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Death Penalty

Governor Candidate Ryan Says Sorry For Wrongfully Putting Two Men On Death Row

Chicago Sun-Times | DAVE McKINNEY AND ABDON M. PALLASCH | Posted 11.12.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Jim Ryan Apology, Illinois Wrongful Convictions, Jim Ryan Nicarico, Jeanine Nicarico, Wrongful Conviction, Alex Hernandez, Death Penalty, Brian Dugan, Illinois Death Penalty, Jim Ryan, Rolando Cruz, Video, Chicago News

GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan issued his first outright apology Thursday for wrongfully putting two men on Death Row instead of prosecuting the...

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Cook County Prosecutor Continues to Investigate Students for Trying to Free an Innocent Man

Judge H. Lee Sarokin | Posted 11.12.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Anthony McKinney, Medill Innocence Project, Cook County Prosecutor, Criminal Justice, Death Penalty, Death Penalty Moratorium, Journalism, Chicago News
Judge H. Lee Sarokin

Cook County prosecutors continue their relentless attempt to discredit the work of the students of the Medill Innocence Project in their efforts to exonerate Anthony McKinney.

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Stop Sending Innocent People to Death Row: End the Death Penalty

Chad Stokes Urmston | Posted 11.12.2009 | Impact

Read More: State of Georgia, Death Penalty, Chad Stokes, Troy Davis, Abolish Death Penalty, Impact News
Chad Stokes Urmston

Every morning for the last 18 years, Troy Davis has woken up on death row, despite the absence of evidence. This is a flagship case for why the death penalty is wrong and we must continue to advocate for its abolition.

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An Execution and What Remains

Tamar Abrams | Posted 11.10.2009 | Living

Read More: John Allen Muhammad Execution, Arlington Virginia, D.C. Sniper, Death Penalty, Virginia, Execution, John Muhammad, Living News
Tamar Abrams

You had to live in the DC area that horrible month to know the impact the Sniper had on us. Fear was a constant companion.

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Beyond a Lingering Doubt: It's Time for a New Standard on Capital Punishment

Louis Klarevas | Posted 11.10.2009 | Politics

Read More: D.C. Sniper, Capital Punishment, John Muhammad, Timothy McVeigh, Death Penalty, Politics News
Louis Klarevas

As a nation, we face a dilemma when it comes to capital punishment: No one wants to see an innocent person put to death -- but some criminals deserve to die for their offenses.

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The Death Penalty Is Frightening -- and Not Just on Halloween

Diann Rust-Tierney | Posted 10.30.2009 | Politics

Read More: Capital Punishment, Death Penalty, Execution, Cameron Todd Willingham, Ncadp, Politics News
Diann Rust-Tierney

I'm scared by the real life capital punishment system. As of this week, 139 individuals have been exonerated after being sentenced to die -- and some came terrifyingly close to execution.

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Lula's Red Carpet Welcome for Ahmadinejad

Robert Amsterdam | Posted 10.29.2009 | World

Read More: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Human Rights, Latin America, Nuclear Weapons, National Security, Iran Election, Brazil, Robert Amsterdam, United Nations, Lula, Washington DC, United States, Iran, Death Penalty, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, Democracy, Elections, World News
Robert Amsterdam

Why, with so much going for him and his country, should the president of Brazil make such controversial choices in his friends? The logic of the relationship with Iran is perplexing.

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China Executes 2 Tibetans For The Roles In 2008 Riots

AP | By HENRY SANDERSON | Posted 10.27.2009 | World

Read More: Islam, Monks, Tibetan Minority, Olympics, Tibet, Xinhua, International Campaign for Tibet, Han Chinese, Executions, Human Rights Watch, Han Majority, Buddhist, Executed, Death Penalty, China Riots, Arson, Buddhism, Migrants, Buddhist Monks, China, Xinjiang, Lhasa, World News

BEIJING -- Two people have been put to death for their roles in deadly protests last year in the Chinese-controlled region of Tibet, the first known e...

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Will the Chinese Courts Allow Another Mentally Ill Individual Be Executed?

