The criminal justice community has lost a giant and Death Penalty Focus has lost a dear friend with Robert “Renny” Cushing’s passing. Cushing died Monday
Fifty-seven elected prosecutors from around the country, holding “varied opinions surrounding the death penalty,” issued a joint statement last month, declaring that they have arrived
Legislators anxious to reinstate the death penalty in their states hope their trump card will be police and public safety issues. But the facts stand
CBS News’ “48 Hours” reporter Erin Moriarty updates the Kevin Cooper case in an interview and article, noting that “It’s very difficult to believe that
Fifty years ago this month, on February 18, 1972, California abolished the death penalty. But it didn’t stay abolished. The lesson for us is that
Texas has executed at least five men who were very likely innocent, according to a recent report by the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death
California’s death row, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, will be dismantled. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that a two-year-old pilot program will be
In Alabama, Matthew Reeves was executed January 27, despite having an intellectual disability. Reeves was killed by lethal injection because he failed to choose a
Alabama executed Matthew Reeves last night despite the fact he had an intellectual disability. His execution was the second state killing yesterday after Oklahoma executed
It was unanimous. “Eliminating the death penalty is a critical step towards creating a fair and equitable justice system for all in California, as the ultimate punishment is plagued by legal, racial, bureaucratic, financial, geographic, and moral problems that have proven intractable,” the California Committee on Revision of the Penal Code said in a report released last month. The recommendation reverberated through the political, criminal and social justice, and legal communities,
Declaring that, “In cases where the government seeks to impose the ultimate punishment of death, I need to be satisfied that all relevant evidence is carefully and fairly examined,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom late last month ordered an independent investigation of death row prisoner Kevin Cooper’s case as part of Cooper’s application for clemency. For Cooper, who has insisted on his innocence since his arrest in 1983, and whose high-profile
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mary Kate DeLucco 415-243-0143 mary@deathpenalty.org — Sacramento (June 1, 2021) — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered an independent investigation of death row prisoner Kevin Cooper’s case as part of Cooper’s application for clemency. “In cases where the government seeks to impose the ultimate punishment of death, I need to be satisfied that all relevant evidence is carefully and fairly examined,” Newsom said in his Executive
Last year we passed the Racial Justice Act & vowed to come back to make the bill retroactive. We must pass #RJA4All to #ConfrontRacism not only in the future, but for Black & Brown people languishing in jails & prisons right now. Justice delayed is justice denied. #AB256
We have a real chance to end the policy that enabled the former president to rush the killing of the most prisoners in the shortest amount of time in over a century. The bill has already been introduced by Rep. Ayanna Pressley in collaboration with Senator Dick Durbin, who has indicated he will introduce a companion bill in the Senate. Everyone who wants to abolish the death penalty is asked
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A Highschooler Against the Death Penalty: What Do I Know? As teenagers, or “children” under the age of 18, we are often disregarded and our voices suppressed because of our age. People like to use our age as an insult by saying “you’re just 16, what do you know?” like that’s supposed to strengthen their argument. I may be sixteen, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be educated. Age shouldn’t
Among Biden’s main executive orders, he will order that federal executions be halted. Read Here
President Joseph Biden is the first occupant of the Oval Office in American history to openly and publicly oppose the death penalty and advocate its abolition. What will he do to translate his policy into action. Read Here
