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MYTH: The death penalty acts as a deterrent to potential criminals. FACT: The death penalty does not deter crime. It stimulates it.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Deterrence ,

MYTH: The death penalty saves money. It costs less to kill people than to imprison them for life. FACT:The death penalty costs millions more than a sentence of life without parole. Taxpayers’ money could be used more efficiently on crime prevention programs and police.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Sentencing Alternatives, Financial cost,

This fact sheet gives facts on post DNA exonerations and provides information on the main causes of wrongful conviction including eyewitness misidentification, false confessions and snitches.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

Recent years have seen a number of ground-breaking judicial decisions on the mandatory death penalty in various Caribbean and African jurisdictions. In analysing these developments, this manual addresses the key issues that arise in the sentencing and resentencing of offenders following the abolition of the mandatory death penalty for particular crimes. It deals with the general test to be applied when deciding whether an offender should be sentenced to a discretionary death penalty. It also addresses the aggravating and, in particular, mitigating considerations relevant to the sentencing exercise and procedural issues that arise as a result of the discretion now vested in the courts to impose an appropriate sentence in each case.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

As Soss et al. (2003) point out, whites are the most influential racial groupand support the death penalty much more than blacks do. In the 2002GSS, 69.8% of whites favored the death penalty, compared with only42.1% of blacks. If white support for the death penalty was as low as blacksupport, it would be much more difficult for the Supreme Court to believethat “evolving standards of decency” had not evolved against capitalpunishment.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Public opinion, Public debate,

There have been at least sixty-seven postconviction DNA exonerations in the United States. Our Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law has either assisted or been the attorney of record in thirty-nine of those cases, including eight men who served time on death row. For all of these men, existing appellate remedies failed to catch the mistakes and correct the injustice. In one third of the exonerations, bad lawyering contributed to their convictions yet in only one case was ineffective assistance of counsel recognized by an appellate court. Mistaken eyewitness identification was a critical factor in almost 90% of the unjust convictions yet not a single trial or appellate court found the eyewitness testimony to be unreliable.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Innocence,

When the Supreme Court is deciding death, how much does law matter? Scholars long have lamented the majoritarian nature of the Court’s Eighth Amendment “evolving standards of decency” doctrine, but their criticism misses the mark. Majoritarian doctrine does not drive the Court’s decisions in this area; majoritarian forces elsewhere do. To make my point, I first examine three sets of “evolving standards” death penalty decisions in which the Court implicitly or explicitly reversed itself, attacking the legal justification for the Court’s change of position and offering an extralegal explanation for why those cases came out the way they did. I then use political science models of Supreme Court decisionmaking to explain how broader social and political forces push the Court toward majoritarian death penalty rulings for reasons wholly independent of majoritarian death penalty doctrine. Finally, I bring the analysis full [*pg 2] circle, showing how broader sociopolitical forces even led to the development of the “evolving standards” doctrine. In the realm of death penalty decisionmaking, problematic doctrine is not to blame for majoritarian influences; rather, majoritarian influences are to blame for problematic doctrine. The real obstacle to countermajoritarian decisionmaking is not doctrine, but the inherently majoritarian tendencies of the Supreme Court itself.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

The goal of our bill is simple, but profoundly important: to reduce the risk of mistaken executions. The Innocence Protection Act proposes basic, common-sense reforms to our criminal justice system that are designed to protect the innocent and to ensure that if the death penalty is imposed, it is the result of informed and reasoned deliberation, not politics, luck, bias, or guesswork. We have listened to a lot of good advice and made some refinements to the bill since the last Congress, but it is still structured around two principal reforms: improving the availability of DNA testing, and ensuring reasonable minimum standards and funding for court-appointed counsel.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Innocence,

The fundamental task of the mitigation specialist is to conduct a comprehensive social history of the defendant and identify all relevant mitigation issues. The 2003 revised edition of the American Bar Association Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases recognizes the mitigation specialist as an “indispensable member of the defense team throughout all capital proceedings.” What are the particular responsibilities and contributions of a mitigation specialist and what makes them so essential to the capital defense team as to warrant this long overdue recognition by the ABA Guidelines?

