The number of innocent defendants released from death row has increased in recent years. Between 1973 and October, 1993, an average of 2.75 innocent defendants were released. Since then, the average has increased to 5 releases per year.
Prosecutors Hid Evidence From Death Row Defendant
12/11/2003 Edward Lazaruse FindLaw
The Supreme Court Considers An Appalling Case Where Prosecutors Hid Evidence From the Death Row Defendant, and Knowingly Presented Perjured Testimony Against Him
Questioning The Myth Of a Painless Execution
12/11/2003 Alberta Phillips Austin American-Statesman
The American Veterinary Medical Association several years ago condemned use of pancuronium bromide to euthanize animals, saying it was inhumane. It is used to execute humans.
Rare Reprieve
08/12/2003 Houston Chronicle
Paul Colella swaps death sentence for 20 years. Uncommon reprieve would enable him to gain freedom in nine years.
I Will Not Stand For It!
01/11/2003 Illinois Governor George Ryan
Text of the Governor's Speech at Northwestern University College of Law commuting the sentences of all death row inmates.
She Would Have Been Fifty-Seven Next Month
08/26/2002 G. William Troxler, Ph.D.
Nancy Clutter died in the millisecond it took for a load of buckshot to vaporize much of her brain and blow off her face.
European Women Marry U.S. Death Row Inmates
08/01/2002 Alan Elsner, National Correspondent Reuters News Services
Marriages between condemned men in America and women from Germany and the Scandinavian countries, where opposition to the U.S. death penalty is strong, seem to be particularly common.
God's Justice and Ours
06/25/2002 Antonin Scalia, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Remarks given at a conference sponsored by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life justifying the Death Penalty.
Death Only By Juries, High Court Says
06/24/2002 Associated Press
Supreme Court Rules Juries, Not Judges, Must Make Decision to Impose Death Penalty.
Executions of Retarded Ruled Unconstitutional
06/20/2002 Associated Press
Supreme Court finds executing mentally retarded violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Who Gets the Death Penalty?
05/13/2002 Bob Herbert New York Times
We're very selective with the death penalty. Only certain types qualify. Which stands the whole idea of equity and justice on its head.
America's Death-Penalty System Is Broken
05/05/2002 Ray Krone (Freed Death Row Inmate)
Ray Krone was sentenced to death in Arizona for the murder of a female bartender a decade ago. He was the 100th Death Row Inmate exonerated by DNA evidence.
The Death Penalty; Another Form Of Ethnic Cleansing
04/26/2002 Gary Johnson (Death Row Inmate)
Blacks make up 45% of the jail and prison population, yet only make up 12% of the total U.S. population.
The Death Penalty's Cloudy Future
04/26/2002 Andrew Cohn CBSNews.com Legal Analyst
A look at some recent events that may change the way the courts view the death penalty.
100 Death-Penalty Mistakes And Counting
04/16/2002 Leonard Pitts, Jr. Jewish World Review
A few words about 100 people who were not killed.
Death Is Different
04/10/02 New York Times
Mr. Krone was the 100th innocent man nearly put to death in this country since 1973.
Wake-Up Call
04/04/2002 Bobby Ray Hopkins (Death Row Inmate)
Close your mouth, but open your ears, hearts and minds to what I am saying.
Pa. Case Model For Death Penalty Foes
03/28/2002 Todd Richissin Baltimore Sun
Defense fumbled, prosecutors cheated in '98 trial.
Victim Impact Statement . . . We Need To See All Sides.
02/23/2002 Hector Black
All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.
A Letter From A Death Row Inmate's Sister
02/22/2002 Theresa Rosillo
It is inhumane and cruel what the states do to their own citizens.
Comdemned Make Restitution
01/30/2002 Restitution Incorporated
Death Row Inmate Artists, desiring to make restitution for their crimes, have made their second cash distribution to family members of murder victims and charitable organizations.
Witness to an Execution
01/25/2002 Michael Ross
The spiritual advisor to a condemned prisoner writes about how an execution reveals the lies that underscore capital punishment.
Inmate Says Texas Death Row Is a Living Hell
01/07/2002 Alan Elsner Reuters News Service
Anti-death penalty advocates say 447 men are held in unending solitary confinement, given rotten food to eat, deprived of sleep and often subjected to salvos of pepper spray by guards.
Florida Death Row Inmate To Be Released After 17 Years
01/03/2002 Vickie Chachere Associated Press
The 99th death row inmate to be freed nationwide since 1973.
Life After Death
11/14/2001 Blake R. Pirtle (Former Death Row Inmate)
You want to step into my world; It’s a sicopsychotic state of bliss. You've been delayed in the real world. How many times have you hit and missed? Your cat-scan shows disfiguration, I wanna laugh myself to death. With a misfired. . . . . .
Convicted Killer Is Executed In N.C. Despite His Lawyer's Heavy Drinking
08/31/2001 Jeffrey Gettleman Los Angeles Times
Attorney drank nearly a pint of rum per day during capital case.
The Wrong Men On Death Row
This article was orginally written in November 1998 U.S. News
A growing number of bad convictions challenges the death penalty's fairness.
Death Penalty Links and Resources
