DMW Statistics

Updates to Key Facts and Figures
Cited in Dead Man Walking

PLEASE NOTE: Most facts in the book have their own footnotes. Not all facts and figures cited in the book are represented here, but we believe the most relevant ones are. If you feel something is missing or should be corrected please alert us at cuadp@cuadp.org. The following information is valid as of April, 2006 and will be updated at least annually. All facts are footnoted and the footnotes typically provide a link to the best available sources for the information. We hope you find this useful.

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	Louisiana Welfare System: (Page 8)
	Police Brutality:(Page 9)
	Government Social/Prison Spending: (Page 9)
	Federal Court Review and Reversals: (Page 14)
	Law of Parties: (Page 16)
	Executions by Race/Race of Victim: (Page 43)
	Poor Inmates and the Constitutional Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel: (Page 47)
	Juvenile Executions and Race: (Page 48)
	Aggravated Rape: (Page 48)
	Court Appointed Attorneys: (Page 49)
	Southern U.S.A. Death Row Rosters and Executions Compared to the World: (Page 49)
	Murder Rate, Convictions, and Arbitrary Death Sentences: (Page 50)
	Youth and Mentally Challenged: (Page 50)
	Law of Parties: (Page 52)

	Murder Rates in States with/without the Death Penalty: (Page 110)
	Public Perception of Deterrence: (Page 110)
	Worldwide Juvenile Executions: (Page 113)
	NATO Countries and Executions: (Page 113)
	United States Population that Favors the Death Penalty: (Page 116)
	Marshall Hypothesis: (Page 117)
	Pilgrimage for Life: (Page 126)
	Cause of Deaths in the U.S. (Page 128)
	Costs of Capital Trials: (Page 129)
	Life Without Parole: (Page 142-143)
	Execution of Innocents: (Page 218-219)
	The Death Penalty and the Murder Rate in Texas: (Page 233)
	The Death Penalty and the Murder Rate in New York: (Page 233)
	The Death Penalty and the Murder Rate in Louisiana: (Page 233)
	Catholic Church Stance on the Death Penalty: (Page 54)

The average household income (over the three years from 2002 to 2004) in Louisiana was $35,523.00.¹ This State has one of the lowest graduation rates - around 74.8% of the population over 25 years have a high school diploma and only 18.7% hold a Bachelor degree or higher.²

The U.S. Census Bureau deems that around 17% of residents of Louisiana live at or below the poverty level, rendering it among the States with the highest rate of poverty.³ This is down from 19% in 1999.⁴

On average, over 700,000 people in Louisiana receives foodstamps each month ⁵ (around 15% of the population). In New Orleans approximately 62% of children live in single-parent families.⁶

In 2004, Louisiana ranked 6^th in the United States for violent crime (639 violent crimes per 100,000 population).⁷ The murder rate in New Orleans is 7.54 times the national average ⁸ and is the highest of all States.

Louisiana Welfare System: (Page 8)

How much do people make on AFDC and food stamps?

AFDC has been replaced by Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP). It is labeled “temporary” because the government no longer gives out welfare as a lifetime benefit, but instead as an “opportunity to become independent after a financial crisis.”⁹

If a family fits the necessary criteria they may earn, on average, around $652.05 through the following programs:

