Voices: Donna Doolin Larsen
July 7, 2021
Donna Doolin Larsen is tired. She hasn’t rested since 1995, when she, her mother-in-law, and her then 22-year-old son Keith walked out of her doctor’s
Donna Doolin Larsen is tired. She hasn’t rested since 1995, when she, her mother-in-law, and her then 22-year-old son Keith walked out of her doctor’s
In his new book, A Descending Spiral: Exposing the Death Penalty in 12 Essays, Marc Bookman, the co-founder and executive director of the Atlantic Center for Capital
In Virginia, there is no death row anymore. The Virginia Mercury reports that last weekend, prison officials announced the last two prisoners facing death sentences were
“The first half of 2021 spotlighted two continuing death-penalty trends in the United States. On one hand, the continuing erosion of capital punishment in law
It’s taken 28 years, but William Richards is officially an innocent man. Three weeks ago, a San Bernardino Superior Court judge declared Richards “factually innocent”
By Mike Farrell Sloughing off a warning from the Vatican, the American Conference of Catholic Bishops seem to have enlisted in the Culture Wars with
by Stephen Rohde When the story is told about how the death penalty was abolished in California, the work of a little-known legislative committee will
Stating that the Justice Department “must ensure that everyone in the federal criminal justice system is not only afforded the rights guaranteed by the Constitution
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:Mary Kate DeLucco415-243-0143mary@deathpenalty.org US Attorney General Merrick Garland Calls for a Moratorium on Federal Death Penalty Sacramento (July 2, 2021) — Stating
Saying there were “fundamental flaws” in his sentencing, Ohio Gov. John Kasich commuted Raymond Tibbetts’ death sentence to life without parole late last month. The governor was referring to the fact that jurors never heard about Tibbetts’ horrific childhood during his trial for the 1997 murders of his 42-year-old wife, Judith Crawford, and landlord, 67-year-old Fred Hicks. Tibbetts was sentenced to death for the murder of Hicks, and life without
In St. Louis, six civil rights organizations filed an amicii brief with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals last week on behalf of Charles Rhines arguing that the homophobia openly displayed by his South Dakota jury in 1993 was proof that he was sentenced to death because he is gay. Courthouse News reports that organizations including the ACLU, Lambda Legal, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for
In his book, Making Habeas Work: A Legal History, Eric Freedman analyzes how essential the writ of habeas corpus is to a free society, going back to this country’s earliest cases, “and explores the lessons this history holds for some of today’s most pressing problems including terrorism, the Guantanamo Bay detentions, immigration, Brexit, and domestic violence.” In the Texas Tribune, Jolie McCullough examines the Texas clemency process in the wake of last
On Sunday, September 23, in Los Angeles, Death Penalty Focus will honor the Reverend James Lawson, a civil rights icon whom Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called “The leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.” DFP will present Rev. Lawson with its Lifetime Achievement Award for his lifelong dedication to civil rights, criminal and social justice, and the abolition of the death penalty. Rev. Lawson helped coordinate the Freedom
From the team behind the award-winning One For Ten comes a feature documentary to lift the lid on the human cost of the death penalty in the United States. One of America’s most divisive issue – capital punishment – is running into some trouble. With drug supplies for lethal injections drying up and public support at an all-time-low, the struggle to keep executing is taking its toll. The Penalty follows
Pope Francis today, in what could be a decisive turning point for the future of the death penalty in not just the United States, but in many of the 53 countries where it is still in place, declared that it is “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” and said the church will work for its “abolition worldwide.” The Pope’s statement is now
Britain Home Secretary Sajid Javid is being accused of taking “the power of life and death into his own hands” over his plan, made in secret, to allow the United States to bring to trial and potentially sentence to death two terrorism suspects who were British citizens. The Guardian reports that Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh are Islamic State members who authorities believe committed war crimes of kidnap and torture,
A state commission appointed to study Pennsylvania’s death penalty system released its report late last month, almost five years after its original deadline. The 280-page report was the result of a seven-year effort by the Joint State Government Commission, which was composed of four senators and an advisory committee of prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, and at least one victim’s family member. Among the findings: As in most, if not