“The traumatic events of my life were handled with respect, and years of emotional damage repaired, through the unexpected power of documentary, such as allowing me to hear an apology from my father’s killer,” Aaron Castro says in his piece in The Hollywood Reporter about the documentary, “I Am Ready, Warden.” It recounts the execution of John Henry Ramirez, who killed Castro’s father in a robbery, and how Castro ultimately was able to forgive Ramirez. The film, nominated for best short documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, is available on Paramount Plus.
Newly-appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi[‘s] “display of unbridled enthusiasm for capital punishment on day one of her tenure — and her inattention to the death penalty’s serious problems — should give all Americans reason to ask whether the death penalty that we have makes us a safer, saner and more just nation,” Austin Sarat writes in his op-ed, “Why new Attorney General Pam Bondi is going all in on the federal death penalty,” in The Hill. Referring to a list of orders on the federal death penalty that Bondi issues immediately after taking office, “one might get the impression that the attorney general was more interested in attacking the Biden administration than in fixing the federal death penalty,” Sarat writes.
“A doctor who intentionally performs cruel and medically unjustifiable procedures that cause pain and suffering could face criminal charges. If the patient dies, the doctor could face homicide charges. Apparently, those rules don’t apply to law enforcement,” Jeffrey A. Singer writes in a Cato Institute blog post, “When the State Kills, Medical Ethics Don’t Matter.” Singer singles out recent developments in Arizona, where Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered a review of the state’s lethal injection protocol after a series of botched lethal injection attempts, and then stated she had lost confidence in US Magistrate Judge David Duncan, whom she had appointed to conduct the review, ended the process, and indicated she will allow executions to resume.