Name of Program	Brief Description	Criteria	Average Amt. of Funding in 2005
FITAP – Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program	Cash assistance to families with children. Goal to decrease independence on gov’t assistance.	“Low or very low income” and under or unemployed. ¹⁰	$193.95
Louisiana Food Stamp Program	Monthly benefits for low income families to help buy the food they need to be healthy.	A bank account with less than $2,000 or $3,000 if there are dependents in the household. Also cannot have an income over $11,677 (more if there are more earners in the household).	$265.94
Head Start/Early Head Start ¹¹	Assistance for young children/pregnant women providing	Annual gross income of less than $9,310 for a one earner family.	Educational, health, nutritional, and social services.
LaCHIP ¹²	Provides health care services for children up to 19 years.	Average family income of no more than about $3,067 (family of 4). Less than $17,961 for one earner in the family.	Free health services.
LIHEAP - Low Income Home Energy Assistance ¹³	Provides assistance for utility bills.	Income less than $16,317 in a one person household. Public housing residents whose energy costs are included in their rent do not qualify.	People who are responsible for their own residence may receive up to $360.00 per month. Residents in public housing who are responsible for their energy costs may receive only $50.00.
Medicaid Program ¹⁴	Provides health benefits.	Must be classified as low or very low income and must be pregnant, blind, disabled, be a caregiver to a child under 19 or be a senior.	Health Services.
Unemployment Insurance ¹⁵	Temporary financial assistance for people who are unemployed through no fault of their own.	Must have worked in Louisiana during the past 12 to 18 months, and earn a minimum standard.	Generally 50% of what you were earning while employed.

Do they receive any free medicare through these programs?

See above.

Are there any laws about companies only offering part-time jobs so they can avoid paying pensions and benefits to their employees? There are still no laws protecting employees from this unethical behavior of companies.

What was the minimum wage in Louisiana in 2005? There is no state law for minimum wage in Louisiana.¹⁶ In lieu of State standards, the Fair Labor Standards Act establishes that employees are entitled to a wage of no less than $5.15 per hour. ¹⁷ At this rate, a full-time wage earner would gross $824.00 a month before taxes.

Is government subsidized property rent proportionate to income?

Yes.
Police Brutality: (Page 9)
New Orleans Police Department is known for its brutal reputation. Human Rights Watch claims that at least 50 of the 1,400 member NOPD have been convicted of felonies including homicide, rape, and robbery. HRW rates NOPD as the most infamous in the United States. The number of complaints filed against NOPD is not available, but a report by Amnesty International states that New Orleans was in the top 5 cities in America having the highest number of police shootings between 1990 and 1997. ¹⁸ In fact, in 1996 an officer was actually convicted of hiring a hit man to kill a woman who had launched a brutality case against him.
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Government Social/Prison Spending: (Page 9)

How much is spent for prenatal and child care, low-income housing, employment training, and food subsidies? Total State spending in Louisiana was around $18,319,273,000.00 in 2005. ¹⁹ According to Rep. Tim Burns, Louisiana spends around $448 per capita on health care and is ranked one of the lowest in the nation for the quality of the health care system. ²⁰

How much was spent on new prisons? In the year 2001, $15,100,000.00 was spent on prison construction and an additional $4,423,000.00 was spent on equipment for prisons.

How many adult prisons in Louisiana? There are 12 state prisons in Louisiana, (there are an additional 98 sheriff facilities and 23 non-sheriff facilities). Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, is the largest prison in the United States with 5,108 inmates and 1,740 staff. ²¹ Fifty-two percent of the prisoners at Angola are serving life without parole sentences.²²

What is the prison population? Currently, the United States has the highest prison population in the world, with over two million people incarcerated. ²³ In Louisiana at the end of 2004 there were 36,939 prisoners. ²⁴

What is the Death Row population? Currently there are 85 people on Louisiana Death Row. 54 (64%) are black and 28 (33%) are white, and the remaining are Asian and Latino.

What percent of population is incarcerated? Louisiana’s population in 2004 was approximately 4,515,770. ²⁵ Of those, 63.9% were white, 32.5% were black, and there are 36,939 prisoners which amounts to less than 1% of the population.

Compared to other States? Louisiana consistently has the highest prison incarceration rate - in 2000, there were 801 inmates per 100,000 state residents.

What is the annual cost per inmate? In 2001, Louisiana reported one of the lowest annual operating costs in the country, at approximately $12,951.00 per inmate per year. The average cost to incarcerate one prisoner in the Federal Bureau of Prisons was $22,632.00 that year. ²⁶ Further, the total expenditures that year in Louisiana equaled $479,260,000.00 to incarcerate 35,494 prisoners.

What is the cost of prison construction? See above.

