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Death Penalty

Shouldn't Innocence Matter?

David C. Fathi | Posted 11.24.2009 | 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 11.22.2009 | 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 11.21.2009 | 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 11.16.2009 | 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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Dare Devils: Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Death Panel

Rachel Farris | Posted 11.12.2009 | Politics

Read More: Texas, Cameron Todd Willingham, Obamacare, Death Penalty Debate, Texas Governor Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Health Care Reform, Death Penalty, Health Care, Obama Health Care, Innocence Project, Rick Perry, Sharon Keller, Politics News
Rachel Farris

Since when do conservatives care about anyone dying? The most disturbing example is Cameron Todd Willingham, was sentenced to death after refusing a plea-bargain for life in prison in Texas.

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"Apostate" Hussain Muradi to be Deported to Afghanistan

Ali A. Rizvi | Posted 11.12.2009 | World

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Apostasy, Islam, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, Council of Ex-Muslims, United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Muslims, Death Penalty, Deportation, Hussain Muradi, World News
Ali A. Rizvi

Muradi, a prominent and vocal member of the UK's Council of Ex-Muslims, renounced Islam as part of his fight against Islamists -- and as part of his effort to combat "the taboo that comes with such a renunciation."

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Amnesty International: Japan Must Stop Executing Mentally Ill Prisoners

Posted 11.10.2009 | Impact

Read More: Hanging by a Thread, Amnesty International, Death Row, Capital Punishment, Death Penalty, Japan, Impact News

Though Japan has a national policy against allowing visitors access to death row inmates, Amnesty International's latest report, "Hanging By A Thread,...

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Blinded by Tunnel Vision: What the Execution of Cameron Todd Willingham Can Teach Us About Wrongful Convictions

John Maki | Posted 11.09.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Juan Rivera, Cameron Todd Willingham, Wrongful Conviction, Death Penalty, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Exonerations, Innocence Project, Chicago News
John Maki

Even when there is compelling evidence of actual innocence, it can be almost impossible to shake a mistaken but firmly held belief in a convicted person's guilt.

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Trial and Error: Houston, We've Got a Problem

Lynne Glasner | Posted 11.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Exoneration, Trisha Meili, Texas-Executions, Jeffrey-Deskovic, Criminal Justice System, Crime, Manhattan District Attorney, Richard Aborn, Wrongful Conviction, Death Penalty, Central-Park-Jogger, Politics News
Lynne Glasner

As Morgenthau steps down as DA, one of the three primary contestants stands out. Richard Aborn has a track record of working for reform.

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Still Clinging to the Barbarity of the Death Penalty

Byron Williams | Posted 10.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Texas, Exoneration, Corsicana, New Yorker, Death Row, Cameron Todd Willingham, Death Penalty Advocates, Death Penalty Debate, David Grann, Death Penalty, Arson, Innocence Project, Barry Scheck, Politics News
Byron Williams

Since it is impossible to avoid error, the only way one can support the death penalty is to suggest that we have expendable portions of society.

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"This Comment Has Been Removed"

Norm Stamper | Posted 10.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Abortion, Barney Frank, Gun Control, Professor Gates, Obama, White Male Privilege, Cambridge Police, Teddy Kennedy, Dr. Tiller, Socrates, Sai Baba, Sexism, Homophobia, Sotomayor, Racism, Drug War, Death Penalty, Health Care, Censorship, Nazi-Baiter, Politics News
Norm Stamper

How long will it be before one of those pistol-packing town-hallers, driven to the brink by publicly aired hate-talk, pulls his gun, and then its trigger?

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Cameron Todd Willingham: Did Texas Execute An Innocent Man?

Huffington Post | Posted 10.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Criminal Justice System, Capital Punishment, Cameron Willingham Innocence, Crime, Elizabeth Gilbert, Texas, Arson, Innocence Project, Barry Sheck, Cameron Todd Willingham Execution, Dna Testing, Gerald Hurst, Cameron Willingham Execution, Cameron Todd Willingham, Death Penalty, Cameron Willngham Death Penalty, Death Row, Politics News

Huffington Post blogger Barry Scheck, of the Innocence Project, weighs in on the new evidence revealed by an investigative report in the New Yorker on...

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Doubt and the Death Penalty

Cyrus Vance | Posted 09.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: Conviction Integrity Unit, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Cameron Todd Willingham, Manhattan District Attorney, Criminal Court, Willingham, Wrongful Conviction, Death Penalty, Repeat Offenders, Arson, Justice, Politics News
Cyrus Vance

Victims of crime deserve justice. Those who commit crimes must be held accountable for their actions. But just as we prosecute, we also must safeguard the rights of the innocent.

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Kenya: Death Sentences Reduced To Life By Pres. Kibaki

AP | TOM MALITI | Posted 09.03.2009 | World

Read More: Kenya, Foreign Affairs, Advocacy, Mwai Kibaki, Kenya Crime, Kenya Death Sentences, Kenya Death Penalty, Death Penalty, Capital Punishment, Death Penalty Debate, World News

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya's more than 4,000 death row inmates all will have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the president announced ...

