“The Penalty” is now on Amazon Prime Video
August 2, 2019
The acclaimed documentary is now on Amazon’s video streaming platform.
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“When we focus on revenge instead of healing, we never heal”
July 31, 2019
In 1986, my 70-year-old mother was asleep in her own bed when a teenaged neighbor broke into her home, raped her, and then beat her
Federal government to resume executions after 16-year hiatus
July 26, 2019
The Department of Justice announced today that it has scheduled five executions in December and January; the first federal executions since 2003. “The federal death
The “paradigm shift” in California’s death penalty
July 12, 2019
Death penalty lawyer and DPF board member Robert M. Sanger believes that the moratorium Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in March created “a paradigm shift in
ACLU’s report on Los Angeles DA Jackie Lacey’s shameful death penalty record
July 11, 2019
“In Los Angeles County, which is known as a bastion of progressivism, we have a system that is churning out more death sentences than any
Mississippi DA says Flowers will be tried again
July 11, 2019
Three weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 2010 conviction of Curtis Flowers, who has been tried six times for a 1996 quadruple murder
1,500 executions; 166 exonerations
July 11, 2019
Two milestones were reached in June, starkly illustrating how broken the death penalty in the United States is. In North Carolina, prosecutors formally dismissed all
In brief: July 2019
July 11, 2019
New Mexico closed its death row late last month. The last two condemned prisoners, Timothy Allen and Robert Fry, had their sentences vacated by the
While we’re on the subject . . .
July 11, 2019
In his chapter, “Capital Punishment,” in the American Bar Association’s The State of Criminal Justice 2019, Ronald J. Tabak reviews significant developments through the past
ACLU report: “All of the 22 people who received death sentences while DA Lacey has been in office are people of color.”
June 18, 2019
A report published today by the ACLU, “A Closer Look at Los Angeles County’s Troubling Death-Penalty Track Record,” finds that under LA District Attorney Jackie
“It’s not over”
June 14, 2019
Early last month, a small group of California district attorneys organized what it called a “Victims of Murder Justice Tour” in a few cities around
Study: The death penalty means higher taxes, fewer government services
June 14, 2019
“I have no reason to believe government officials are deliberately hiding the way they pay for capital trials, but I do believe taxpayers in death
Ed Asner
September 7, 2021
Death Penalty Focus lost a dear friend and one of its most loyal supporters last week. Actor, activist, and all-around good guy, Ed Asner, died late last month at his home in Los Angeles. He was 91.
Oklahoma seeks execution dates for seven men
September 7, 2021
Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor has tentatively scheduled executions for seven men in five months, starting in October and continuing into February. If carried out, they will be the first executions in the state since 2015.
Two criminal Justice Reform Bills on Hold in CA Legislature
September 7, 2021
Two bills that would go a long way toward reforming California’s seriously flawed criminal justice systems are on hold until January.
CA Supreme Court upholds flawed death penalty system
September 7, 2021
When the California Supreme Court, late last month, upheld a state law that does not require a unanimous jury vote when sentencing a defendant to death, it not only disappointed many criminal justice advocates it surprised them as well.
California Supreme Court Upholds Flawed Death Sentencing System
August 27, 2021
“We are disappointed the Court didn’t take this step to address one of the many serious flaws in California’s capital punishment system,” Death Penalty Focus Board Chair Sarah Sanger stated. “The Court could have taken a big step toward confronting a deeply biased death penalty system.”
Read DPF’s statement here regarding the disappointing decision announced by the CA Supreme Court today.
DPF welcomes an Interim Executive Director
August 11, 2021
“After the execution of 13 federal prisoners by the Trump administration last year, we knew we had to redouble our efforts to abolish the death
While we’re on the subject . . .
August 9, 2021
In “The Trump Executions,” in a University of Texas Law, Public Law Research Paper, Lee Kovarsky analyzes the Trump Administration’s killing spree from July 2020 to January
In Brief: August 2021
August 9, 2021
In California, a 22-year-old man who pleaded guilty to a fatal shooting at a San Diego synagogue in April 2019 will be sentenced to life
Pew Poll shows decline in support for the death penalty
August 9, 2021
Support for the death penalty declined to 60% from 2020 when 65% were in favor, although a majority of Americans still support capital punishment “despite