What is the cost per year (America-wide) for people incarcerated? A whopping $38.2 billion is spent each year on the U.S. correction system nowadays. ²⁷

What are the statistics of black men incarcerated to black men in total? Blacks are incarcerated at much higher rates than whites in the United States. At year-end 2004, 3,218 per 100,000 black men were incarcerated, 1,220 per 100,000 Hispanic men were incarcerated, and only 463 per 100,000 white men were incarcerated.

In 2004 6,996,500 people in the United States were either incarcerated, or on probation or parole.

Law of Parties: (Page 16)

In Louisiana the death penalty cannot be given to a defendant when he/she is not directly responsible for the murder. However, there are many states where this can happen:

[To Index]

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Indiana

Illinois

Mississippi

Montana

Nebraska

North Carolina

Oklahoma

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Wyoming

Federal Court Review and Reversals: (Page 14)
The federal courts are still reversing many death sentences. For example, according to an article posted by the Death Penalty Information Center “seven death sentences are set aside for every one carried out.” ²⁸
Executions by Race/Race of Victim: (Page 43)
Since 1976 there have been 348 black defendants and 585 white defendants executed. Of these, there were 212 black victims and 1,214 white victims. Twelve white defendants have been executed for killing a black victim and 210 black defendants have been executed for killing a white victim. In 2002 blacks were six times more likely to be murder victims than whites and seven times more likely to commit homicide than whites. ²⁹
Poor Inmates and the Constitutional Right to Effective Assistance of Counsel: (Page 47)
The cost of hiring private attorneys continues to rise. In Louisiana the rights of the accused are not highly valued, particularly regarding their right to effective assistance of counsel. In 2005, James Thomas of Baton Rouge, Louisiana was freed after 8 ½ years of incarceration without even going to trial. His court-appointed attorneys had “allowed his case to slip” likely due to being “so busy and so understaffed and underfunded.” ³⁰ In fact, the Lake Charles public defenders office has been sued by nine defendants who claim that they have had to wait for years to go to trial after they were charged with various offences. Also in Louisiana was the case of Johnny Lee Bell who was convicted of Second Degree Murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2004. Contributing to his demise, his ineffective counsel had met him for the first time only 11 minutes before the trial. ³¹
Juvenile Executions and Race: (Page 48)
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that it was cruel and unusual punishment to execute those who had committed their crimes under the age of 18 years. The last juvenile execution in Louisiana occurred on May 18, 1990.
In December, 2004 there were four juveniles on death row in Louisiana. Three were black and one was white and all of their victims were white.
Aggravated Rape: (Page 48)
In Louisiana there are only two crimes that may result in the issuance of the death penalty: first-degree murder and aggravated rape of a victim under the age of 12 years. ³²
Court Appointed Attorneys: (Page 49)
The Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board has a set of standards regarding the appointment and performance of indigent defense systems ³³; however, they are merely suggestions and have clauses that allow for the appointment of anyone with a law degree to take on cases regardless of their previous experience in trials and in the criminal courts.
For capital cases the suggested standards are as follows ³⁴:

Must be familiar with the criminal court system;

Must be a member of the Louisiana Bar Association;

Must be familiar with the use of expert witnesses;

Must complete 12 hours of training in handling capital cases (and 12 more hours every two years thereafter); and

Trial lead counsel must have previous experience in trials and have experienced at least one death penalty case.

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(All of the above requirements, however, may be waived if a District Court Judge wants to personally appoint someone).
Further to the 12 hours of training required, there is not actually any formal training offered in Louisiana c ³⁵, so the onus is on counsel to deem whether it is sufficient.
Once counsel is appointed, the onus is on that individual to provide all support services and hire (and pay for) all expert witnesses. Each of these witnesses, depending on their position and level of experience may charge thousands of dollars for reports and thousands more for court appearances. The Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board does not provide any direct funding (although there are Funds that this Board administers under separate application) for support staff and services and counsel is referred to a number of sources from which they may apply to obtain funding.
Southern U.S.A. Death Row Rosters and Executions Compared to the World: (Page 49)

State # currently on the row Rank in the U.S. # of Executions since 1976 Rank in the U.S.
Texas 409 2 362 1
Florida 388 3 60 5
Georgia 109 9 39 6
Louisiana 85 12 27 9 (tied with Arkansas)

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These four States alone hold 991 people on death row, and since 1976, have administered 448 executions.

