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Veteran 6th Circuit Judge Decries Costs of Fundamentally Flawed Death Penalty
Reflecting on his 30 years as judge hearing death penalty cases on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Judge Boyce M. Martin, Jr. wrote in an opinion released today that capital punishment in this country remains "arbitrary, biased, and so fundamentally flawed at its very core that it is beyond repair." Judge Martin went on to state: "The system's deep flaws and high costs raise a simple but important question: is the death penalty worth what it costs us?" Citing empirical studies concerning the costs of the death penalty, Judge Martin then persuasively demonstrated that the costs of continuing to prop up this broken system are enormous and unsustainable. Judge Martin's opinion, a concurrence he wrote in a case styled Wiles v. Bagley, may be found here: http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/09a0147p-06.pdf

Kennedy v. Louisiana
The CPP filed an amicus curiae brief in this case where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that imposition of the death-penalty for non-homicide child rape violates the Eighth Amendment. The CPP’s brief demonstrated that the use of the death penalty for rape historically has been riddled with racial bias. CPP’s director John Holdridge was the architect of the strategy used to fight the statute in another Louisiana case.
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Kennedy v. Louisiana
The CPP filed an amicus curiae brief in this case where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that imposition of the death-penalty for non-homicide child rape violates the Eighth Amendment. The CPP’s brief demonstrated that the use of the death penalty for rape historically has been riddled with racial bias. CPP’s director John Holdridge was the architect of the strategy used to fight the statute in another Louisiana case.
> Amicus
> Case Profile

Florida to Explore Modifications to Lethal Injection
Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida has established a commission to explore modifications to Florida's lethal injection protocols following the botched execution of Angel Diaz on December 13, 2006. The governor's order imposes a moratorium on all new death penalty warrants until after the commission's final recommendations have been submitted and revisions to the Department of Corrections protocols have been revised.
Read Gov. Bush's executive order >> (Off-site Link)

Unnecessary Pain Inflicted on Angel Diaz During Lethal Injection
A death row inmate who had argued that Florida's execution procedures were cruel hung on for much longer than usual after his lethal injection Wednesday evening, once again calling into question the way the state kills condemned prisoners.
Read more >> (Off-site Link)

China's Highest Court Will Reportedly Change Its Death Penalty Law
On October 31, 2006, the Associated Press reported that China's highest court will start reviewing all capital punishment cases that result in death sentences. Human rights activists expressed hope the country will reduce the number wrongly convicted people being executed by arbitrarily imposed death sentences imposed by lower courts. To date, there has been no debate about abolishing capital punishment in China.
Read more >> (Off-site Link)

California Still the Highest Spender on the Death Penalty; New Mexico Abolishes (03/18/2009)
SAN FRANCISCO—New Mexico will become the 15th state in the U.S. to replace the death penalty with the effective alternative of permanent imprisonment. While states across the country reconsider the death penalty in light of its high costs and failure to provide any benefit, California continues to spend even more money on the most dysfunctional death penalty in the country. New Mexico is the first western state to end its death penalty, with Montana and Colorado also reviewing their death penalty systems. Kansas has also introduced legislation to end death sentences.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson Takes Bold Step By Abolishing Death Penalty (03/18/2009)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today praised New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson for signing a bill abolishing the death penalty in New Mexico and replacing it with a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

ACLU Urges New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson To Sign Bill Abolishing Death Penalty (03/16/2009)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today called on New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to sign a bill passed last week by the New Mexico state Senate that would repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

ACLU Commends New Mexico Legislature on Passing Bill to Abolish the Death Penalty (03/12/2009)
SANTA FE — Today, legislation replacing the death penalty with life in prison without parole (HB 285) sponsored by Democrat Gail Chasey, of Bernalillo County, passed the New Mexico Legislature. The bill cleared its final hurdle in the State Senate today by a vote of 24 to 18. The House voted 40 to 28 in favor of HB 285 on February 11, 2009. The bill now goes to the Governor’s desk for his consideration.

The Tennessee Death Penalty Study Committee Considers Final Report: Committee Members Urge Action (02/18/2009)
Nashville, TN - Following the last meeting of the Tennessee Death Penalty Study Committee on Thursday, February 19, several members of the Committee will hold a press conference in Room 31 to urge both the legislature and Governor to take further action. Committee members including Charles Strobel, Bill Redick, Richard McGee, Isaiah "Skip" Gant, Sita Diehl, and Lorna McClusky urge the Tennessee General Assembly to adopt legislative initiatives being introduced and to pursue further study on those issues not fully addressed by the Committee.

The Persistent Problem of Racial Disparities in the Federal Death Penalty (06/25/2007)

Death Penalty Calendar 2004 (07/14/2004)

Summary of "Broken Justice: The Death Penalty in Virginia" (03/19/2004)
2-page summary of ACLU's 2003 report on the death penalty in Virginia

Broken Justice: The Death Penalty in Virginia (02/10/2004)

State-by-state breakdown of executions and exonerations (02/06/2004)

Kennedy v. Louisiana - ACLU and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Amicus Brief (02/21/2008)

Baze v. Rees - ACLU Amicus Brief (11/07/2007)

A letter of the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty requesting to halt the execution of William Castillo by lethal injection (10/12/2007)

Danforth v. Minnesota - ACLU Amicus Brief (07/17/2007)

Uttecht v. Brown - ACLU Amicus Brief (03/28/2007)

ACLU Letter to the House Judiciary Committee Regarding H.R. 5040, the Death Penalty Reform Act of 2006 (03/29/2006)

ACLU Letter to House Judiciary Committee Voicing Opposition to H.R. 3060, Terrorist Death Penalty Enhancement Act of 2005 (06/30/2005)

Sign-On Letter to Senators Specter and Leahy Regarding Senate Judiciary Mark up of S. 155, The Gang Prevention And Effective Deterrence Act of 2005 (06/30/2005)

ACLU Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Urging Opposition to the Capital Sentencing Provisions in S. 1735, the Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act of 2003 (04/28/2004)

ACLU Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Urging Opposition to the Capital Sentencing Provisions in S. 1735, the Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act of 2003 (04/28/2004)

Capital Punishment in the United States (05/30/2008)
Submission to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights following UN General Assembly resolution 62/149 Entitled “Moratorium on the use of the death penalty” adopted in December 2007.

End the Death Penalty: Statement of John Holdridge, Director, ACLU Capital Punishment Project (06/14/2007)

Off-Site Resources for News and Information on Capital Punishment (01/25/2007)

Add the Death Penalty Counter to Your Page (11/29/2005)

Texas Department of Criminal Justice Unit Classification Procedure (07/01/2005)

Kennedy v. Louisiana (02/21/2008)
Whether a state may constitutionally impose the death penalty for the rape of a child. DECIDED

Baze v. Rees (11/07/2007)
Whether Kentucky's lethal injection protocol violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment by using a combination of drugs that creates an unnecessary and avoidable risk of excruciating pain. DECIDED

Danforth v. Minnesota (07/17/2007)
Whether a state can permit an inmate to raise constitutional claims in state post-conviction proceedings that would be barred in federal habeas proceedings. DECIDED

Uttecht v. Brown (03/28/2007)
Reviewing whether the state courts improperly excluded a prospective juror in a death penalty case after he indicated that future dangerousness was a relevant consideration but that he would, in any event, follow the law as instructed by the judge. DECIDED

Lawrence v. Florida (09/14/2006)
Reviewing whether, and under what circumstances, the one year deadline for filing a federal habeas petition can be subject to "equitable tolling." DECIDED