• Document type Article
• Themes list Legal Representation,

The ABA has long been concerned with the provision of effective counsel for all criminal defendants, especially for those facing the death penalty. In 1989, the ABA first published its Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases, which detailed the kind of competent, effective legal representation that all capital defendants were entitled to receive. Earlier this year, after a two-year effort drawing upon the expertise of a broad group ofdistinguished and experienced judges, lawyers, and academics, the ABA House of Delegates overwhelmingly approved revisions to those Guidelines to update and expand upon the obligations of death penalty jurisdictions to ensure due process of law and justice. “These Guidelines are not aspirational.” They articulate a national standard of care and the minimum that should be required in the defense of capital cases.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Legal Representation,

One gets the strong sense that Professor White believed that the key to changing or abolishing the death penalty in the United States was to educate policymakers and the public about its practical operation. This, of course, was Justice Thurgood Marshall’s hypothesis in Furman v. Georgia: that the widespread support that the death penalty enjoys in the country is a product of mass ignorance about how it is applied. Professor White did not simply posit the theory, he dedicated much of his life to the mission of educating the public about the inequities of the American death penalty. This final book does that in an extraordinarily effective way by combing together studies of illustrative cases, analysis of the lawyers’ roles and dilemmas, and cogent explanations of the state of the law.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

Mental illness is a phenomenon that knifes across the entire corpus of our criminal justice system. From interrogations and waivers of Miranda rights, to consent to searches and seizures, to plea negotiations and the capacity to stand trial, to calculating sentences and participating in appellate and postconviction proceedings, mental illness warps the machinery of our criminal law and challenges its most cherished assumptions about free will, decisional competence, and culpability. This is so regardless of whether or not life hangs in the balance. But when the stakes are life and death, the structural distortions caused by mental illness become magnified, and the contradictions can rise to constitutional magnitude.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Mental Illness,

Fairness for those defendants facing the ultimate punishment of death requires that they be afforded zealous advocacy by competent counsel, and that counsel be provided with the resources necessary to effectively represent their clients. Stating that “[o]ur capital system is haunted by the demon of error, error in determining guilt, and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die,” Governor Ryan cited many deficiencies in the justice system in Illinois, including poor lawyering and inadequate resources for defense counsel, in arriving at his decision to commute all death sentences. Over the years the imposition of the death penalty has too often been a function of unqualified counsel or counsel who lacked the resources, including time, funding, and provision of investigative, expert and supportive services, to competently represent their clients, rather than a reasoned decision based on the circumstances of the crime and the background and character of the defendant.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Legal Representation,

The revised ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases require that an agency “independent of the judiciary” be responsible for “ensuring that each capital defendant in the jurisdiction receives high quality legal representation.” This independent agency “and not the judiciary or elected officials should select lawyers for specific cases.” These mandates reflect two realities that have become overwhelmingly clear: (1) judges—whether initially elected, subject to retention elections, or appointed—are subject to political pressures in connection with capital punishment cases; and (2) lawyers whom judges have appointed in capital punishment cases have frequently been of far lower quality than could have been selected.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Legal Representation,

Almost everything we know about false convictions is based on exonerations in rape and murder cases, which together account for only 2% of felony convictions. Within that important but limited sphere we have learned a lot in the past 30 years; outside it, our ignorance is nearly complete. This review describes what we now know about convicting the innocent: estimates of the rate of false convictions among death sentences; common causes of false conviction for rape or murder; demographic and procedural predictors of such errors. It also explores some of the types of false convictions that almost never come to light—innocent defendants who plead guilty rather than go to trial, who receive comparatively light sentences, who are convicted of crimes that did not occur (as opposed to crimes committed by other people), who are sentenced in juvenile court—in fact, almost all innocent defendants who are convicted of any crimes other than rape or murder. Judging from what we can piece together, the vast majority of false convictions fall in these categories. They are commonplace events, inconspicuous mistakes in ordinary criminal investigations that never get anything close to the level of attention that sometimes leads to exoneration.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Innocence,

In the last five years, the death penalty has become a frequent topic of discussion. While discussion of such an emotive topic is not unusual for any period in history, the tenor of the recent dialogue is unusual. For the most part, the discussion centers around the problems with capital punishment, particularly its inaccuracy and unfairness. This Article begins in Part II with a discussion of recent claims about the frequency of errors in capital cases. Part III enumerates and discusses the factors generally thought to be the cause of the errors. Part IV details new rules recently adopted in one jurisdiction in an effort to eliminate the errors. Part IV also suggests that these new rules, though worthwhile, are actually a reiteration of long-standing ethical obligations of judges and lawyers, the breach of which is responsible for many of the errors. Part V recommends additional remedies which the bench and the bar must take if there is a true commitment to providing a fair, just, and reliable system for determining who the government is entitled to kill.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

