How we Decrease Death Row & Abolish the Death Penalty: A Conversation with the California Committee on Revision of the Penal Code Watch the recap
Watch a recap of the first of our fall webinar series with “Women on Death Row,” moderated by Diann Rust-Tierney, Executive Director of the National Coalition To Abolish the Death Penalty, in conversation with two women who wrongfully spent time on death row.
“Ten years seem so long, but when I think about the shooting, about losing Laura, it seems both like it happened yesterday and a million
In his op-ed, “Oklahoma’s rush to execute harms culture of life,” in the Oklahoman, Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley writes that a court case pending in
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law last week a bill that expands another criminal justice reform bill that became law two years ago.
When the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 against clemency for John Grant last week, it cleared the way for the state to resume
The Oregon Supreme Court issued a ruling last week which will likely overturn the death sentences of all 23 prisoners on death row. In State v.
“The circumstances that lead women to commit violent crimes are often complicated by a history of sexual and/or physical trauma….We know, for instance, that almost
In her Nevada Independent op-ed, “Nevada is preparing to execute a man with significant organic brain damage,” Dr. Natalie Novick Brown, a licensed clinical psychologist who evaluated
In Nevada, 48-year-old Scott Dozier apparently died by suicide on death row at Ely State Prison last Friday. The Huffington Post reports that Dozier apparently died by hanging. Dozier had been on death row since 2008 for the murders of Jeremiah Miller, who was killed in 2002, and Jasen Green, whose body was found in an Arizona desert in 2001. Dozier had given up all appeals, and had requested that his execution go
In his New Republic article, “Why Aren’t Democratic Governors Pardoning More Prisoners?”, Matt Ford looks at how few Democratic governors pardon or commute the sentences of prisoners, even though it is in their power to do so. Ford singles out former Gov. Jerry Brown, who ignored the 739 men and women on California’s death row while issuing pardons for at least 1,332 prisoners since 2011, “quadrupling the number issued by the preceding
(Editor’s Note: The front page of this newsletter spells Joe Giarattano’s name incorrectly in the headline. We would correct it, but the computer program we use won’t allow corrections once the email is sent. We apologize for the error.) “I am going to be faced with real challenges when I step beyond the prison gates. Life for me is not going to be easy. I am, essentially, beginning from scratch,” Joseph Giarratano
Check out this piece in the New Republic which looks at how (shamefully) few Democratic governors pardon or commute the sentences of prisoners, even though it is in their power to do so. The article takes full aim at Jerry Brown, leaving office today. While the TNR gives Brown full credit for pardoning at least 1,332 prisoners since 2011, “quadrupling the number issued by the preceding four governors combined,” it
Dear Governor Brown: On behalf of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ), the statewide organization of public and private criminal defense attorneys, we are writing to implore you as one of your final and most heroic acts as Governor of California to commute the death sentences of all persons currently on death row in California. The death penalty is a dark stain on our state. Virtually all of the developed
California Governor Jerry Brown today ordered new tests on items from the crime scene that sent Kevin Cooper to death row in 1985. The governor’s Executive Order calls for “limited retesting of certain physical evidence in the case and appointing a retired judge as a special master to oversee this testing, its scope and protocols.” The 60-year-old Cooper was sentenced to death for the murder of four people in a
Momentum is building, but time is running out. We need your help for one last push. Gov. Jerry Brown, please do not leave people behind on death row when you leave office.
Six former governors called on California Gov. Jerry Brown this week to grant clemency to the 740 men and women on death row, stating that “The achievement of high office demands that one be courageous in leadership.” In an editorial in Thursday’s New York Times, former governors Richard Celeste, John Kitzhaber, Martin O’Malley, Bill Richardson, Pat Quinn, and Toney Anaya acknowledged the “terrible responsibility” of signing a death warrant, “hard even to imagine until you’re asked
The California Supreme Court last week unanimously reversed the death sentence for Dora Buenrostro, who was convicted of killing her three children, Susana, Vicente, and Deidra (ages nine, eight, and four, respectively) in 1994 in Riverside County. The Court did, however, affirm Buenrostro’s conviction. The unanimous opinion, written by Justice Leondra Kruger, rejected a number of Buenrostro’s appeals, but found that a prospective juror was improperly excused based solely on her