President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order on the death penalty that directs the attorney general to reinstate the federal death penalty and “take all necessary and lawful action” to ensure that states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out...
Death Penalty
In Newspapers Across Montana: The death penalty saves lives and tax dollars
This piece by Dr. John Lott appeared in the Billings Gazette, Helena Independent Record, Missoulian, Montana Standard, and the Ravioli Republic, all in Montana. President Joe Biden has recently commuted death sentences to life sentences for 37 of the 40 men who are on...
At Townhall: Biden Commuting the Sentences of 37 Federal Death Row Inmates Ignores the Will of Most Americans
Dr. John Lott has a new op-ed piece at Townhall. President Biden today commuted the death sentences to life sentences for 37 of the 40 men who are on the federal government’s death row. Those spared included child killers and mass murderers. Ironically, 36 of...
At the Washington Times: If you want to deter murders, bring back the death penalty
Nikki Goeser and John Lott have a new op-ed at the Washington Times about why we need to bring back the death penalty. . Amidst the high murder rate of the last couple of years, it is little wonder that Americans support the death penalty by at least...
CPRC on Turkish TRT World’s The Newsmakers to debate the Death Penalty in the US
Dr. John Lott debated Fordham University Law School Professor Deborah Denno on Turkish television about the death penalty in the US. (Thursday, April 27, 2017)
CPRC in the News: “A Reply to The Atlantic on the Death Penalty”
John Lott's newest piece at National Review Online's The Corner replying to a piece by Andrew Cohen at the Atlantic starts this way: Death-penalty opponents are engaging in a lot of hyperbole. As an example, in the Atlantic this past Thursday, Andrew Cohen went after...
What does the research on the death penalty actually show?
The 2012 National Research Council report on "Deterrence and the Death Penalty" has a table showing only 10 panel studies on the death penalty (those shown above in plain type). No explanation is provided for why these studies are excluded. I have placed one of my...
CPRC: “Another Round in the Death-Penalty Debate,” Correcting mistakes in the Washington Post
On Sunday in the Washington Post, Radley Balko attacked a recent piece that CPRC's John Lott had on the death penalty. John Lott's piece that responds to Balko starts this way: The death-penalty debate goes on. After a piece that I wrote about the debate last week,...
CPRC at National Review: “The Shaky Case against the Death Penalty”
How far will death penalty opponents go to advance their cause? Our newest piece at National Review Online starts this way: After the recent mishandled execution in Oklahoma, in which the murderer ended up dying from a heart attack, death-penalty opponents pounced....
Is the death penalty racist? Are executions disproportionately affecting any particular race?
Data on homicide offenders by race from 1976 to 2005 is available here. After that the data is available from the annual FBI UCR reports. The bottom line is that while whites account for less than half of murderers, they are almost two-thirds of those who are...
Are there any cases where DNA evidence proves that an innocent person was put to death?
The one modern case that death penalty opponents point to that comes closest to meeting this claim involves Claude Jones Texas, who was convicted in 1989 and executed in 2000. Two pieces of evidence were involved in his trial: the testimony of two accomplice who...