This short article will explore some additional issues regarding the relationship between international law and the death penalty. First, it will discuss some additional aspects of the representation of foreign nationals in capital cases. Second, it will discuss additional instances in which defense counsel can make international law arguments, regardless of the client’s nationality. Third, because international law issues are new to most lawyers in the United States, even those who are seasoned in capital litigation, it will suggest some alternative ways in which international law arguments can be made. The conclusion will put theUnited States experience with the death penalty into the broader context of world practice on the death penalty.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Legal Representation,

Many states fail to conduct, or even to permit, DNA testing of biological materials in circumstances in which the results might exonerate convicts under sentence of death. Senator Patrick Leahy thinks that Congress should enact a statute requiring states to provide for testing when it promises to reveal the truth. Leahy’s idea is sensible as a matter of policy. I mean in this Article to argue that it is also constitutionally feasible.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

In “Towards the abolition of the death penalty in Africa – a human rights perspective”, the author shows that international law increasingly recognises that the imposition and execution of the death penalty constitute violations of human rights. The author locates an emerging international trend towards the abolition of capital punishment in the African context. In doing so, she provides a particular African perspective on the issue. In this rich and informative text, she reflects on the role and impact of relevant UN instruments on African states, and analyses related African regional instruments, domestic law and case-law.

• Document type Book

This briefing examines the use of life imprisonment worldwide, including the increasing trend of life imprisonment without the possibility of release, or life without parole (LWOP). Emerging trends indicate an increase in the number of offences carrying the sanction of life imprisonment, a greater prevalence of indeterminate sentencing, a reduction in the use of parole, and the lengthening of prison terms as a whole. The abolition of the death penalty has played a significant role in the increased use of life imprisonment sentences, and LWOP in particular. Conditions of detention and the treatment of prisoners serving life sentences are often far worse than those for the rest of the prison population and more likely to fall below international human rights standards.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Sentencing Alternatives,

In every state that retains the death penalty, jurors have the option of sentencing convicted capital murderers to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence is cheaper to tax-payers and keeps violent offenders off the streets for good. The information is California specific.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Sentencing Alternatives,

A fact sheet on the cost of the death penalty in the United States. Life emprisonment without parole is suggested.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Transparency, Death Penalty, Financial cost,

Despite the interest in the death penalty, no statistical studies have isolated the social and political forces that account for the legality of this punishment. Racial or ethnic threat theories suggest that the death penalty will more likely be legal in jurisdictions with relatively large black or Hispanic populations. Economic threat explanations suggest that this punishment will be present in unequal areas. Jurisdictions with a more conservative public or a stronger law and order Republican party should be more likely to legalize the death penalty as well. After controlling for social disorganization, region, period, and voilent crime, panel analyses suggest that minority presence and economic inequality enhance the likelihood of a legal death penalty. Conservative values and Republican strength in the legislature have equivalent effects; A supplement time-to-event analysis supports these conclusions. The results suggest that a political approach has explanatory power because threat effects expressed through politics and effects that are directly political invariable account for decisions about the legality of capital punishment.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

Evidence from execution logs showed that six of the last eight prisoners executed in California had not stopped breathing before technicians gave the paralytic agent, raising a serious possibility that prisoners experienced suffocation from the paralytic, a feeling much like being buried alive, and felt intense pain from the potassium bolus. This experience would be unacceptable under the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. So the judge ordered the state to have an anesthesiologist present in the death chamber to determine when the prisoner was unconscious enough for the second and third injections to be given — or to perform the execution with sodium thiopental alone.The California Medical Association, the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) immediately and loudly opposed such physician participation as a clear violation of medical ethics codes. “Physicians are healers, not executioners,” the ASA’s president told reporters. Nonetheless, in just two days, prison officials announced that they had found two willing anesthesiologists. The court agreed to maintain their anonymity and to allow them to shield their identities from witnesses. Both withdrew the day before the execution, however, after the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit added a further stipulation requiring them personally to administer additional medication if the prisoner remained conscious or was in pain. This they would not accept. The execution was then postponed until at least May, but the court has continued to require that medical professionals assist with the administration of any lethal injection given to Morales. This turn of events is the culmination of a steady evolution in methods of execution in the United States.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Lethal Injection,

The race of the victim and the race of the defendant in capital cases are major factors in determining who is sentenced to die in this country. In 1990 a report from the General Accounting Office concluded that “in 82 percent of the studies [reviewed], race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty, i.e. those who murdered whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Discrimination,

