Voices: Kevin Cooper
January 12, 2018
“I have hope. And because I have hope I have life.” For Kevin Cooper, who has been on San Quentin’s death row since 1985, it
“I have hope. And because I have hope I have life.” For Kevin Cooper, who has been on San Quentin’s death row since 1985, it
“Unchained Artists,” an exhibition featuring some 50 pieces of artwork, poetry, and handcrafted art objects made by men and women incarcerated in the United States,
Public support for the death penalty dropped to its lowest level in 45 years in 2017, and the number of death sentences and executions is
Twenty years ago, Lucy Wilke was the prosecutor who sent Jeff Wood to Texas’ death row, even though he never killed anyone. Now, according to
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide soon whether to accept Hidalgo v. Arizona, which not only challenges Arizona’s death penalty statute, but the death penalty
Late last month, federal prisoner Ulysses Jones, Jr. was sentenced to life in prison for the 2006 murder of another inmate at the U.S. Medical
In California, Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye told a group of reporters that she expects Proposition 66, which passed in November 2016 on the
In “Two Murder Convictions for One Fatal Shot,” in the November 13 issue of the New Yorker, Ken Armstrong examines a disturbingly frequent practice by
“In the Executioner’s Shadow” is a documentary that examines the death penalty from the per-spective of three very different people, and their very different experiences:
“Justice Thurgood Marshall was correct in 1972 when he predicted that if people were better informed about the death penalty, they would reject it. That is why the norms are changing, why capital punishment is in decline, and why eventual abolition is inevitable.” Four days after University of Colorado Sociology Professor Michael L. Radelet wrote those words in an essay for Medium, the Department of Justice announced that the government
In his book, book, Six Amendments, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for revising six of the amendments to the Constitution, including the Eighth Amendment, which he said should be modified to read, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments such as the death penalty inflicted.” The declaration was the culmination of years of increasing doubt about the use of
Death Penalty Focus has filed an amicus letter in support of a motion filed last month by death penalty lawyer and DPF board member Robert M. Sanger and Sarah Sanger in the California Supreme Court arguing that while the moratorium is in place in California, prosecutors should be prohibited from seeking the death penalty. As we reported in the July Focus, Sanger argues that the moratorium Gov. Gavin Newsom announced
“Anyone who claims to believe in the sanctity of life, truth, or justice cannot seriously defend the application of the death penalty in Pennsylvania,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner wrote in a brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month. Krasner based his argument on how the death penalty has been applied in Philadelphia, “the jurisdiction that has sought and secured more death sentences than any other county in the
In Tennessee, the Tennessean reports Stephen West was executed by electric chair last night. He opted for electrocution over lethal injection, a choice available to prisoners sentenced to death for a crime committed before 1999. The 56-year-old West was convicted of the 1986 murder of 61-year-old Wanda Romines and her 15-year-old daughter Sheila Romines. This was Tennessee’s fifth execution, and the third execution by electric chair, in the past year.
In his multi-part series, “We need to fix forensics. But how?” in the Washington Post, Radley Balko poses six questions to 14 experts who work in the areas of law, science, and forensics on how to fix the problems with the way forensics are used in criminal cases. “In covering these issues, I have found that there are lots of people willing to talk about the problems with forensics in
The “machinery of death” will shift into high gear in the next few months if the Department of Justice gets its way. On Monday, Attorney General William Barr announced that the Department of Justice will propose legislation to speed up death penalty trials for defendants accused of mass murder, or the killing of a law enforcement officer. “There will be a strict timetable for judicial proceedings that will allow the
Last month we reported on a case that may have enormous implications for the future of the death penalty in California. Death Penalty Focus has since submitted an amicus letter asking the California Supreme Court to take up the case. Below you will find an excerpt to our story about the case and the amicus letter itself. To download and read the letter right now, click here. —– —– —–
The mass shootings last weekend have caused unimaginable pain and suffering. Dozens of people are dead. Hundreds of family members and friends are grieving. Entire communities are traumatized. We offer our deepest sympathies to all who are grieving. President Trump has called for the death penalty in response to our country’s epidemic of mass shootings. But, as the statistics bear out, the death penalty will not curtail the scourge of