In 2005, 23 people were executed in these four southern states, over 1/3 of the executions in the U.S. The United States ranked forth in the world for the number of executions, behind only China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia and well above the fifth ranked Pakistan who executed only eight more people than the four States listed above. ³⁶

Murder Rate, Convictions, and Arbitrary Death Sentences: (Page 50)

In 2004, an estimated 16,137 people were murdered in the United States. ³⁷ Approximately 43% of these murders occurred in the southern region of the U.S. ³⁸ That year only 125 death sentences were handed out for murders and only seven were handed out in Louisiana. ³⁹

Youth and Mentally Challenged: (Page 50)

Fortunately, in 2005 it was ruled that children are no longer executed in the United States and in 2002 the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to execute those who are mentally retarded.

Law of Parties: (Page 52)

See reference above.

Catholic Church Stance on the Death Penalty: (Page 54)

Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes, the current Archbishop of New Orleans, stated in an address given November, 2005 that in this day and age when there is an alternative of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the death penalty should not be used. He further states “since the death penalty is often meeted out unevenly and secondly, so many mistakes are being made, that it is more respectful of even a morally heinous life to respect it and provide an opportunity for us to be consistent in our respect for human life.” ⁴⁰ This opinion is shared by Catholic Bishops around the world, although not many fight for the lives of those under the sentence of death. Pope John Paul II fought against the death penalty and, in fact, made personal requests for clemency for inmates on various occasions.

Currently, 37 of the 38 States that have the death penalty also have Life Without Parole sentences (New Mexico does not). Of the 12 States that do not have the death penalty 11 of them have Life Without Parole sentences (Alaska is the only one that does not).

Murder Rates in States with/without the Death Penalty: (Page 110)

As the number of death sentences and executions in the United States per year declines, so too does the murder rate. The highest crime rate in the U.S. is in the southern region which also boasts the highest number of executions – nearly 80% of all executions in the U.S. ⁴¹ In 2004, of the States that do not use the death penalty, only Alaska and Michigan had average murder rates, the rest had significantly lower rates. The highest murder rates were in Louisiana (by far the highest at 12.7 per 100,000 people), Maryland, and New Mexico, all of them use the death penalty. ⁴²

Public Perception of Deterrence: (Page 110):

According to the latest Gallup Poll, most Americans do not believe that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. Sixty two percent believe it is not a deterrent and only 35% believe it is a deterrent. ⁴³ When asked if they could chose between the death penalty and life without the possibility of parole only 50% of those surveyed said they would favor the death penalty and 46% indicated they’d prefer life without parole.

Alarmingly, of the people who believed that the death penalty was not a deterrent, 65% still supported the death penalty.

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Worldwide Juvenile Executions: (Page 113)

Thanks to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (note: the United States is one of only three countries who are not parties to this convention ⁴⁴) most countries will not execute children. The United States ended the juvenile death penalty in 2005. However, there are still a few countries that continue to execute children including China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia. Sixteen children in these countries were reported executed since 1990, mostly in Iran. A whopping 19 juveniles were executed in the United States alone during that same time. ⁴⁵

NATO Countries and Executions: (Page 113)

There are 26 countries that make up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Of these countries the United States is still the only country that has retained capital punishment.

United States Population that Favors the Death Penalty: (Page 116)

According to a recent Gallop Poll, 71% of the United States public supports the death penalty when only 26% oppose it.

As stated above, however, when given the option of a sentence of life without the possibility of parole only 50% of the respondents declared they would prefer the death penalty.

