May
14

Virginia Death Sentences: Trending Down

va_sent_yrThis graph from the Death Penalty Information Center shows Virginia’s trend in new death sentences from 1994 to 2012. Data prior to 2011 come from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ annual report on capital punishment. 2011 and 2012 data are from DPIC’s research. See all state death sentences by year here.

In Virginia, there are currently eight people on death row, there has been one execution in the past year and a half (there were 13 in 1999 alone), and there have been fewer death sentences in the past five years than during any period since the 1970s.  There are several explanations for this trend:  declining murder rates, more effective representation from public defenders and prosecutors being less likely to seek, and juries being less likely to impose, a death sentence.  As the public learns how the capital punishment system actually works – especially its fallibility and perceived unfairness – imposing an irreversible penalty becomes increasingly less acceptable.

May
12

MSNBC – Escaping death: Exonerated man vindicated as Maryland repeals death penalty

, @MeredithLClark

12:58 PM on 05/11/2013

When Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed a bill repealing the death penalty in the state, it must have felt like vindication to Kirk Bloodsworth.

In 1985, Bloodsworth was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Maryland. That was until eight years later when he became the first U.S. death row prisoner to be exonerated by DNA evidence. In Bloodsworth’s initial trial, five eyewitnesses positively identified him for allegedly killing and assaulting a nine-year-old girl. He successfully appealed his conviction but was sentenced to life in prison at a new trial; he later received a full pardon in December of 1993.

Since 1973, 142 people have been exonerated and freed from death row. More than 1,300 have been put to death since 1976, and there are currently more than 3,000 people awaiting execution.

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Apr
25

Christian Science Monitor Op-Ed: A pragmatic case for repeal

Death penalty: A pragmatic case for repeal

Momentum in the states is shifting toward the repeal of the death penalty. There are practical reasons for this: The death penalty is expensive, it does not work, and it is administered with a clear racial bias. Repealing it is a matter of justice, public safety, and effective governance.

By Benjamin Todd Jealous, Martin O’Malley / April 24, 2013

Kirk Bloodsworth, left, the first American sentenced to death row who was exonerated by DNA, and NAACP President Ben Jealous celebrate in the House gallery after the Maryland General Assembly approved the repeal of the death penalty in Annapolis, Md., March 15. Op-ed contributors Mr. Jealous and Gov. Martin O’Malley write: ‘Most troubling is the very real possibility that an innocent person can be put to death.’
Patrick Semansky/AP/file

Annapolis, Md.

Next month Maryland will become the sixth state in six years to abolish the death penalty. The Free State is the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to repeal capital punishment, and we believe that other states will soon follow.

There are practical reasons why momentum is steadily shifting toward repeal: The death penalty is expensive, it does not work, and it is administered with a clear racial bias. Repealing it is a matter of justice, a matter of public safety, and a matter of effective governance.

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