com/ncadp/issues/alert/?alertid=1366216

PA:  

Pennsylvania Residents: Support a Moratorium on Executions in Pennsylvania

During his campaign for governor, Ed Rendell -- a former district attorney and death penalty proponent -- stated that he would support a temporary freeze on executions if there was compelling evidence of errors and unfairness in the system. 

On March 4, 2003, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System released a report recommending an immediate moratorium on executions, citing evidence of racial bias and the failure of Pennsylvania to ensure competent representation for indigent defendants.  Gov. Rendell has since stated repeatedly that he has seen no compelling evidence of problems with Pennsylvania's death penalty system.

The exoneration of death row prisoner Nicholas Yarris on Tuesday, December 9, 2003, is one of the most significant developments in the history of the death penalty in Pennsylvania.  After spending more than two decades on death row for a crime he did not commit, Yarris joins Jay Smith, Neil Ferber, William Nieves, Hank Kimbell, and Fred Thomas (who died on death row after having his conviction dismissed while prosecutors stalled with appeals) - innocent men who spent a combined total of nearly 50 years on Pennsylvania's death row before they were finally exonerated.  

Pennsylvania has now exonerated twice as many death row prisoners (6) as it has executed (3) since the reinstatement of the death penalty. 

Take Action! Urge Governor Rendell to declare a temporary freeze on executions in Pennsylvania until these apparent problems with the death penalty are resolved.