Suggested Readings

• New evidence suggests a 1989 execution in Texas was a case of mistaken identity.
• 'I didn't do it. But I know who did'
- New evidence suggests a 1989 execution in Texas was a case of mistaken identity.
• A phantom or the killer?
- A prosecutor said Carlos Hernandez didn’t exist. But he did, and his MO fit the crime.
• The secret that wasn't
- Violent felon bragged that he was real killer.
• Sidebar: A prosecutor's silence
- Co-prosecutor knew of Hernandez. He now says he should have told his partner
• Editorial: Death in Texas
• The case of Ruben Cantu - did Texas execute an innocent man?
  • Did Texas execute an innocent man? - Eyewitness says he felt influenced by police to ID the teen as as the killer.
  • Wounded officer key to sentence - Attempts to discredit star witness failed at trial.
  • Vow of silence blamed for ultimate penalty - Executed man's co-defendant says years of guilty have led him to try to clear his friend's name.
  • Brother speaks up - Man says if he'd been asked to testify, he might have saved Cantu.
  • Death penalty doubts - The case of Ruben Cantu may provide the smoking gun capital punishment opponents have sought in Texas: the execution of an innocent man.

• Death penalty getting costly in Mississippi

• The Birmingham News has an epiphany - A series of editorials explaining why they can no longer support the death penalty.
  • November 6, 2005 Presenting a case for life
  • November 6, 2005 A death penalty conversion
  • November 6, 2005 State's justice system does not deserve to kill
  • November 6, 2005 The debate over
  • November 7, 2005 Many murders, few executions
  • November 8, 2005 When death is on the line
  • November 8, 2005 Poor system can mean poor results
  • November 9, 2005 A question of innocence
  • November 10, 2005 No airtight case for death
  • November 11, 2005 Embracing a culture of life
  • Graphics
    • States with death penalty study commissions
    • Capital murder through the court
    • Lethal locales
    • Names of the 188 people on Alabama's Death Row
    • Death penalty poll
    • Murders vs. executions
    • Murder rates
    • Death sentence qualifications
    • The death penalty in black and white
    • Murder by numbers

   

  Sr. Helen Prejean, The Pope, and the Death Penalty.

• Editorial: Change of heart
  A lawmaker listened - and learned - on the death penalty. State Rep. Maxwell Sargent was as surprised as anyone to find himself making a speech for repeal of the death penalty. He had addressed the House only twice before in eight years. And he had always voted for the death penalty, not against it. (From the Concord Monitor)

 

• "Texas is the Capital of Capital Punishment,
  so when the former head of the state prison board raises doubts about it, that's probably worth further discussion."
  From the Dallas Morning News

 

• A recent editorial from the Arizona Republic
  Since when does a prisoner decide his or her own punishment? Only when it's convenient for politicians! Read on!

 

• A Voice From the "Dead Zone."
  How the death penalty re-victimizes murder victims families.

 

• "Politics, money, and a simple sense of fairness"
  The following two articles should give you a sense of the system with regard to the politics of money and geography. There is much more which could be said, but we thought these in particular are quite telling.

 

• Judge Kogan's Speech 10/23/9
  "In the last 40 years, I have participated either as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney or a trial judge or as an appellate judge on the Supreme Court in the disposition of more than 1200 capital cases. I don't know of anyone else in the State of Florida who has that kind of experience or, for that matter, that kind varying type of experience. So, when I speak to you, I speak to you based upon what, I hope, has been those things I have learned in the last 40 years."

 

• Statement on the Federal Death Penalty
  Abolition Act of 1999
  Wisconsin Senator Feingold recently introduced a bill to abolish the federal death penalty. To anyone concerned about good public policy, his remarks should be a wake-up call.

 

• "The Wrong Man," An Atlantic Monthly article on wrongful convictions.
  The prospect that innocent people will be executed in America is horrifyingly likely, the author argues in this unsparing report on the criminal-justice system. Police officers and prosecutors have suppressed evidence. Many public defenders are incompetent. And the appeals process is becoming more difficult.