Death Penalty
3279 people in the United States currently are under a death sentence. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 1185 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 202 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 any limiting standard. About 23% 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 200 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
EJI Wins Reversal for Death Row Client Jodey Waldrop
March 5, 2010On March 5, 2010, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Jodey Waldrop's conviction and death sentence, ruling that his jury improperly was allowed to consider highly prejudicial prior conviction evidence.
Alabama Supreme Court Holds Death Row Inmate Has Right to Prove His Postconviction Filing Should Be Considered
February 22, 2010Reasoning that a person who brings about a change in the law should be rewarded for his effort, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that death row inmate John Ward is entitled to a chance to prove that his state postconviction petition should be reviewed on the merits.
Eleventh Circuit Has Nation's Highest Death Sentencing Rate
February 18, 2010
New EJI data analysis shows that the Eleventh Circuit - comprised of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia - has a higher per capita death sentencing rate than any other federal circuit.
EJI Wins New Trial for Death Row Prisoner Thomas Lane
February 8, 2010The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on February 5, 2010, reversed the capital murder conviction and death sentence imposed on Thomas Lane because he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
Alabama's Disproportionately High Death Sentencing And Execution Rates At Odds With National Trend
January 29, 2010New data shows that, while other states have dramatically slowed their rates of death sentencing and executions in recent years as evidence about unreliable imposition of the death penalty has grown, Alabama's disproportinately high death-sentencing rate remains the highest in the nation.
The Death Penalty in the U.S.
Summarizing nationwide data on the death penalty.
The Death Penalty in Alabama
Facts on Alabama’s death row, judicial override, inadequate counsel, racial bias, and more.
Alabama's Disproportionately High Rate of Death Sentencing
Fact sheet showing that Alabama leads the nation in death sentencing and execution rate.
Judge Override
Information on Alabama law that permits judges to overrule jury sentencing decisions in death penalty cases.
Alabama Executions
Information about death row prisoners scheduled to be executed in Alabama and about recent executions, plus list of all executions in Alabama since the death penalty was reinstated.
"Death In Dixie"
Film featuring former First Lady Rosalynn Carter explores race and the death penalty and profiles three Alabama wrongful conviction cases. Watch the preview and purchase the DVD.
Questions of Death Row Justice For Poor People in Alabama
New York Times article on counsel for indigent capital defendants in Alabama.
Birmingham News Editorial Series on the Death Penalty in Alabama
Series of articles examining Alabama’s Death Penalty.
Birmingham News Blog: Alabama Too Often Skirts Rules in Death Penalty Cases
Gadsden Times Editorial: Execution to Death Row
Protecting Human Rights from Death
Article on the death penalty by Bryan Stevenson.
Speaking of Justice
Bryan Stevenson speaks about Maryland Commission's recommendation to abolish death penalty.