Death Penalty
Print
E-Mail
Share3279 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 203 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 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 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
Study Shows Money Influenced Judicial Elections With Alabama Spending At The Top
August 22, 2010A new study led by the Brennan Center for Justice has documented how the enormous rise in judicial campaign spending over the last decade threatens the impartiality of our nation’s courts and undermines public confidence in the justice system.
Despite Appeal from Prison Guards for Clemency, Jeff Land is Executed
August 12, 2010The State of Alabama executed Jeff Land today despite compelling evidence of his transformation into remorseful man who became a peacemaker and, according to prison guards, saved lives by helping to prevent violence and conflicts on death row.
EJI Wins Reversal for Death Row Client Mark Brown
August 2, 2010On July 30, 2010, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Mark Brown’s conviction and death sentence, ruling that the trial judge illegally instructed the jury that it could find Mr. Brown guilty of capital murder even if he did not intend to kill the victims.
Alabama Supreme Court Sets Two Execution Dates
July 23, 2010The Alabama Supreme Court has issued an order setting two execution dates: Michael Land is scheduled to be executed on August 12, 2010, and Holly Wood is scheduled to be executed on September 2, 2010.
EJI Attorneys Argue Death Penalty Case At the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
July 20, 2010EJI attorneys recently argued that the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals should order a new trial for death row prisoner Mark Brown because the judge illegally instructed the jury that it could find Mr. Brown guilty of capital murder even if he did not intend to kill the victims.
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.