SCHR: Death Penalty, Useful Links

  • American Bar Association - Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project
    This project of the Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section of the ABA provides information regarding the American Bar Association's call for a moratorium on executions due to inadequate legal representation, racial bias, the execution of the mentally ill and children, and other deficiencies in the way the death penalty is now being imposed, and developments in efforts to bring about a moratorium.
  • American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation Project
    The Project administers an on-line confidential practice area for capital defense attorneys.  This site contains sample pleadings, including all successful "Ineffective Assistance of Counsel" cases, jurisdictional statements from a number of death penalty states, a comprehensive library, and a training and events calendar.
  • Amnesty International
         Includes reports, facts and statistics on capital punishment throughout the world.
  • California Appellate Project
    Excellent resource for attorneys representing death row inmates on direct appeal and in state habeas corpus proceedings.  In order to access the site, you must register and verify that you are currently representing death row inmates.
  • Canadian Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
    Information-packed site about death row inmates, clemency campaigns, and innocence claims.
  • Capital Defense Weekly
    This site contains the current and archived issues of Capital Defense Weekly, a comprehensive round-up of the week's death penalty law developments and execution information, as well as other news about the death penalty.  The site also has several useful links and resources, and an option to subscribe for free to the weekly so that it is emailed to you each week.
  • Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
    Contains one of the best listings of ongoing anti-death penalty events throughout the nation.
  • Clark County Indiana Prosecutor
    This pro-death penalty site has an extensive catalogue of resources and web links on both sides of the issue.
  • Death Penalty Information Center
    Contains an extensive collection of information regarding the death penalty such as which states have capital punishment, the number of people on death row in each state, exonerations of people who were sentenced to death, executions by state, imposition of the death penalty upon those who were children at the time of the crime or the mentally regarded, as well as current developments and links to many other sources of information.  Now includes a searchable database with detailed information about all U.S. executions in the modern era.
  • Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama
    The Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama is a private, nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system.  EJI represents many of the men on Alabama's Death Row.
  • Federal Capital Defense Counsel - Habeas Assistance Project
    This site is maintained by the Federal Defense Counsel Project, which assists people facing federal death penalty trials, and the Habeas Assistance and Training Project, which assists people representing the condemned in post-conviction proceedings. It includes materials such as an overview of the federal death penalty trial process, summaries of court opinions, statutes, briefs, and matters pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Georgia Capital Defender Office
    The Georgia Capital Defender Office serves as a trial resource center for attorneys handling death penalty cases in Georgia. The Office is available in every capitally charged felony case to serve as a resource and to provide consultation to locally appointed counsel.
  • Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
         GFADP is a state-wide grassroots coalition of individuals and organizations united to abolish the death penalty in Georgia and around the world.
  • Hands Off Cain
    Excellent international anti-death penalty site.
  • Illinois State Appellate Defender 
    The best place to go for Seventh Circuit death penalty information.
  • Innocence Project of the National Capital Region
    The site provides access to information about our Project, innocence news, upcoming events, case updates, volunteer opportunities, links and online donations.
  • Justice Center at University of Alaska
    This site contains a good deal of general information and internet links about the death penalty.
  • Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy
    Many valuable resources for capital practitioners, particularly in Kentucky.
  • Louisiana Indigent Defense Board
    This site contains a large collection of pretrial motions for capital cases.
  • Missouri Public Interest Litigation Clinic
    Good collection of post-conviction motions, pleadings, and clemency petitions.
  • Moratorium Now! / Equal Justice USA
  • Murder Victims Family for Reconciliation
    Murder Victims Family for Reconciliation is a national organization of family members of both homicide and state killings who oppose the death penalty, advocate for programs and policies that reduce the rate of homicide and promote crime prevention and alternatives to violence and supports programs that address the needs of victims, helping them to rebuild their lives.
  • Murder Victims Families for Human Rights
  • Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights is an international, non-governmental organization of family members of victims of criminal murder, terrorist killings, state executions, extrajudicial assassinations, and “disappearances” working to oppose the death penalty from a human rights perspective. 
  • National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
    NACDL, founded in 1958, with more than 10,400 direct members and 80 state and local affiliate organizations with another 28,000 members, is the preeminent organization in the United States advancing the mission of the nation's criminal defense lawyers to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or other misconduct.  Its website includes information on continuing legal education programs that it conducts regularly, indigent defense news, information and legislation affecting the criminal justice system, resources for lawyers, and other topics.  The site is designed as both an open forum for the discussion of criminal justice policies and practice as well as a private online service for members of NACDL.
  • National Coalition Against the Death Penalty
    Contains good information about ongoing legislative drives, as well as up-to-date information on impending executions.
  • New York State Defender Association
    Great resource for criminal defense and capital litigation in the Northeast.
  • Other Side of the Wall
    A wonderful and expansive website devoted to prisoners and prison issues, including articles, features, inmate artwork and writings, and prison news.
  • Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA)
    PJA is a national membership organization dedicated to the Jewish traditions of pursuing peace, promoting equality and diversity, and ensuring social and economic justice in the United States, Israel, the Middle East, and throughout the world.  One of PJA's highest priorities is establishing a moratorium on the death penalty in California.
  • The Sentencing Project
         The Sentencing Project is an independent source of criminal justice policy analysis, data and program information for the public and policy makers.
  • Texas Defender Service
    Excellent resources for lawyers fighting the death penalty in Texas.

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