Three states, three repeal efforts
March 9, 2018
Three states inched closer to repealing their death penalty laws this year. Washington, Utah, and New Hampshire have been debating repeal bills in the most
Three states inched closer to repealing their death penalty laws this year. Washington, Utah, and New Hampshire have been debating repeal bills in the most
In Ohio, Alva Campbell was found dead in his cell at Chillicothe Correctional Institution last Saturday, four months after he was removed from the state’s
In his article, “When Can You Buy a Gun, Vote, or Be Sentenced to Death? Science Suggests U.S. Should Revise Legal Age Limits”, in The
The State of Michigan is the only state to have a death penalty ban in its constitution. That ban was enshrined 116 years after the
Thirty-five years ago, the American Bar Association was one of the first organizations to call for abolition of the death penalty for those under the
Four U.S. Senators introduced a bill this week that would allow federal prosecutors in death penalty cases to impanel a second jury for sentencing if
Texas executed John Battaglia last week, the third person executed this year, and the second of the week. The 62-year-old was sentenced to die in
Two years ago, we reported on the use of “ethnic adjustment” by prosecutors in death penalty cases, which artificially raises minority defendants’ IQ scores. In
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation released its revised lethal drug protocol late last month, and it doesn’t address the problems that plagued its
In any case charged from this day forward, LADA will not seek the death penalty. In any case currently charged with special circumstances where the Office has not previously announced it would seek death, the case shall now proceed as a non-death penalty case. Read More
Source: The Washington Post The Trump administration is engaged in a full-court press to execute as many people on federal death row as possible before Jan. 20. Attorney General William P. Barr has already overseen eight executions since July. Five more are scheduled before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who has pledged to end the federal death penalty. This killing spree by a lame-duck president is unmatched in modern
Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a brief in support of the appeal of Don’te McDaniel, a man on death row convicted of murder. Newsom argued in the amicus brief that “racial discrimination infects the administration of California’s death penalty.” Six present and past California District Attorneys filed a separate brief arguing that the death penalty is “unfair and racially biased”. Newsom cited research that demonstrates significant statistical differences charging the death
2020 demonstrates the random callous nature of the death penalty. Until July 7,2020, for 17 years, the federal government did not execute a single federal prisoner. With the Trump administration’s “tough on crime” policies, the executions began. Three executions in a row, followed by two more executions, and then two more the next month. These men, most in their 50’s, have been on death row for decades. In a flash,
Former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, a progressive prosecutor, has officially beat incumbent Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey. This is a significant victory in the largest District Attorney office in the nation. Mr. Gascón promises reduced incarceration, and increased scrutiny of police misconduct. As one of his first official acts, Mr. Gascón promises to end the death penalty in Los Angeles County. Read More Photo by Shawn
Source: The Atlantic “Strapped to a gurney, two body lengths from where I sat behind thick glass and a curtain, Ricky Ray Rector groaned each time his executioner jabbed a lethal needle into his beefy arm. Once. Twice. Again and again and again—for 20 minutes, the cop-killer whimpered before I watched him die. Earlier that day, January 24, 1992, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton had left the presidential campaign trail to be