Elizabeth Lynch | Posted 10.26.2009 | World

Read More: Mental Illness, Gordon Brown, Death Penalty in the United States, Chinese Criminal Procedure Law, Chinese Criminal Law, Drug Trafficking in China, Supreme People's Court, Death Penalty in China, Death Penalty, China, Xinjiang, Akmal Shaikh, Urumqi, World News
Elizabeth Lynch

The true test of a society's criminal justice system is how well it protects society's most vulnerable.

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Governor Rick Perry and His Texas Death Machine Are In Big Trouble

David A. Love | Posted 10.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Dna, George Bush, Capital Punishment, Execution, Cameron Todd Willingham, Crime, Rick Perry Secession, George W. Bush, Criminal Justice, Rick Perry, Texas, Jim Crow, New Yorker, Prison, Lynching, Forensic Science, Criminal Justice System, Death Penalty, Craig Beyler, Sharon Keller, Politics News
David A. Love

Cameron Todd Willingham is now a free man, but unfortunately it took death to release him from the confines of his prison bars.

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Death from Cluelessness: State Killing Machines and the Penalty of Indifference

Jeff Schweitzer | Posted 10.21.2009 | Politics

Read More: Wrongful Conviction, Supreme Court, Rick Perry, Death Penalty, Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas-Executions, Death Row, Execution, Crime Rates, Lethal Injection, Dna Evidence, Death Row Acquittals, David Spence, Ruben Cantu, Politics News
Jeff Schweitzer

Carl Sagan famously said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The claim that killing prisoners acts as a deterrent or keeps police safe is indeed extraordinary.

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James Degorski Spared Death Penalty For Brown's Chicken Murders

AP | KAREN HAWKINS | Posted 10.20.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Brown's Chicken Massacre, James Degorski Sentence, Juan Luna, Brown's Chicken Murders, James Degorski, Death Penalty, Chicago News

CHICAGO — A Chicago jury decided Tuesday that a former handyman will spend the rest of his life in prison, rather than be sent to death row, for...

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Xinjiang Riots: China Sentences 6 To Death

AP | CHRISTOPHER BODEEN | Posted 10.13.2009 | World

Read More: Uighurs Death Penalty, Xinjiang Riots, China Xinjiang Riots, China Execution, China Executions, Death Penalty, Xinjiang Riots Death Penalty, Xinjiang, China, Uighurs, China Sentences Uighurs, China Updates on Xinjiang Roits, Xinjiang Riot Death Sentence, Death Sentence for China Rioters, World News

BEIJING — A court in China's far western Xinjiang region sentenced six men to death Monday for murder and other crimes committed during ethnic r...

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Lethal Injection Revisited

Christopher Brauchli | Posted 10.14.2009 | Politics

Read More: Death Penalty, Lethal Injection, Romell Broom, Supreme Court Lethal Injections, Politics News
Christopher Brauchli

It is so easy to view the death penalty as nothing more than a means to an end that we sometimes overlook the fact that it shouldn't be an unpleasant experience for the person involved.

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Trial by Firefight

Rob Fishman | Posted 10.07.2009 | Media

Read More: Supreme Court, David Grann, Time Magazine, Npr, Crosicana Daily Sun, Justice Department, Sam Bassett, Innocence Project, Slate, Msnbc, Executions, Kevin Spacey, New Yorker, Barry Scheck, Sandra Day O'Connor, John Bradley, Walter Cronkite, Texas Governor Rick Perry, Bob Herbert, The Life of David Gale, New York Times, Death Penalty, Rick Perry, Dalia Lithwick, Cameron Todd Willingham, Cameron Todd Willingham Innocent, Media News
Rob Fishman

It's clear that Cameron Todd Willingham was (mis)tried by a kangaroo court, but will justice be better served by the media zoo that's ensued?

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Does a Botched Execution Constitute Double Jeopardy?

Judge H. Lee Sarokin | Posted 10.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: Executions, Romell Broom, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Botched Executions, Death Penalty, Politics News
Judge H. Lee Sarokin

Despite our personal desire for vengeance and punishment, it should not be the function or policy of the government to impose the death penalty.