Marshall Hypothesis: (Page 117)

The Marshall Hypothesis states that support of the death penalty would drop if the public were made more aware of the facts and processes surrounding the implementation of the death penalty. This hypothesis is still studied and supported in the United States today.

Pilgrimage for Life: (Page 126)

It appears that there is no longer a Louisiana Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, but Sister Helen Prejean founded the Moratorium Campaign which is a national coalition calling for a moratorium on executions in the United States. There are many similar organizations around the U.S.

Cause of Deaths in the U.S. (Page 128)

Assaults and homicide were deemed the 13^th highest cause of death in the United States in 2001 ⁴⁶ which rose that year from its previous ranking of 14^th highest because of the deaths resulting from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This is still well below the rate of accidental deaths like motor vehicle accidents and drowning and even suicides. Still the media shapes the public’s perception of the level of danger by emphasizing homicide as a cause of death over those more prevalent causes.

Costs of Capital Trials: (Page 129)

The cost of conducting a capital trial is staggering when compared to those of a non-capital case. Here are some examples given by the Death Penalty Information Center ⁴⁷:

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New Jersey: cost tax payers over $253 million since 1993 over and above the cost of non-capital cases (i.e. life without parole option). Further, out of the 197 capital cases tried, 60 death sentences were given, and 50 of those death sentences were later overturned.

Tennessee: death penalty cases cost about 48% more than non-capital cases.

Kansas: death penalty cases cost about 70% more than non-death penalty cases. On average the trial costs were $508,000 compared to $32,000.

Indiana: death penalty cases cost 38% more than non-death penalty cases and an average of 20% are overturned and sentenced to life.

North Carolina: spends on average $2.16 million more on a death penalty case than on a non-death penalty case.

Florida: spends about $51 million a year on death penalty cases. They estimate the cost in Florida to be about $24 million per execution (considering the low number of actual executions compared to the number of capital trials).

California: spends $90 million more annually than they would if all first-degree murders resulted in a life without parole sentence. $78 million of that cost is incurred at the trial level.

Texas: capital trials cost about three times the amount of imprisoning someone for life at the highest possible level of incarceration.

Nationwide: it is estimated that over $1.6 billion is spent annually over and above the cost that would be incurred without capital punishment.

Life Without Parole: (Page 142-143)

The following is a brief description of the state of life sentences in the U.S. Correctional System according to the Sentencing Project: ⁴⁸

One of every 11 prisoners are serving a life sentence;
One in 4 of those prisoners are serving life without the possibility of parole;
The number of lifers in prison increased 83% between 1992 and 2003;
The average life sentence is 29 years;
In six States, including Louisiana, a life sentence is automatically given without the possibility of parole;

As mentioned above, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, only two States do not have the option of life without parole.

Execution of Innocents: (Page 218-219)

In February, 2006 the 123^rd person was released from death row in the United States because of evidence of his innocence.

It is estimated that at least 20 cases that resulted in execution had overwhelming evidence of the defendant’s innocence. ⁴⁹ As cases are deemed closed once the sentence of death has been carried out this figure may be much higher but there is currently no evidence to support a factual statistic in that regard.

The Death Penalty and the Murder Rate in Texas: (Page 233)

Texas carries out more death sentences than any other State in the U.S. According to the Death Penalty Information Center the murder rate in Texas is about 6.1 per 100,000 residents. There are currently 409 people on Texas’ death row and Texas has averaged 23 executions per year over the last five years. ⁵⁰ Fortunately, the rate of executions in Texas has steadily dropped over the last five years from 33 in 2002 to only 19 in 2005. It is interesting to note that according to the National Center for Policy Analysis the Texas murder rate is now the lowest it has been since 1966. While this is a positive progression, the murder rate in Texas is still above the national average.

The Death Penalty and the Murder Rate in New York: (Page 233)

New York’s murder rate has dropped by 76.1% since 1990. ⁵¹ It is said this is likely due to a rise in the number of police officers on the NYPD in the 1990s (approximately 42% increase). ⁵² There are currently 39,110 officers in the NYPD.

