NEWS RELEASE
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Contact: 
Lorri Montgomery
Director of Communications
National Center for State Courts
757.259.1525
lmontgomery@ncsc.dni.us

Study Looks at Death Penalty Cases in U.S. District Courts

Williamsburg, VA (Sept. 24, 2007) – A collaborative study between the National Center for State Courts and Vanderbilt University Law School provides the most recent empirical information on the impact of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), passed following the Oklahoma City bombing. Congress passed the act in an effort to deter terrorism, expedite justice for victims, and reform death penalty case processing by limiting the number and timing of appeals and other changes. 

With funding by the National Institute of Justice, the study group set out to examine if the right to habeas corpus – the right to petition for the formal written order to seek relief from unlawful detention – had been impacted by AEDPA. Their analysis shows that AEDPA has, in fact, had mixed effects. Since AEDPA was enacted, case processing is slower, and fewer petitions are granted.  Researchers analyzed nearly 2,400 noncapital cases randomly selected from all noncapital habeas cases file by state prisoners in federal district court during 2003 and 2004, as well as 368 capital cases started in 2000, 2001, and 2002 in the 13 districts with the highest volume of capital filings (that collectively account for more than 60 percent of the capital habeas filings nationwide).

      Representative findings include: 

  • Of capital cases, 4 percent were dismissed as time-barred under AEDPA’s statute of limitations (i.e., missed filing deadline), compared to 22 percent of non-capital cases. Cases with time-barred claims took 47 - 112 percent more days to finish than cases not time-barred.      

  • Non-capital cases have averaged 11.5 months in federal court; capital cases have averaged 3.1 years.

  • Each capital habeas filing appears to be taking at least twice as long to finish, on average, than prior to AEDPA (15 months pre-AEDPA vs. 3.1 years post-AEDPA).

  • Results from the study challenge proposed regulations from the Department of Justice that would fast-track processing of capital cases in qualified states. Once standards for providing attorneys to death row inmates in state court are met, the federal trial court would have to finish its capital case review in just 450 days – in sharp contrast to the 3.1 years.

  • Federal courts were much more likely to overturn the conviction or sentence of an inmate on death row compared to other prisoners. 

The full report is available at http://law.vanderbilt.edu/article-search/article-detail/download.aspx?id=1639  

The National Center for State Courts, headquartered in Williamsburg, VA, was founded in 1971 by court leaders and with the support of Chief Justice Warren E. Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court. 

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National Center for State Courts, 300 Newport Avenue, Williamsburg, VA  23185-4147