Breaking news on state killing: there is now an app for that!
I received via e-mail yesterday this notable news from the Death Penalty Information Center about being able to follow the death penalty while “on the go”:
The Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to offer a new mobile application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. This FREE application provides access to the most frequently used resources on DPIC’s main website, including our Fact Sheet on the Death Penalty, our Execution Database, and the most recent death penalty news from around the country. Click here to download the mobile application through iTunes.
Users may also download the mobile application directly from the App Store on their mobile device by searching for “DPIC” or “Death Penalty Information Center.” Please let us know if you’d like us to add other resources.
This new post from the folks at the Houston Press, headlined “Death Penalty: Your Newest App,” provides a fittingly cheeky review and follow-up on this latest new media development:
Have your Angry Birds gone postal? You might need the newest app, from the Death Penalty Information Center….
DPIC is also asking people if they’d like other resources added to the app.
A last meals database?
A countdown clock for attorneys trying to file paperwork with Sharon Keller?
Up-to-date availability and pricing information on hard-to-get euthanizing drugs?
Let them know.
Though I am inclined to poke fun at the development of DPIC’s app, I am also eager to seriously urge other leading resources on crime and punishment to consider the opportunity for using new media for information dissemination. I really would love to see the US Sentencing Commission develop a sophisticated app to enable researchers and practitioners with easy and ready access to federal sentencing data. Similarly, it would be great to have an app that assembles, organizes and effectively presents crime rates, recidivism statistics and corrections data for various jurisdictions.