Death Row

Arizona May Turn Death Row Over To Private Companies

nytimes.com | JENNIFER STEINHAUER | Posted 10.24.2009 | Politics


FLORENCE, Ariz. -- One of the newest residents on Arizona's death row, a convicted serial killer named Dale Hausner, poked his head up from his televi...

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

Jeff Schweitzer | Posted 10.21.2009 | Politics


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.

Two More Exonerations Stress the Need for Credible Evidence

John Terzano | Posted 10.12.2009 | Politics


John Terzano

Two new exonerations reveal the very real threat of false testimony, and the strong need for corroborating evidence to ensure that credible testimony is presented to juries in criminal trials.

Amnesty International: Japan Must Stop Executing Mentally Ill Prisoners

Posted 11.10.2009 | Impact


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

Still Clinging to the Barbarity of the Death Penalty

Byron Williams | Posted 10.19.2009 | Politics


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.

Cameron Todd Willingham: Did Texas Execute An Innocent Man?

Huffington Post | Posted 10.16.2009 | Politics


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...

Innocent, but Executed

Barry Scheck | Posted 09.30.2009 | Politics


Barry Scheck

Whether our criminal justice system has executed an innocent man should no longer be an open question. Cameron Todd Willingham's case proves that.

China Daily Paper: Executed Prisoners Currently Provide Two-Thirds Of All Transplant Organs

BBC NEWS | Posted 09.26.2009 | World


According to the China Daily newspaper, executed prisoners currently provide two-thirds of all transplant organs. The government is now launching a...

State Media: China Organ Transplants Come From Death Row

AP | GILLIAN WONG | Posted 09.26.2009 | World


BEIJING — China has launched a national organ donation system to try to reduce its dependence on body parts harvested from executed prisoners, w...

When It Comes to Claims of Actual Innocence, Courts Need to Consider Recantations

John Maki | Posted 09.20.2009 | Chicago


John Maki

You might think that judges would be willing to review convictions based on testimony that was later recanted, but in fact courts frequently ignore recantations.

Troy Davis, A Man Without a Voice, Speaks for Too Many

Lainey Shany | Posted 08.28.2009 | Politics


Lainey Shany

But who is Troy Davis? Who is this man who has stirred many to action, yet is unable to speak to directly to the media himself? And how can all of us come to see his plight as our own?

Sister Helen Prejean, of Dead Man Walking fame, on a Kinder Christianity (Video)

Waylon Lewis | Posted 06.30.2009 | Living


Waylon Lewis

The nun behind Dead Man Walking, the best-selling book and movie offers a Christianity that's about mercy, compassion, forgiveness, humor. "It's all about waking up," Sister Helen says.

Eric Holder: Help Save 49 Lives, Please!

Claudia Ricci | Posted 03.07.2009 | Politics


Claudia Ricci

If it were up to me, I would withdraw death penalty eligibility in all of the pending cases, and I would tell prosecutors never to seek the death penalty. There is the possibility of saving 49 lives.

Letting Go of the Death Penalty

Richard C. Dieter | Posted 02.13.2009 | Politics


Richard C. Dieter

California has 670 people on death row. Each one of them costs the state about $90,000 per year over what it would cost to keep them in prison if they were condemned to permanent jail time instead.

Andre Thomas, Texas Death Row Inmate, Pulls Out Eye, Eats it

AP | MICHAEL GRACZYK | Posted 02.09.2009 | Home


HOUSTON — A Texas death row inmate with a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye and told authorities he ate it. Andre Thomas, ...

W The Merciless: What We'll Remember Most About George W. Bush

Frank Schaeffer | Posted 01.08.2009 | Politics


Frank Schaeffer

It all started when George W. Bush presided over 152 executions while governor of Texas, more than any other modern era American governor. It ended with the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

Fifty Years later, the Oldest Survivor of Death Row USA Casts Ballot for Obama

Joan Cheever | Posted 12.03.2008 | Home


Joan Cheever

Moreese Bickham spent 13, 695 days behind bars; 37 years and six months in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. He stayed 14 years and 10 months on Loui...

New Jersey Bans The Death Penalty

AP | TOM HESTER Jr | Posted 03.28.2008 | Politics


Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law Monday a measure that abolishes the death penalty, making New Jersey the first state in more than four decades to ...