While we’re on the subject . . . .
February 21, 2024
“It’s way too early to know whether states will increasingly look to nitrogen gas as an alternative to lethal injection, but Alabama’s recent experience suggests
“It’s way too early to know whether states will increasingly look to nitrogen gas as an alternative to lethal injection, but Alabama’s recent experience suggests
In Louisiana earlier this week, a state legislative committee approved a proposal to add nitrogen gas and electrocution to its execution protocol, the Louisiana Illuminator
“The State of Alabama has a bad track record of botched executions,” a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s new method of execution by nitrogen gas
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation plans to complete the transfer of those on San Quentin’s death row to other prisons around the state
Robert Badinter, the former French Minister of Justice and the man who, in 1981, in one of his first acts as justice minister in the
In California’s Riverside County, two Black men challenging their separate death penalty prosecutions under the California Racial Justice Act (AB 256) were granted evidentiary hearings
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Department of Corrections Executive Director Steven Harpe are asking the state Court of Criminal Appeals to set the execution
In her essay in Politico Magazine, USF School of Law Professor Lara Bazelon says the downward trend in death sentences that began after hitting a
The U.S. Department of Justice decision to seek the death penalty in the case of Payton Gendron, accused of killing 10 people in a racist
Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach, who led a bipartisan effort in the legislature to commute Melissa Lucio’s death sentence last month, told the host of the WFAA television public affairs program, “Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely,” that he would support a moratorium on all executions in Texas. “Right now, going through what I just went through and seeing what I just saw, I would,” Leach told Whitely. “My trust
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