It turns out that voir dire in capital cases is woefully ineffective at the most elementary task—weeding out unqualified jurors.Empirical evidence reveals that many capital jurors are in fact unqualified to serve. Moreover, the ineffectiveness of the process is far from even-handed. A juror is not “death-qualified” if she would always vote against a death sentence, regardless of the circumstances, and a handful of the jurors who actually serve in capital cases are in fact unqualified for this reason.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

The first section below describes how, for many jurors, the decision about guilt appears to be so overwhelming that it prevents truly separate decision making about punishment. The second section focuses on the degree to which jurors feel constrained by what they view as a requirement to impose death if certain aggravating factors are present in the case. And finally, the third section explores the way in which mitigating evidence, even when it appears to have been extensive and credible, is ignored, devalued, or discredited.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

A number of papers have recently appeared claiming to show that in the United States executions deter serious crime. There are many statistical problems with the data analyses reported. This paper addresses the problem of “influence,” which occurs when a very small and atypical fraction of the data dominate the statistical results.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Deterrence ,

Part I of this Article will discuss the Court’s prior decisions in Booth and Gathers, and Parts II and III will briefly attempt to clarify the parameters of the Payne holding. Part IV of this Article will survey the current legal landscape of state and federal practice regarding the admissibility of VIE and argument. Finally, this Article will offer in conclusion some brief perspectives on several unresolved issues in this particularly thorny (and misguided) area of capital punishment jurisprudence.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Murder Victims' Families,

Over much of the last half-century, the legal and political history of the death penalty in the United States has closely paralleled the debate within social science about its efficacy as a deterrent. The injection of Ehrlich’s conclusions into the legal and public policy arenas, coupled with the academic debate over Ehrlich’s methods, led the National Academy of Sciences to issue a 1978 report which argued that the existing evidence in support of a deterrent effect of capital punishment was unpersuasive. Over the next two decades, as a series of academic papers continued to debate the deterrence question, the number of executions gradually increased, albeit to levels much lower than those seen in the first half of the twentieth century

• Document type Article
• Themes list Deterrence ,

The question addressed in this article is whether there is need for a protocol on the abolition of the death penalty in Africa. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter)2 makes no mention of the death penalty or the need to abolish it.3 Further, only six African states have ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. Since the protocol would, most likely, take into consideration the unique problems of the continent, it stands a better chance of effectively supplementing the provisions of the African Charter than the Second Optional Protocol.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Public debate,

This article examines the situation of the death penalty in Africa. It does so byaddressing three main questions: First, to what extent is the death penalty inAfrica in fact an issue about which one should be particularly concerned?Second, what are the restrictions on the death penalty in Africa? Third, whatis to be done to strengthen the restrictions on the death penalty in Africa? Inaddition, the article examines the question whether article 4 of the AfricanCharter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and its related provisions will inspirethe abolition of the death penalty. It is suggested that challenging mandatorydeath sentences, advancing procedural challenges, open debate onalternatives to the death penalty, and improving the national criminaljustice system will strengthen restrictions on the death penalty in Africa. Thearticle concludes that positive criminal justice reform rather than moralisticcondemnation is the most effective route to the eventual abolition of thedeath penalty in Africa.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

Questions regarding the jury’s inability to reach a unanimous decision are often asked of judges and similar uninformative responses are generally given. Is ignoringjuror concerns the proper method for handling jury inquiries about the result of juror non-unanimity in capital sentencing? Or should courts inform capital juries up-front of the consequences of their failure to reach a unanimous verdict?

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

Do black jurors view a crime or its appropriate punishment differently than their white counterparts? Are their perspectives influenced by the race of the defendant or victim? Are blacks on white-dominated capital juries intimidated or coerced into voting for the death penalty?

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

Lawyers are generally familiar with the ethical rule forbidding frivolous arguments, principally because of sanctions imposed under rules of civil procedure for making such arguments. Not all lawyers are aware, however, of two ways in which the prohibitions of frivolous arguments are restricted in both the rules themselves and in their enforcement. First, the ethical rules have express limitations with respect to arguments made on behalf of criminal defendants, and courts are generally loath to sanction criminal defense lawyers. Second, the term “frivolous” is narrowed, even in civil cases, by the way it is defined and explained in the ethical rules and in court decisions.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Legal Representation,