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Welcome to Texas: The Death Penalty State

Rachel Farris | Posted 10.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: Texas-Executions, Death Penalty Moratorium, Cameron Todd Willingham, John Bradley, Death Penalty Debate, Texas Governor Rick Perry, Death Penalty, Rick Perry, Politics News
Rachel Farris

As the case against Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in 2004, sinks like a rock, the truth has started to float to the top and the rats are streaming out from all sides, led by none other than Texas Governor Rick Perry.

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Cameron Todd Willingham: Texas Governor Dismisses 3 Commission Members Just 48 Hours Before Arson Review

AP | JEFF CARLTON | Posted 10.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Execution, Capitol Punishment, Rick Perry, Texas, Craig Beyler, Willingham, Beyler Report, Cameron Todd Willingham, Arson Finding, Texas Forensic Science Commission, Innocence Project, Death Penalty, Politics News

DALLAS — A report concluding a faulty investigation led to a Texas man's execution won't be reviewed by a state board as planned Friday after Go...

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James Degorksi Ruled Elgible For Death Penalty In Brown's Chicken Massacre

Daily Herald | Barbara Vitello | Posted 09.30.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Brown's Chicken Massacre, Brown's Chicken Murders, James Degorski, Death Penalty, James Degorski Death Penalty, Brown's Chicken Trial, Chicago News

The jury that convicted James Degorski on seven counts of first degree murder unanimously ruled Wednesday that the former Hoffman Estates man is eligi...

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Former New Mexico Governor, Toney Anaya, Talks Death Penalty Politics

Dave Maass | Posted 09.25.2009 | Politics

Read More: Capital Punishment, New Mexico Gubernatorial Race, Toney Anaya, Terry Clark, Garrey Carruthers, Death Penalty, New Mexico, Bill Richardson, Politics News
Dave Maass

New Mexico repealed the death penalty during the 2009 Legislative session, but since the lawmaking body is prohibited from enacting retroactive laws the two men currently on death row are still eligible for execution.

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Time for a Moratorium to Rethink Executions

Jennifer Brunner | Posted 09.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Ohio Senate Primary, Capital Punishment, Death Penalty, Death Penalty Moratorium, Oh-Sen, Jennifer Brunner, Politics News
Jennifer Brunner

When I served as a felony trial court judge in Columbus, Ohio, I learned firsthand that in rape and murder cases, no one is healed by the trial and punishment.

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Shouldn't Innocence Matter?

David C. Fathi | Posted 09.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Supreme Court, Capital Punishment, Human Rights, Criminal Justice System, Crime, Death Penalty, Criminal Justice, Civil Rights, Politics News
David C. Fathi

The shocking truth is that even if the court concludes that Troy Anthony Davis -- who has been on Georgia's death row for 18 years -- is innocent, that may not be enough to save him from the death chamber.

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Shouting from the Rooftops

Diann Rust-Tierney | Posted 09.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Death Penalty, Cameron-Todd-Willingham-Execution, Execution, Cameron Todd Willingham, Cameron Todd Willingham Innocent, Death Penalty Debate, Politics News
Diann Rust-Tierney

Attention has re-focused on the case of one of the four innocent and executed, Cameron Todd Willingham. His story was recently highlighted in a chilling and compelling New Yorker article.

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Being Tough on Crime: Not a Winner in New York City DA's Race

Anthony Papa | Posted 09.21.2009 | New York

Read More: Rockefeller Drug Laws, Cy Vance Jr., Death Penalty, Leslie Crocker Snyder, Manhattan District Attorney, Jim Webb, Drug Reform, New York News
Anthony Papa

If Cy Vance adopts a balanced approach to justice that incorporates compassion, he will go a long way. As for Judge Snyder, I bid her farewell and I wish her ride on a slow boat to China is a good one.

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Romell Broom Execution: Reprieve Granted Over Vein Troubles

AP | ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS | Posted 09.17.2009 | Home

Read More: Rommel Broom, Romell Broom Criminal, Romell Broom Execution, Tryna Middleton, Romell Broom Prisoner, Ohio, Romell Broom, Death Penalty, Ohio Execution, Romell Broom Death Penalty, Romell Broom Ohio, Home News

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The lawyer for an inmate whose execution was halted after an unprecedented two hours said trying to put him to death again in a...

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