The U.S. Supreme Court is wrapping up its 2015-2016 term this week. Starting all the way back at the beginning of last October, the Court decided two particularly noteworthy death penalty-related cases this term, and agreed to hear a third during its 2016-2017 term. Read More
On, Monday, June 6, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it would review the case of Buck v. Stephens—a case involving Duane Buck, a Texas man who was sentenced to death after his own lawyer inexplicably introduced an expert who testified that he would pose a future danger to society if only sentenced to life imprisonment (and the fact that he was black only increased that likelihood). Read More
On May 23, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Foster v. Chatman that Timothy Foster established purposeful racial discrimination in the prosecution’s dismissal of two black jurors during jury selection at his trial. Read More
Professor Frank Baumgartner gives a good analysis on why the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida’s death penalty statute. Judges, rather than jurors, were making the ultimate decision about who should be sentenced to die. Read More
On the occasion of Martin Luther King Junior’s 87th birthday, we must examine our national progress on a project that Dr. King framed so beautifully throughout his life’s work. Read More
Change is happening across the country. Your help is needed to keep the momentum going. Read More
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As people across the country are rising up against state violence and mass incarceration, we are reminded of the ways our work fits into the struggle for racial justice. Read More
Enough is enough. We must abolish the death penalty now. Read More
Joint statement calling on Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to Appoint a Board of Inquiry to exam the role of race in death penalty sentencing and to #haltallexecutions in Missouri until the St. Louis University study has been completed and determines whether or not race influenced sentencing in Earl Ringo Jr.’s case and other death penalty cases in Missouri. Read More
We have compiled a list of books that discuss capital punishment, the criminal justice system, and social reform. Read More
WATCH: New Interview with Executive Director Diann Rust-Tierney on MSNBC. Read More
Earlier this month Ohioans to Stop Executions (OTSE) released their first annual report, “The Death Lottery: How Race and Geography Determine Who Goes to Death Row.” Read More
In the 2013 legislative session, the legislature passed a bill repealing the 2009 Racial Justice Act, which Gov. McCrory subsequently signed into law. The Racial Justice Act permitted inmates to challenge sentences on the basis of race. Despite the repeal of the Racial Justice Act in 2013, several factors suggest that North Carolinians are moving away from the death penalty. Read More
The holiday marking the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. coincides with the beginning of legislative sessions in state capitals across the country. In a number of state capitals policymakers will consider whether the death penalty should continue as a feature of their justice systems. Support for capital punishment continues to decline as a recent report by the Death Penalty Information Center indicates. The more people learn about the death penalty in action, the less they like it. Read More
The law doesn’t read “guilty until proven innocent.” And yet, since 1973, the United States has released 143 people from death row after they proved their innocence. It’s a totally backwards approach, and sometimes, we don’t get to them fast enough. Troy Davis, Carlos de Luna, Cameron Todd Willingham, and Gary Graham are among those who are widely believed to have been wrongly executed. In all likelihood there are others. Read More
I learned of Nelson Mandela’s passing, Tata, or father, as he is called in South Africa, from an emergency text on my phone: “Use caution when driving near the South African Embassy — there will be mourners gathering in the area.” Read More
A bill to abolish Colorado’s death penalty failed during this past Legislative session, but Coloradans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CADP) has come back strong, teaming up with a diverse and powerful group of community partners. Together they will engage Coloradans throughout the state in dialogue about why abolishing the death penalty will make Colorado a stronger, safer, and more just place to live. Read More
Delbert Tibbs was sentenced to death in Florida for the murder of Terry Milroy and the rape of his companion, Cynthia Nadeau. He was innocent. Delbert Tibbs was once quoted as saying “God sent me to death row so I could be a witness.” Delbert Tibbs died on November 23, 2013. He was 74. Read More
It should have been a simple fix. Instead, Texas has chosen to embrace a death sentence that’s the clear product of racial discrimination. Read More
Grave Injustice is a highly readable study for anybody interested in a thoughtful, but critical examination of the death penalty in modern America. Stack reveals capital punishment as a broken, largely symbolic relic at odds with the very essence of a pluralistic democracy. Gladly for the reader Stack writes very well. Read More