Part one of this article summarizes death penalty policy and practice in the region that accounts for 60 percent of the world’s population and more than 90 percent of the world’s executions. The lessons from Asia are then organized into three parts. Part two describes features of death penalty policy in Asia that are consistent with the experiences recorded in Europe and with the theories developed to explain Western changes. Part three identifies some of the most significant diversities within the Asian region – in rates of execution, trends over time, and patterns of change – that contrast with the recent history of capital punishment in non-Asian locations and therefore challenge conventional interpretations of death penalty policy and change. Part four discusses three ways that the politics of capital punishment in Asia are distinctive: the limited role of international standards and transnational influences in most Asian jurisdictions; the presence of single-party domination in several Asian political systems; and the persistence of communist versions of capital punishment in the Asia region.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Death Penalty,

The present project is concerned with the significant role that public opinion plays in the debate surrounding the death penalty and criminal policy in the People’s Republic of China, including possible public reaction to any planned abolishment of the death penalty. How is public opinion on the death penalty exhibited in China? What influence does public opinion on the death penalty have on legislative and judicial practice in China? The principal goal of the project is to analyze the links that exist between public opinion, criminal policy, legislation and legal practice, and to initiate attitudinal changes amongst political and legal actors as well as the public at large. A further objective is to guide Chinese criminal law reform, particularly with regard to a possible reduction in the number of capital offences, against the background of the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

• Document type Article
• Themes list Public opinion,

This project examines the role of defence councils in Chinese criminal proceedings that can end up with the imposition of the death penalty. It aims to review the problems defence lawyers face in such proceedings, the defence strategies they apply and to examine whether the assignment of a defence lawyer makes a difference in the outcome of a criminal trial. Moreover, the project explores what can and should be done to empower defence councils to effectively represent suspects and accused in death penalty eligible cases.The objective of the study is to shed light on the problems experienced by criminal defence councils when defending capital crime cases and to generate information on how death penalty cases are processed through the Chinese system of justice as well as the determinants of the outcomes death penalty eligible criminal cases.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Legal Representation,

Many human rights organizations and intergovernmental organizations, such as the European Union, see the death penalty as one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time and have taken an active role in persuading countries to halt executions. The debate over capital punishment in the United States—be it in the courts, in state legislatures, or on nationally televised talk shows—is always fraught with emotion. The themes have changed little over the last two or three hundred years. Does it deter crime? If not, is it necessary to satisfy society’s desire for retribution against those who commit unspeakably violent crimes? Is it worth the cost? Are murderers capable of redemption? Should states take the lives of their own citizens? Are current methods of execution humane? Is there too great a risk of executing the innocent?

• Document type Article
• Themes list Deterrence ,

Occasionally, physicians’ personal values conflict with their perceived societal duties. One example is the case of lethal injection for the purpose of capital punishment. Some states require that such lethal injections be performed by physicians. At the same time, leading medical societies have concluded that physicians should avoid participating in capital punishment. Physicians’ attitudes toward involvement in capital punishment may depend on how they balance their responsibilities to individuals against their duties to society. Other factors may include a desire to provide a more painless death for the prisoner or concern over the competency of other health care personnel. In a previous survey, we found that a majority of physicians condoned involvement of their fellow physicians in capital punishment. For the current study, we conducted another survey to ascertain physicians’ attitudes about their own involvement in capital punishment, as well as factors associated with these attitudes.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Lethal Injection,

The thesis of this paper is that lawyers who have represented clients in capital murder cases at trial and appeal—not unlike all criminal trial and initial appeal counsel, but more urgently because of the circumstances—continue to owe important obligations to their former clients. These obligations have been just recently included in the latest version of the American Bar Association’s Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death PenaltyCases: In accordance with professional norms, all persons who are or have been members of the defense team have a continuing duty to safeguard the interests of the client and should cooperate fully with successor counsel. This duty includes, but is not limited to: A. maintaining the records of the case in a manner that will inform successor counsel of all significant developments relevant to the litigation; B. providing the client’s files, as well as information regarding all aspects of the representation, to successor counsel; C. sharing potential further areas of legal and factual research with successor counsel; and D. cooperating with such professionally appropriate legal strategies as may be chosen by successor counsel. It is my hope that this article will demonstrate that these Guidelines reflect not just best practice, but actual ethical mandates that trial counsel, like Bryan Saunders, owe their former clients as those clients negotiate the jurisprudential maze known as habeas corpus.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Legal Representation,

I offer an account of the ordeal of Earl Washington, who—having come within days of execution—was released from prison on February 12, 2001, after DNA evidence of his innocence finally proved conclusive to the Virginia authorities. I do so for two reasons. First, I believe, both as a member of his legal team and a scholar, that history deserves an accurate account of the events. Second, more broadly, I believe that the case exemplifies many of the phenomena that contribute to the injustice of the death penalty in America today.

