The California Supreme Court granted review earlier this month on whether people serving life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed when they were between the ages of
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an Executive Order in May 2021, calling for an investigation into Kevin Cooper’s 1985 death penalty conviction for a quadruple
“The death penalty is beyond redemption. It is unfair and unfixable, and it turns states into killers in the name of vengeance against killers,” the
After Alabama corrections officials botched their third execution in four months on November 17, Gov. Kay Ivey called a hiatus, saying it wasn’t the fault
In one week, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denied two petitions filed by Richard Glossip for an evidentiary hearing to consider new evidence of
In a bizarrely-worded statement, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called for a temporary halt to executions last week. She announced the decision after corrections officials botched
“What has happened to Mr. Hastings is a terrible injustice,” Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said at a news conference announcing Maurice Hastings’ release
In Texas, Tracy Beatty was killed early last month despite valid questions about whether his crime qualified for the death penalty. Beatty was found guilty
The U.S. Supreme Court shot down an attempt by three California district attorneys to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s lethal
Frank Atwood, imprisoned on death row since 1987 for the killing of an eight-year-old girl, is scheduled to be executed on June 8 in Arizona’s gas chamber. The state has two methods of killing: lethal injection or the gas chamber (which was outlawed in 1992, but since Atwood’s conviction occurred before that date, he can choose death by gas), but the only option for gas is cyanide. AZ Central reports
A little over a week after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced he was staying five state killings planned for this year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced he was postponing the September execution of Kareem Jackson. Both states execute by lethal injection, and both cited issues with that method as their reason for issuing stays. In Tennessee, Oscar Smith’s late April execution was stayed by the governor about an hour before
Closing the Slaughterhouse: The Inside Story of Death Penalty Abolition in Virginia is a comprehensive account of the remarkable effort that resulted in the abolition of Virginia’s death penalty last year. Written by Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Executive Director Dale Brumfield, one of the driving forces behind the decades-long effort, the book combines multiple interviews and hundreds of sources for a riveting explanation of this monumental victory. Closing
There was a “worrying rise in executions and death sentences” last year, Amnesty International announced in its annual report this week. In 2021, at least 579 executions were carried out across 18 countries, an increase of 20% from 2020. AI found that Iran was the leading executioner, having killed at least 314 people, followed by Saudi Arabia, which doubled its number last year to 65 from 27 in 2020. Still,
A little over a week after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced he was staying five state killings planned for this year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced he was postponing the September execution of Kareem Jackson. Both states execute by lethal injection, and both cited issues with that method as their reason for issuing stays. In Ohio, DeWine said he was rescheduling Jackson’s September 15 execution date to December 10, 2025,
The state of Arizona killed Clarence Dixon on Wednesday morning, despite his long history of mental health challenges and the abuse he suffered as a child growing up in the Navajo Nation. Dixon was 66 years old. AZ Central reports that, according to a media witness, “The execution team had trouble getting IVs into Dixon, who grimaced and appeared to be in pain while this was happening.” Arizona’s last execution
Stating that, “The death penalty is an extremely serious matter, and I expect the Tennessee Department of Correction to leave no question that procedures are correctly followed,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced last week that the state will launch “a third-party review of a lethal injection testing oversight” that led him to issue last month’s stay of execution for Oscar Smith about 30 minutes before it was to take place.
Death Penalty Focus is hiring a new Executive Director. We’re looking for a dynamic and thoughtful person to support our mission to end California’s death penalty and support abolition efforts across the country and internationally. ABOUT DEATH PENALTY FOCUS DPF is based in California. We’re a national nonprofit organization founded in 1988 to abolish the death penalty through public education, grassroots and political organizing, media outreach, local, state, national and
Two days before Lucio was scheduled to be executed, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (the equivalent of a state supreme court) issued a stay. It ordered a county district court to consider new evidence of her innocence in the 2007 death of her daughter, Mariah. “I am grateful the court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence. Mariah is in my heart today and always,”