Project Overview: State Assessment Project of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project

Now in its second phase, the State Assessment Project of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project was launched in 2003 to implement the association’s call for a moratorium on executions in the United States pending review in each capital punishment jurisdiction of laws and procedures in death penalty jurisprudence.  While the ABA takes no position supporting or opposing the death penalty, in 1997, the association called for a halt to executions in each death penalty jurisdiction until the jurisdiction conducts a thorough assessment of whether its capital punishment laws and procedures are administered fairly and impartially, satisfy Constitutional standards for due process, and minimize the risk that innocent persons may be executed.  The project evaluated eight states between 2003 and 2007, and has launched an assessment in Kentucky, the first of what will be six additional states in the second phase.

The Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project was launched by the American Bar Association in 2001 as the “next step” towards a temporary halt on executions in the United States.  While the ABA takes no position supporting or opposing the death penalty, in 1997, the association called for a halt to executions in each death penalty jurisdiction until the jurisdiction conducts a thorough assessment of whether its capital punishment laws and procedures are administered fairly and impartially, satisfy Constitutional standards for due process, and minimize the risk that innocent persons may be executed.

Now entering its second phase, the State Assessment Project has launched a review of Kentucky’s death penalty jurisprudence, the first of what will total six new states.

Under the State Assessment Project’s first phase, initiated in 2003, teams of legal experts in each of eight states evaluated death penalty jurisprudence in their own jurisdiction, using protocols developed by the Moratorium Implementation Project to measure the state’s compliance with minimal standards of due process.  Evaluators determined, to the best of their ability, whether the state complied with, partially complied with or failed to comply with each protocol. While the requisite data often was not collected, maintained, or made available in a way that made analysis possible, general themes emerged in each of the topic areas.  Ultimately, serious problems were found in every state death penalty system.

Key findings from the initial eight states are available here.  Compliance charts, showing evaluation results from all eight states in one document, are here.