• Document type Article
• Themes list Networks,

Scientific studies have consistently failed to demonstrate that executions deter people from committing crime anymore than long prison sentences.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Deterrence ,

Perhaps the most important factor in determining whether a defendant will receive the death penalty is the quality of the representation he or she is provided. Almost all defendants in capital cases cannot afford their own attorneys. In many cases, the appointed attorneys are overworked, underpaid, or lacking the trial experience required for death penalty cases.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Legal Representation,

This guide was created to assist judges and court staff in managing capital habeas corpus cases by providing a summary of relevant law and case-management procedures. Section II, “Management of Individual Capital Habeas Cases,” summarizes the substantive law of federal habeas corpus that has an impact on case management and procedure (such as jurisdiction to appoint counsel, statutes of limitations, and evidentiary hearings) and describes various techniques judges have used to manage individual cases. Section III, “District-Wide and Circuit-Wide Approaches to Capital Habeas Corpus Case Management,” describes several practices used in the federal courts to monitor and streamline capital case management at a district- or circuit-wide level.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

The dark room was a photography exhibition planned as part of a project lunched by Amnesty International Italy under the title “I am against the death penalty because…”. The exhibition was held in Rome at Palazzo delle Exposizioni, Sala della Fontana, from 8th to 20th June 2010.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

Summary of key supreme court cases in the United States, these cases deal with juror problems, the constitutionality of the death penalty and juveniles amongst key cases discussed.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

This report details the cases of thirteen men and one woman who were convicted of first degree murder in California and later freed after a court concluded that they had been wrongfully convicted.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

The Guide should be useful to people in all sectors who wish to improve policies and programs through advocacy.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Networks,

Lobbying your elected officials is one of the most important actions you can take to bring about the end of the death penalty. Here are some tips for communicating effectively with government officials.

• Document type Lobbying
• Themes list Networks,

Capital Punishment in Context contains several cases of individuals who were sentenced to death in the United States. Each case presents a narrative account of the individual’s crime, trial and punishment, along with guidelines for analysis, discussion and further research on issues raised by the case. The narratives are supplemented by resources such as original police reports from the homicide investigation and transcripts of testimony from witnesses. After reading the case, you can further explore issues by following a series of links to new information. Each case, along with the related materials, delineates a path through the criminal justice system. At every stage of the process, questions are raised about how the system works. These questions can lead to an analysis of key topics, such as the quality of legal representation for criminal defendants, the risk of wrongful convictions, the role of capital jurors, judicial independence, and the role that race may play in the criminal justice system.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executions could resume after a four year moratorium, more than 1,050 people have been executed in the United States. Approximately 3,370 men and women remain on death row throughoutthe United States. This is a teaching guide on the death penalty in the United States after 1976.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

Using faith to combat the death penalty: This document has sermons, prayers and services, essays, views on the death penalty, resources for discussion and action, resources for next steps.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

Poster for tomorrow is an independent, non-profit international project whose goal is to encourage people, both in and outside the design community, to make posters to stimulate debate on issues that affect us all.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Networks,

Troy Anthony Davis has been on death row in Georgia for more than 15 years for the murder of a police officer he maintains he did not commit. Given that all but three of the witnesses who testified against Troy Davis at his trial have since recanted or contradicted their testimony amidst allegations that some of it had been made under police duress, there are serious and as yet unanswered questions surrounding the reliability of his conviction and the state’s conduct in obtaining it. As the case currently stands, the government’s pursuit of the death penalty contravenes international safeguards which prohibit the execution of anyone whose guilt is not based on “clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts”. Amnesty International does not know if Troy Davis is guilty or innocent of the crime for which he is facing execution. As an abolitionist organization, it opposes his death sentence either way. It nevertheless believes that this is one in a long line of cases in the USA that should give even ardent supporters of the death penalty pause for thought. For it provides further evidence of the danger, inherent in the death penalty, of irrevocable error. As the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court wrote in 1993, “It is an unalterable fact that our judicial system, like the human beings who administer it, is fallible. Or as a US federal judge said in 2006, “The assessment of the death penalty, however well designed the system for doing so, remains a human endeavour with a consequent risk of error that may not be remediable.”

