Seventeen years after the U.S. Supreme Court found in Atkins v. Virginia that executing intellectually disabled prisoners constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of
Five years after a statewide task force appointed to study Ohio’s death penalty released a report with 56 recommendations to improve the state’s deeply flawed
In Virginia, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld a district court ruling that death row prisoners’ long-term detention in solitary confinement creates a
In her op-ed, “I will spend my life fighting against the death penalty and I’m proud to have Newsom with me,” in the Orange County Register,
“Inchoate rage” is what compelled writer, director, producer Edward Zwick to co-produce and direct “Trial by Fire,” a feature film about the conviction and execution
Norman Lear, the legendary writer and producer known for such sitcoms as “All in the Family,” “One Day at a Time,” and “The Jeffersons,” is
In “Why We Can’t Let Rural Prosecutors Fly Under the Radar” in Filter, Rory Fleming uses Monroe County (Rochester, NY) District Attorney Sandra Doorley, who he
Global executions fell by almost 31 percent last year, the lowest figure in at least a decade, according to Amnesty International’s annual report, also released
“Gorsuch just handed down the most bloodthirsty and cruel death penalty opinion of the modern era” read the headline in ThinkProgress. “Unusual Cruelty at the
Late last month, federal prisoner Ulysses Jones, Jr. was sentenced to life in prison for the 2006 murder of another inmate at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mis-souri. It was a huge defeat for the U.S. government, which had tried for 11 years to have Jones sentenced to death. Why it took 11 years for Jones to come to trial is just one of the many
In California, Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye told a group of reporters that she expects Proposition 66, which passed in November 2016 on the dubious promise to speed up executions, to face more legal challenges. The state’s high court upheld the measure earlier this year, but Cantil-Sakauye did not take part in the ruling because she is on the Judicial Council, which will be implementing it. Capital Public Radio
In “Two Murder Convictions for One Fatal Shot,” in the November 13 issue of the New Yorker, Ken Armstrong examines a disturbingly frequent practice by prosecutors in which they present contradictory theories of how a crime was committed. “The most common scenario involves a fatal shot: the prosecutor puts the gun in the hand of one defendant, then another,” he writes. “At least twenty-nine men have been condemned in cases
“In the Executioner’s Shadow” is a documentary that examines the death penalty from the per-spective of three very different people, and their very different experiences: The parents of a young woman who was raped and murdered; a middle-aged woman who was injured in the Boston Marathon bombing; a corrections officer who performed 62 executions. The two filmmakers, Maggie Burnette Stogner and Richard Stack, have been working on the film for
Application Deadline: January 22, 2018 Death Penalty Focus (DPF), a national nonprofit organization founded in 1988 to abolish the death penalty, is seeking an Executive Director with excellent leadership, advocacy, organizing, management, fundraising, and public speaking skills. The successful candidate will have the vision and commitment to lead the fight to end to the death penalty in California and throughout the country. Based in California, DPF is one of the
It’s not just amazing art that’s being produced on San Quentin’s death row, there is also some insightful, thought-provoking literature and poetry being written as well. One example can be found at the website Sacred Eye of the Falcon, which features the work of Steve Champion. He’s been on death row since 1981, and since that time, he has immersed himself in studying African history, philosophy, political science, and comparative
It’s not often we can share inspiring or uplifting information these days, but Nicola White, a London-based artist, has been working with prisoners at San Quentin to help them get their paintings, essays, poetry and other writings out in the world. So she created this beautiful website to showcase the work. It will take your breath away. Each artist has his own page, and the artwork ranges from pencil and
Death Penalty Focus is partnering with CharityBuzz to bring you FOUR new charity auctions–your chance to meet Patty Jenkins, Jeff Goldblum, Ben and Jerry, and Misha Collins–all while supporting our work. Meet Wonder Woman Director Patty Jenkins & Visit the Set of TNT’s New Series One Day She’ll Darken in LA Patty Jenkins is a writer and director best known for directing Wonder Woman, the Warner Bros./DC Comics blockbuster of
When Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last week to resentence Bobby Moore to life in prison, she may have finally put an end to an extremely controversial and bewilderingly unscientific evaluation that the CCA has been relying on to determine whether a capital defendant is intellectually disabled. “I’m doing what I believe the law requires,” the Houston Chronicle quoted Ogg as saying.