“Governor Gavin Newsom’s heroic act of declaring a moratorium on executions in our state has inspired us all,” DPF President Mike Farrell said in his
Two weeks after Gov. Newsom issued an Executive Order imposing a moratorium, two California Supreme Court justices issued their own critique of the death penalty system,
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in a jury selection bias case last month in which Mississippi death row prisoner Curtis Flowers, an African-American,
On Thursday, the Supreme Court considered whether to take the case of a South Dakota death row prisoner who maintains he was sentenced to death
Dear Governor Newsom, Do you have ANY IDEA how refreshing it is to the SOUL to have a politician seek public office, who promises to
If Alabama were to go ahead with its plan to execute 68-year-old Vernon Madison, he wouldn’t know why. Because of several strokes over the past
The headlines say it all. “The Stench of Prejudice in Keith Tharpe’s Death Sentence,” in the New York Times. “A juror used the N-word. Did
In the space of one week last month, two men walked out of prison, each of whom had spent decades on death row. Freddie Lee
“Yay Gavin Newsom. I’m very thankful to him for having the courage, the guts, to stand up and say before California murders anyone on my
Five years after a statewide task force appointed to study Ohio’s death penalty released a report with 56 recommendations to improve the state’s deeply flawed system, the state may implement one of three recommendations for dealing with mentally ill defendants. Of the three the task force suggested, which included enacting legislation to prohibit capital charges against defendants who suffered from “serious mental illness” at the time of the crime or
In Virginia, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld a district court ruling that death row prisoners’ long-term detention in solitary confinement creates a “substantial risk” of psychological and emotional harm. The Fourth Circuit also agreed that the state was “deliberately indifferent” to the risk. This decision by the Fourth Circuit means the state cannot reinstitute solitary confinement and other conditions the district court found unconstitutional in 2018. In
In her op-ed, “I will spend my life fighting against the death penalty and I’m proud to have Newsom with me,” in the Orange County Register, DPF Board Member Beth Webb, whose sister was killed and mother wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in Orange County history, writes of how her “life was forever altered that day.” She explains how the anguish of her loss was exacerbated by the district attorney’s
“Inchoate rage” is what compelled writer, director, producer Edward Zwick to co-produce and direct “Trial by Fire,” a feature film about the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham in Texas in 2004. What sparked his rage was a 16,000-word New Yorker article “Trial by Fire,” in which David Grann painstakingly and movingly recounted Willingham’s case. It started with the fire that consumed Willingham’s ramshackle house within minutes, killing his three
Norman Lear, the legendary writer and producer known for such sitcoms as “All in the Family,” “One Day at a Time,” and “The Jeffersons,” is also a passionate social and criminal justice advocate who founded the People for the American Way. This lifelong commitment to progressive causes is why he will be presented with the 2019 Award for Social Justice in Action by the Leonard I. Beerman Foundation for Peace
In “Why We Can’t Let Rural Prosecutors Fly Under the Radar” in Filter, Rory Fleming uses Monroe County (Rochester, NY) District Attorney Sandra Doorley, who he says “charges more people with felonies than some DAs in counties twice Monroe County’s size,” as an example of a small-county prosecutor who, despite her enthusiasm for harsh sentencing and questionable tactics, wins reelection because reform-minded opponents don’t receive the funding or the support progressive
Global executions fell by almost 31 percent last year, the lowest figure in at least a decade, according to Amnesty International’s annual report, also released this week. The report found that the world’s top five executing countries were China (in the 1000s), Iran (at least 253), Saudi Arabia (149), Viet Nam (at least 85, releasing its total for the first time) and Iraq (at least 52). The U.S. was in
“Gorsuch just handed down the most bloodthirsty and cruel death penalty opinion of the modern era” read the headline in ThinkProgress. “Unusual Cruelty at the Supreme Court,” was the Atlantic‘s headline. And the Baltimore Sun titled its editorial, “On death penalty, Supreme Court veering badly off course.” The opinion eliciting so much shock and outrage was last week’s 5-4 decision in Bucklew v. Precythe. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil
When Gavin Newsom assumed office just four months ago, he promised Californians his administration would “be bold” and would “aim high.” With his decision to impose a moratorium on executions in his state, effective immediately, he kept both promises, and in so doing, cemented his legacy as a leader unafraid of making big decisions that will resonate for years to come. What he did last month took great courage, and the