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Networks,

It’s an accepted principle of fairness in our society to compensate citizens who, through no fault of their own, have suffered losses. When a person’s land has been seized for public use, they receive adequate repayment. Crime victims and their families receive financial compensation in all 50 states. Yet, strangely, the wrongfully imprisoned, who lose property, jobs, freedom, reputation, family, friends and more do not receive compensation in 23 states of the nation. These recommendations for state compensation laws have been developed by the Innocence Project after years of working with exonerees and their families, legislators, social workers and psychologists.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

This report has been prepared for Governor Ryan’s Commission on Capital Punishment to provide additional information on those who have been wrongfully convicted of murder and subsequently incarcerated. It is hoped that this information is useful in the Commission’s consideration of possible improvements in the way criminal justice agencies and allied entities meet the needs of those who have been wrongfully convicted.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

The enduring images of exonerees are of vindicated individuals reunited with family and friends in a moment of happiness and relief, tearful men embraced by supporters who have long fought for their release.We think of these moments as conclusions, but really they’re the start of a new story, one that social science is beginning to tell about how exonerees are greeted by their communities, their homes, and their families, and how they cope with the injustice of their confinement and rebuild their lives on the outside.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

Those proven to have been wrongfully convicted through postconviction DNA testing spend, on average, 12 years behind bars. The agony of prison life and the complete loss of freedom are only compounded by the feelings of what might have been, but for the wrongful conviction. Deprived for years of family and friends and the ability to establish oneself professionally, the nightmare does not end upon release. With no money, housing, transportation, health services or insurance, and a criminal record that is rarely cleared despite innocence, the punishment lingers long after innocence has been proven. States have a responsibility to restore the lives of the wrongfully convicted to the best of their abilities. This document describes how a state can try to recompensate an exonerated person.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

Are you stressing about finding that perfect speaker for your next event? Worried that the speaker be inspirational, educational, and entertaining all at the same time? Look no further. We are awaiting your call to help you organize an unforgettable and unique experience for your audience.

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• Themes list Networks,

The purpose of this resource guide is to provide judges who are assigned capital cases with information about how other judges have handled these cases and an idea of what to expect as the case proceeds. The guide does not prescribe how such cases should be handled, and any examples of case-management approaches discussed should be considered illustrative.

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• Themes list Networks,

This guide was created because of the growing flaws in the adminstration of the death penatly, it provides a guide to the death penalty administration process and vulnerable populations in death row administration.

• Document type Working with...
• Themes list Networks,

It was during this time Akmal met a man who claimed to be in the music industry; he told Akmal he could help him realise his dream of becoming a pop, When Akmal landed in China on 12 September 2007 the police stopped him, searched his bag, where they alleged they found around 4 kg of heroin, and arrested him on drug charges sensation and sent him to Kyrgyzstan to meet with his “colleagues”. In Kyrgyzstan Akmal was asked to accompany one of the men to China. The man claimed to own a nightclub there and said he wanted Akmal to sing in his club. Excited at the prospect, Akmal agreed to travel to China with him; Before boarding the plane Akmal was asked to carry this mans suitcase, he did so without knowing that there were drugs in it.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

Saeed Malekpour was sentenced to death in December 2010 following what appears to have been an unfair trial, without access to his lawyer, and amid allegations that he was tortured and forced to confess to crimes which he did not commit. Iran must not execute this web programmer sentenced to death after one of his web programs was used to post pornographic images without his knowledge, Amnesty International said today, as the Iranian authorities continue their crackdown on bloggers and other users of the internet.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

This sheet details what human rights are in relation to the death penalty and the USA. It discusses racism, inadequete legal representation and the unjustifiable cost of the death penalty in the US.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty

The logframe is a tool for concisely describing the results of an LFA project design process, as it summarises in a standard format: What the project is going to achieve, what activities will be carried out, what means/resources/inputs (human, technical, infrastructural, etc.) are required, what potential problems could affect the success of the project, how the progress and ultimate success of the project will be measured and verified.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

This webpage provides information on the link between racism and the death penalty in the United States.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Discrimination,

This document provides information on the cost of death penalty cases in the United States.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Networks, Financial cost,

The wrongful execution of an innocent person is an injustice that can never be rectified. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty, 139 men and women have been released from death row nationally.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Innocence,

The vast majority of countries in Western Europe, North America and South America – more than 139 nations worldwide – have abandoned capital punishment in law or in practice. This document goes through the death penalty status of countries world wide.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Networks,

