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Death Penalty

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3242 people in the United States currently are under a death sentence. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 1266 men, women, children, and mentally ill people have been shot, hanged, asphyxiated, lethally injected, and electrocuted by States and the federal government.

Mounting evidence shows that innocent people have been sentenced to death and that serious legal errors infect the administration of capital punishment. For every eight people executed in this country, one innocent person on death row has been identified and exonerated. In response to growing concerns about reliability, many states have suspended executions or experienced a decline in the use of capital punishment, but most southern states have continued to condemn and execute large numbers of people who disproportionately are poor and racial minorities.

Alabama currently has 198 men and women on its death row. Alabama sentences more people to death per capita than any other state, due in part to elected judges who are allowed to override a jury’s verdict of life. Alabama is the only state in the country that allows elected state court judges to override jury verdicts of life imprisonment and impose death sentences without strict limiting standards. About 21% of the people on Alabama's death row received a life verdict that was overridden by a trial judge.

Alabama is also the only state in the country without a state-funded program to provide legal assistance to death row prisoners. Over half of the people currently under sentence of death in Alabama were represented at trial by appointed counsel whose compensation for trial preparation was capped by law at just $1000.

News

Jimmy Carter Calls for End to Death Penalty

May 7, 2012

In an editorial in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jimmy Carter explains the "overwhelming ethical, financial, and religious reasons to abolish the death penalty." The former President and founder of The Carter Center notes that the tide of public opinion has been steadily turning against capital punishment, with a solid majority of Americans now preferring an alternative punishment to the death penalty.

Federal Court Orders Additional Review in Alabama Death Penalty Case

May 2, 2012

EJI has won relief for Vernon Madison based on a claim that the prosecutor illegally excluded African Americans from serving on Mr. Madison's jury.

Connecticut Abolishes the Death Penalty

April 25, 2012

Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed into law today a bill that repeals the death penalty, making his state the 17th state — the 5th in five years — to abolish capital punishment.

Court Bans Death Penalty Under Racial Justice Act in North Carolina

April 20, 2012

Judge Greg Weeks

Cumberland County Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks this morning vacated Marcus Robinson's death sentence after finding that highly reliable evidence proves North Carolina prosecutors have intentionally discriminated against African Americans in selecting capital juries. The groundbreaking ruling follows the state's first evidentiary hearing under the Racial Justice Act, which requires that courts enter a life sentence for any death row defendant who proves that race was a factor in the imposition of the death penalty.

Former Alabama Death Row Prisoner is Free

April 10, 2012

Larry Smith was released from jail on Friday after serving more than 17 years on death row. He has maintained his innocence since his arrest and conviction in 1996. His capital murder conviction and death sentence were overturned in 2010 when an appellate court found that his verdict was unreliable because his trial lawyer did not adequately represent him. Last week, Mr. Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery, was sentenced to time served, and walked out of jail a free man.

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