Rabbi Hannah Jensen
June 2, 2025
Rabbi Hannah Jensen serves as Assistant Rabbi at IKAR, a Jewish community rooted in ancient wisdom and driven by a moral mandate to create a
Rabbi Hannah Jensen serves as Assistant Rabbi at IKAR, a Jewish community rooted in ancient wisdom and driven by a moral mandate to create a
Betsy Beers is a groundbreaking producer and the longtime producing partner of Shonda Rhimes. Under the Shondaland banner, they have developed and produced some of
Amy is an actress and activist who can be seen currently as Judge Thelma Stewart in Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. For seven seasons she played
Randy Ferrell is an award-winning Director, Executive Producer, and Showrunner with nearly 25 years of experience in television and film. A former baseball player and
Jason George is a versatile actor with an impressive career spanning three decades in television, film and stage work. He is best known for portraying
Professor of Law & David W. Burcham Chair in Ethical Advocacy Professor Laurie Levenson is the David W. Burcham Chair in Ethical Advocacy at Loyola
Mike Tollin most recently executive produced the documentary series Justice, USA for MAX. Prior to that, he won consecutive Emmy Awards for The Last Dance
Fr. Chris was born in Temple City, California. He was ordained a priest in 1983. Fr. Ponnet is board-certified by the Interfaith Association of Professional
Salam Al-Marayati is the president and co-founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), a national advocacy organization headquartered in Los Angeles. Since 1988, he
Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen is a distinguished scholar, educator, and social justice advocate based in Los Angeles. He serves as Professor of Rabbinic Literature at
Paula Poundstone is an award-winning comedian known for her razor-sharp wit, improvisational genius, and insightful social commentary. A staple of NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, Paula’s smart, spontaneous humor has made her a beloved voice in American comedy. Whether performing stand-up or delivering her signature observational takes, she continues to entertain audiences with her unique blend of intellect and hilarity.
In this month’s Focus, we wrote about a writ petition a coalition of prominent civil rights and legal organizations filed at the CA Supreme Court earlier this month. The writ maintains that “Extensive empirical evidence demonstrates that California’s capital punishment scheme is administered in a racially discriminatory manner and violates the equal protection provisions of the state Constitution.” The petition asks the Court to declare California’s capital sentencing scheme invalid
At least seven young men, all of whom were sentenced to death for so-called crimes committed when they were between the ages of 14-17 and who are members of the Shi’a religious minority, are at imminent risk of execution in Saudi Arabia, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights announced today. In April 2020, the government said that it was suspending all death sentences against individuals who were under the
One hundred-ninety-seven individuals sentenced to die have been exonerated in the U.S. since 1973. Melissa Lucio, on Texas death row since 2008 for a crime no reasonable person ever believed she committed, could and should be the 198th. Lucio, now 55, was arrested in 2007 for the murder of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, despite forensic and eyewitness evidence that her daughter died from a head injury she suffered in a
CA Gov. Gavin Newsom grants 37 pardons; 18 commutations Late last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he pardoned 37 individuals and commuted the sentences of 18 others because “clemency [is] an important part of the criminal justice system that can incentivize accountability and rehabilitation, increase public safety by removing counterproductive barriers to successful reentry, correct unjust results in the legal system, and address the health needs of incarcerated people
“In states where the death penalty does exist, it shouldn’t be cruel, it shouldn’t be unusual (and) it definitely shouldn’t be experimental, like nitrogen hypoxia is,” Alabama State Rep. Neil Rafferty stated when he introduced HB 248, which would prevent the state from executing any more people using nitrogen gas, the Alabama Reflector reports. In January, the state killed Kenneth Smith using nitrogen gas, the first time a state has
Fifty-four-year-old Daniel Gwynn was freed from Pennsylvania’s death row on February 29, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office announced. He served nearly 30 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Gwynn was convicted of the 1994 arson murder of Marsha Smith based on false witness identification, Gwynn’s false confession, and withheld evidence. Police testified that witnesses identified Gwynn in a photo lineup, but the photos were never turned over to
Last Wednesday, the Oklahoma House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee cleared House Bill 3138, the Death Penalty Moratorium Act, making it eligible to be heard on the House floor, Oklahoma Watch reports. The bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Kevin McDugle, who, although a death penalty supporter, has been troubled by several cases in which individuals were sentenced to death, most prominently Richard Glossip’s. “We cannot trust the system, period,
In this powerful and poignant update, Sister Helen Prejean, fueled by her outrage at the barbarism of capital punishment and her unwavering commitment to its abolition, shares the final, tragic moments of Ivan’s life through a lens filled with both tender compassion and fervent resolve. This is Sister Prejean’s firsthand account, deeply personal yet universally resonant, urging us to see beyond the immediate tragedy to the larger call to action
Idaho corrections officials attempted to kill 73-year-old Thomas Creech today, but after an hour of repeated attempts to find a vein for its lethal injection drugs, they called it off. It was the state’s first execution attempt since 2012. “We are angered but not surprised that the State of Idaho botched the execution,” Creech’s lawyers said in a statement after the attempt, according to the New York Times. “This is