Death Penalty Reform
In recent years, dozens of innocent people have been sentenced to death.
Between 1977 and 2005, more than 120 people were released from death rows in 25 states because of evidence that proved their innocence.1 For example
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, post-conviction proceedings have caused the release of one person from death row for every seven executed.
The releases were not due to a system that works—rather, many of the released proved their innocence only thanks to unpaid lawyers and activists.
At least 23 innocent people were executed in the United States during the 20th century.
There were more than 400 known cases of wrongful conviction for capital offenses in the U.S. between 1900 and 1991, according to Amnesty International. Most were upheld on appeal, and evidence that proved defendants’ innocence emerged years after sentencing. At least 23 individuals were executed before exonerating evidence surfaced.
Minority defendants are more frequently convicted in capital cases and are executed in disproportionate numbers.
A study by leading researchers on race and capital punishment, law professor David Baldus and statistician George Woodworth, revealed that the odds of receiving a death sentence are nearly four times higher if the defendant is black. The researchers obtained the results after analyzing and controlling for case differences, such as severity of the crime and background of the defendant.
While the public has supported capital punishment in theory, Americans now object to it in practice.
- Americans believe innocent people have been executed. A May 2003 Gallup poll found that 73 percent of Americans believe that an innocent person has been executed within the past five years. Only 22 percent believe no wrongful execution has happened.
- Americans strongly support a suspension of the death penalty. A March 2001 Hart Research poll found that 72 percent of the public favored “a suspension of the death penalty until questions about its fairness can be studied.” Only 20 percent were opposed.
- The same poll reported that 91 percent agreed states should “give convicted persons on death row the opportunity to have DNA tests conducted in order to prove their innocence.” Only two percent disagreed. Americans overwhelmingly believe death row inmates should have the right to use DNA testing to prove their innocence.
Federal law gives states a financial incentive to offer post-conviction DNA testing for both death row inmates and others convicted of serious crimes.
States are eligible for DNA testing grants under the federal Justice for All Act of 2004 if they allow inmates reasonable access to DNA testing in order to establish their innocence.2 Ten states (AL, AK, MA, MS, OH, OK, SC, SD, VT, WY) do not have any post-conviction DNA access law. Florida’s DNA law is scheduled to sunset in July 2006. A few other states do not qualify for DNA testing grants because their laws are not broad enough to meet the minimum requirements of the Justice for All Act.
States have implemented death penalty moratoriums.
In 2006, New Jersey became the first state to impose a moratorium on executions through legislation. Illinois Gov. George Ryan ordered the first statewide moratorium on executions in January 2000, after Illinois had executed 12 men and freed 13 innocent men from death row since reinstating the death penalty in 1976. In 2002, Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening followed suit, implementing a moratorium while a study was conducted on the fairness of sentencing practices with a specific focus on racial disparities. Glendening’s successor lifted the moratorium and executions resumed in 2004.
States have created Innocence Commissions to study wrongful convictions.
At least eight states (AZ, CA, CT, IL, NC, TX, VA, WI) have formed commissions to study the causes of and remedies for wrongful convictions. These commissions have differed widely in makeup, mandate and effectiveness. The North Carolina Actual Innocence Commission provides a good model for other states. It includes the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court, the state attorney general, prosecutors, public defenders, law professors, judges and law enforcement officials. The panel reviews mistaken convictions (usually post-conviction DNA exonerations), identifies errors, and recommends procedures to avoid mistakes in the future.
This policy brief relies in large part on information from the Innocence Project and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Endnotes
- Death Penalty Information Center, “Innocence and the Death Penalty,” 2005.
- H.R. 5107, Public Law 108-405, signed October 30, 2004.
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