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Quinn: Keep Death Penalty Moratorium

AP | Posted 08.30.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Capital Punishment, Pat Quinn, Brian Dugan Death Penalty, Death Penalty Moratorium, Illinois Death Penalty Moratorium, Death Penalty, Illinois Death Penalty, Chicago News

CHICAGO (AP) -- Gov. Pat Quinn says the state's moratorium on capital punishment should continue even as DuPage County prosecutors seek the death pena...

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China Executions To Be Reduced To "An Extremely Small Number"

Huffington Post | Posted 08.29.2009 | World

Read More: Executions, Capital Punishment, Human Rights, China Capital Punishment, Foreign Affairs, China Executions, Death Penalty, China Human Rights, China Death Penalty, China, Chinese Executions, Advocacy, World News

China, which executes more people per year than any other country, vowed this week to cut back on the habit, ABC News reports. According to Supreme P...

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Have Gun, Will Travel

Cliff Schecter | Posted 08.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Harry Reid, Gop, Death Penalty, Blue Dog, Fraud, John Thune, Politics News
Cliff Schecter

Here go the GOP and Blue Dog Dems again with the Thune Amendment, which assaults both the federalism they cherish in rhetoric and the common sense we cherish post-Enlightenment.

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Should Physicians Participate in the Death Penalty?

Srinivasan Pillay | Posted 08.21.2009 | Living

Read More: Murder, Srini Pillay, Law, Guilt, Brain, Crime, Srinivasan Pillay, Needles, Ethics, Healing, Death Penalty, Morality, Physician, Gunshots, Living News
Srinivasan Pillay

I submit that delaying the death penalty is an indication that our own brains are in conflict about killing people in the first place.

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Will US Seek Death Penalty in First Trial of Former Gitmo Detainee?

Amnesty International | Posted 08.09.2009 | World

Read More: Guantanamo, Trial, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Death Penalty, War on Terror, Military Commissions, World News
Amnesty International

Last month, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani became the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be brought to the United States for trial outside of the military commission system.

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Sensationalist Film Exploits Human Rights Issue in Iran

Amnesty International | Posted 07.25.2009 | Entertainment

Read More: Amnesty International, Women, Death Penalty, Iran, Human Rights, The-Stoning-of-Soraya-M, Entertainment News
Amnesty International

An accurate and thoughtful film about executions in Iran would be welcome, but we will still have to wait, as the Stoning of Soraya M is not it.

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Experts Agree: Death Penalty Not a Deterrent

Tamar Abrams | Posted 07.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Iran, Execution, Homicide, Traci Lacock, Crime, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, John Van De Kamp, Criminologists, Death Penalty, Michael Radelet, China, Troy Davis, Deterrence, U.S. Supreme Court, California, Politics News
Tamar Abrams

Only three countries in the world -- China, Iran and Saudi Arabia -- execute more prisoners than the U.S each year; a practice that costs the nation hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

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Third Screen: The Next Manhattan DA May Be A Woman

Vickie Karp | Posted 07.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Leslie Crocker Snyder, Ed Koch, New York City Politics, Crime, Manhattan DA, Mayor Koch, Death Penalty, Drugs, War on Drugs, Gangs, Feminism, Politics News
Vickie Karp

Leslie Crocker Snyder is running to be the first woman to be Manhattan District Attorney. Snyder has prosecuted mafia members and drug lords and gang members. She created the first sex crimes unit in the United States, writing the Rape/Shield law that, to this day, saves rape victims from malicious and overly-broad cross-examination.

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Obama Admin May Permit 9/11 Suspects To Plead Guilty In Capital Cases

AP | LARA JAKES | Posted 07.06.2009 | Politics

Read More: Death Penalty, Guantanamo Trials, Barack Obama, Guantanamo, Politics News

WASHINGTON — Guantanamo detainees facing the death penalty could plead guilty without a full trial under a plan the Obama administration is cons...

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As Death Penalty Questions Swirl, Bar Association Hosting Debate

AP | Posted 07.06.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Death Penalty, Chicago Death Penalty Debate, Chicago Bar Association, Death Penalty Debate, Chicago News

CHICAGO (AP) -- The Chicago Bar Association's death penalty task force is hosting a discussion and debate, just days after Cook County's public defend...

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State's Attorney Won't Halt Death Penalty Prosecutions Despite Public Defender's Plea

Huffington Post | Posted 07.05.2009 | Chicago

Read More: Cook County Death Penalty Cases, Death Penalty, Mike Quigley, Cook County State's Attorney, Chciago Death Penalthy, Cook County Public Defender, Abishi Cunningham, Chicago News

Prosecutors in Cook County will continue seeking the death penalty despite pleas from the public defender for a moratorium. Chicago Public Radio repo...

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