Simply, the average of the murder rates in death penalty states are much higher (5.9 per 100,000 people) than the rates of those in non-death penalty states (2.9 per 100,000). ⁵³ However, if the statistics were to truly show the relation between the death penalty states and murder rates they would take into account the fact that the states that have the death penalty but use it seldom if ever (e.g. New Hampshire, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, etc.) have very low murder rates which might effect the above statistic.

The Death Penalty and the Murder Rate in Louisiana: (Page 233)

As previously mentioned, the murder rate in Louisiana is by far the highest in the country. New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) indicates that its Public Housing COPS Unit reports in the one year prior to Hurricane Katrina the crime rate increased 257.84%. Although the number of police officers in the NOPD is not currently published (likely because of the displacement of officers post-Katrina) Fox News estimates this number to be around 1,000 where Human Rights Watch claims there are around 1,400 NOPD officers. ⁵⁴

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¹ Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004, Issued August, 2005. U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p60-229.pdf accessed April 10, 2006 [back]

² Louisiana State University – Louisiana Population Data Center report, April 2005 http://www.lapop.lsu.edu/LPDC_Reports_3_Pop_of_LA.pdf accessed April 28, 2006. [back]

³ U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2003 to 2005 Annual Social and Economic Supplements. [back]

⁴ U.S. Census Bureau State and County QuickFacts – Louisiana http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22000.html accessed April 10, 2006. [back]

⁵ Louisiana Department of Social Services http://www.dss.state.la.us/Documents/OFS/fy0405_FS_SFY_Totals.pdf accessed April 28, 2006. [back]

⁶ U.S. Census Bureau, Key Indicators of Child Well-Being, 2004 http://www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=PRB&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=13074 accessed April 28, 2006. [back]

⁷ U.S. Census Bureau, Violent Crime http://www.census.gov/statab/ranks/rank21.html accessed April 28, 2006. [back]

⁸ New Orleans Crime Statistics, http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=New+Orleans&state=LA accessed April 28, 2006. [back]

⁹ Louisiana Department of Social Services http://www.dss.state.la.us/departments/ofs/Family_Independence_Temporary_.html accessed April 9, 2006. [back]

¹⁰ Gov Benefits.gov http://www.govbenefits.gov/govbenefits_en.portal?_nfpb=truelocateStateFlow_1_actionOverride=/LocateStateFlow/report locateStateFlow_1bid=1663&locateStateFlow_1_code=LA_pageLabel=gbcc_page_locate_state accessed April 15, 2006. [back]

¹¹ Louisiana Department of Social Services Head Start Collaboration Project http://www.dss.state.la.us/departments/ofs/Head_Start_Collaboration_Proje.html accessed April 15, 2006. [back]

¹² Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals LaCHIP program http://www.dhh.state.la.us/offices/?ID=119 accessed April 15, 2006. [back]

¹³ Louisiana Housing Finance Agency http://www.lhfa.state.la.us/programs/energy_assistance/low_income_energy.php Accessed April 15, 2006. [back]

¹⁴ DHH – Medicaid (Health Services Financing) http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/?id=92 accessed April 15, 2006. [back]

¹⁵ Louisiana Works – Department of Labor http://www.ldol.state.la.us/ accessed April 15, 2006. [back]

¹⁶ U.S. Department of Labor, Minimum Wage Laws in the States, March 1, 2006 http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm#Louisiana accessed April 10, 2006. [back]

¹⁷ U.S. Department of Labor, Compliance Assistance – Fair Labor Standards Act http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa/index.htm accessed April 10, 2006. [back]

¹⁸ USA: Race, Rights, and Police Brutality http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR511471999 accessed April 15, 2006. [back]

¹⁹ The Government Performance Project – Congressional Quarterly, Inc. from Governing.com http://governing.com/gpp/2005/la.htm accessed April 10, 2006. [back]

²⁰ Government Spending and Accountability http://timburns.us/issues/government-spending.html accessed on April 10, 2006. [back]

²¹ LSP General information, http://www.corrections.state.la.us/lsp/general.htm [back]

