Home : Death Penalty : Unequal Justice

Don't Kill in Our Names (06/09/2003)
Murder victims who oppose the death penalty often have a tough time being heard. But a new book that profiles 10 such people may change that.

ACLU Praises Supreme Court Refusal of 'Sleeping Lawyer' Case As 'Acknowledgment and Reminder' of Death Penalty Problems (06/03/2002)
NEW YORK - This morning the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Texas authorities who claimed that a man received adequate representation from a lawyer who slept through portions of his trial, which was tainted with anti-gay bias.

Discarded Abu-Jamal Death Sentence More Proof of Death Penalty System Plagued By Ineffective Counsel, ACLU Says (12/18/2001)
WASHINGTON--Today's decision by U.S. District Judge William Yohn to throw out Mumia Abu-Jamal's death sentence due to improper courtroom procedure underscores the point that our nation's death penalty system is riddled with flaws. 

ACLU Urges Congress to Ensure Competent Counsel in Death Penalty Cases; Says Tragic Examples Demonstrate Flaws in Current System (06/27/2001)
WASHINGTON -- Citing numerous examples of incompetent counsel in recent death penalty cases and inequities in the imposition of capital punishment in America, the American Civil Liberties Union called upon Congress today to ensure effective legal representation for all defendants facing possible execution. 

ACLU Calls Upon Congress to Enact a Federal Moratorium on Executions (06/19/2001)
WASHINGTON -- In the aftermath of the second federal execution in as many weeks, the American Civil Liberties Union today urged Congress to immediately pass a moratorium on further federal executions. 

ACLU Finds Serious Flaws in Ashcroft Death Penalty Bias Report, Calls for Independent Review of Federal System (06/14/2001)
WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union said today that it has found serious substantive flaws in last week's controversial report from Attorney General John Ashcroft about racial and geographic bias in the federal death penalty system.

Citing Race and Regional Bias, Latino Leaders Join Call for Halt to Federal Executions (06/13/2001)
NEW YORK--Latino leaders are among a diverse group of prominent citizens, religious leaders and civil rights groups calling upon President Bush to halt the June 19 execution of Juan Raul Garza and declare a moratorium on all federal executions. 

ACLU Responds to the Execution of Timothy McVeigh (06/11/2001)
WASHINGTON--The execution of Timothy McVeigh today only strengthens our resolve in calling for a moratorium on federal executions in the United States. 

ACLU Finds Ashcroft Death Penalty Position Switch Remarkable and Unbelievable (06/06/2001)
WASHINGTON - In a remarkable -- and frankly unbelievable -- switch of positions, the Justice Department today said that there was no significant racial and geographic disparity in the imposition of the death penalty by the federal government. 

Groups Call for Halt to Execution (12/04/2000)
Oklahoma City, OK -- The Lesbian and Gay Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union joined several other groups today in calling on Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating to grant clemency to Wanda Jean Allen, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force reported. Allen is scheduled to to be executed on January 11, 2000.

ACLU Report Finds Washington State's Death Penalty System Fundamentally Unfair (08/04/2000)
SEATTLE -- Calling for the state to halt executions, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington today released a report revealing that Washington's death penalty system is fundamentally flawed and unfair.

ACLU Calls on Congress to Address Broad Issues Affecting Fairness of Death Penalty (07/25/2000)
Although the situation that Congress addressed today is remote at best -- there has never been a case of a pregnant prisoner facing execution -- today's vote lays the groundwork for Congress to address the more disturbing issues raised by capital punishment. 

System May Be Slowing Appeals (07/17/2000)
TALLAHASSEE, FL --Two years after the Florida Legislature implemented a system to give death penalty cases to private defense attorneys, problems are arising that suggest the effort could delay rather than streamline the death penalty process, the St. Petersburg Times reported today.

Clinton to Stay Execution of Federal Prisoner (07/10/2000)
WASHINGTON DC - The first federal execution in nearly four decades, scheduled for August 5, will be postponed by President Clinton so that the condemned man can apply for clemency under pending new guidelines. On Friday, White House spokesman Jake Siewert told reporters that Clinton will stay the upcoming execution of Juan Raul Garza, the first federal execution since 1963, so that the president will have time to review new Justice Department clemency guidelines that are expected to be released within the next week.

Texas Board's Failure to Halt Execution Of Gary Graham is Deplorable, ACLU Says (06/22/2000)
WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union deplores the decision of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to allow the execution of Gary Graham to go forward despite powerful evidence of his innocence.

Report Denounces Death Penalty in Virginia as Capricious, Unbalanced and Racially Biased (04/07/2000)
RICHMOND -- A coalition of civil rights, legal, and religious organizations joined the ACLU of Virginia today to issue a report faulting every significant aspect of the death penalty in the Commonwealth.

Gay Death Row Inmate to be Freed in Texas (03/03/2000)
Harris County, TX -- It wasn't bad enough that the prosecutor argued for execution because prison is "fun" for gay men. Calvin Burdine's conviction was finally tossed out because his lawyer slept through the defense, Planet Out reported.

Slated Release of Gay Texas Inmate Further Reveals Death Penalty's Injustice, Merits Statewide Moratorium (03/02/2000)
NEW YORK -- Citing the release of a gay man yesterday whose sexual orientation was used as a basis for sentencing him to die, the American Civil Liberties Union today called on the Governor of Texas to impose an immediate moratorium on the death penalty statewide.