During a televised panel discussion on the death penalty on 9th October, Slovenian law professor Dragan Petrovec said victims should play no role in the sentencing of offenders. ”The victim is never objective,” he said. ”Victims can’t be judges.” The discussion, organised by the Council of Europe to mark the European day against the death penalty, also featured Sweden’s Human Rights Ambassador Jan Axel Nordlander. Council of Europe’s Head of Department Jeroen Schokkenbroek said the organisation was critical of the United States and Japan over their use of the death penalty . He added that ”dialogue was continuing” with both countries towards ending the practice.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty

This podcast is interview with the Goodwill Ambassador Bianca Jagger. She talksabout murder victims’ families, deterrence, a moratorium on executions and the trend towards abolition.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty
• Themes list Networks,

This video by Amnesty International talks about how the administration of the death penalty is cruel, often sought after unfair trials and how innocent people have been wrongfully convicted. Voice over by Colin Firth.

• Document type Arguments against the death penalty

Monitoring is the routine tracking of the key elements of programme/project performance, usually inputs and outputs and some of the outcomes, through record-keeping, regular reporting and surveillance systems as well as observation and studiesyour. Evaluation attempts to link a particular output or outcome directly to an intervention after a period of time has passed. An evaluation is usually carried out at some significant stage in the project’s development, e.g. at the end of a planning period, as the project moves to a new phase, or in response to a particular critical issue. This guide explains how to conduct monitoring and evaluation of your projects.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

Errors have been made repeatedly in death penalty cases because of: poor legal representation, racial prejudice, prosecutorial misconduct, the presentation of erroneous evidence, false confession, junk science, eyewitness error. Once convicted, a death row prisoner faces enormous obstacles in convincing any court that he or she is innocent.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Networks,

This guide describes the functions of advocacy and campaigning and provides instructions on how to approach and who participates in advocacy and campaigning.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

This document gives advice and help to those wishing to create an innocence project. The topics covered are varied and detail what is required in terms of office space, professional skills, etc.

• Document type Campaigning
• Themes list Networks,

Each trust has a legally binding trust deed that defines the beneficiaries, objectives and geographical area for its charitable activities. The more narrowly defined trusts may only support a certain age group, cause or locality. Those trusts with a wide remit will often be legally defined with objectives that are for “General Charitable Purposes” with “Worldwide Beneficiaries”. Many trusts will also change their policies to focus on topical or specific geographical priorities. It’s important to know where the heart of decision making lies and it can be very different across a number of trusts, and change according to the different stages of their ‘lifecycle’.

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• Themes list Networks,

Donor funds are under intense pressure and receive applications from many more civil society organisations than they are able to fund. When you have identified your project and are ready to look for funding, you will want to present it to the most appropriate donor in the most effective way. This guide gives you the essential information about institutional donors who operate a two stage application process.

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• Themes list Networks,

The first act took place in 1999, when the dirt-poor farmer from Henan province had a violent argument with a fellow peasant, Zhao Zhenshang. His opponent, no relation despite a shared surname, disappeared into thin air. Later a headless, decomposed corpse was found in a well, and produced as evidence of Zhao Zuohai’s murderous deed. He was tortured, forced to confess and received the inevitable death sentence, before eventually winning a reprieve from the firing squad and having his sentence commuted to a 29-year jail term.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

The raped, strangled and naked body of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke was found in a right-of-way off nearby Gun Alley. The press, notably the Herald under (Sir) Keith Murdoch, fanned public outrage, pressured police for an arrest and matched the government’s initial reward, which was quickly raised from £250 to £1000. Ross, one of many people routinely interviewed, was arrested and remanded. The police, relying on the information of dubious characters, including the fortune-teller ‘Madame Ghurka’, claimed that Ross had confessed to violating and choking the girl. The Herald prejudiced his trial by publishing his photograph and printing the names and addresses of the jury. George Maxwell, appearing for Ross with T. C. Brennan, described the Crown witnesses as ‘disreputables’, mercenaries whose evidence was contradictory and untrustworthy.

• Document type Academic report
• Themes list Networks,

Seventeen Indian migrant workers have been sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), after an unfair trial, for the murder of a Pakistani national.Some of the 17 are said to have been tortured to make them “confess.” They may be at risk of further torture.

• Document type Legal Representation
• Themes list Networks,

The report depicts the prisonners convicted of ordinary crimes’s treatment in Iran

• Document type Article
• Themes list Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Torture,