²² Ibid. [back]

²³ U.S. Department of Justice – Bureau of Justice Statistics http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm accessed April 10, 2006. [back]

²⁴ U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/data/corpop02.csv accessed April 10, 2006. [back]

²⁵ U.S. Census Bureau, State and County Quickfacts – Louisiana http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22000.html accessed April 10, 2006. [back]

²⁶ Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report – State Prison Expenditures 2001 published June, 2004 http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/spe01.pdf accessed April 10, 2006. [back]

²⁷ U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report – State Prison Expenditures 2001 published June, 2004 http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/spe01.pdf accessed April 10, 2006. [back]

²⁸ Death Sentence Reversals Cast Doubt on System by Howard Mintz, April 13, 2002 Death Penalty Information Center http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=17&did=298 [back]

²⁹ Homicide Trends in the U.S. - U.S. Bureau of Justice http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm [back]

³⁰ Chris Alexander, Attorney, as quoted in 8 Years in Louisiana Jail But He Never Went to Trial – Laura Parker, USA Today August 28, 2005 http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-29-cover-indigents_x.htm [back]

³¹ 8 Years in Louisiana Jail But He Never Went to Trial – Laura Parker, USA Today August 28, 2005 http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-29-cover-indigents_x.htm [back] ³² Crimes Punishable by the Death Penalty, Death Penalty Information Center. [back]

³³ Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board Standards http://www.lidab.com/standards.htm [back]

³⁴ Louisiana Standards on Indigent Defense, Chapter 7, Standards Relating to the Provision of Counsel to Indigents Accused of Capital Crimes http://www.lidab.com/Acrobat%20files/Capital%20Certification%20Rules.PDF [back]

³⁵ ABA Study Faults Inadequate Legal Defense Across the Country, Associated Press February, 2005 from the Death Penalty Information Center. [back]

³⁶ Executions Around the World, The Death Penalty Information Center http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=127&scid=30#interexec [back]

³⁷ Department of Justice F.B.I. Crime in the United States 2004 http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offenses_reported/violent_crime/murder.html [back]

³⁸ Ibid. [back]

³⁹ Death Sentences Decline in 2004, Death Penalty Information Center. [back]

⁴⁰ Diocesan News Briefing, November 23, 2005 from the Archdiocese of New Orleans – Department of Internet Services http://www.arch-no.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=294 [back]

⁴¹ Deterrence News and Developments, Death Penalty Information Center. [back]

⁴² Nationwide Murder Rates, Death Penalty Information Center. [back]

⁴³ Gallup Poll: Public Divided Between Death Penalty and Life Imprisonment Without Parole by David Moore, June, 2004, Death Penalty Information Center http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=23&did=1029 [back]

⁴⁴ Committee on the Rights of the Child, Amnesty International http://web.amnesty.org/pages/treaty-crc-eng [back]

⁴⁵ Execution of Juveniles in the U.S. and Other Countries, Death Penalty Information Center http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=27&did=203#execsworld [back]

⁴⁶ National Vital Statistics Report, Deaths: Final Data for 2001. [back]

⁴⁷ Financial Facts About the Death Penalty, Death Penalty Information Center http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108&scid=7#financial%20facts [back]

⁴⁸ The Meaning of “Life”: Long Prison Sentences in Context, The Sentencing Project, http://www.sentencingproject.org/pdfs/lifers.pdf [back]

⁴⁹ National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Fact Sheet: Innocence, http://www.ncadp.org/fact_sheet4.html [back]

⁵⁰ Executions in the United States, Death Penalty Information Center http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=414&scid=8 [back]

⁵¹ Police Department – City of New York Historical Perspective http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/pdf/chfdept/cscity.pdf [back]

⁵² NYPD FAQ’s http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/misc/pdfaq2.html#41 [back]

⁵³ Nationwide Murder Rates, Death Penalty Information Center http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=12&did=169 [back]

⁵⁴ Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the U.S., Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/reports98/police/uspo92.htm [back]

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