capital punishment

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Justice Stevens Explains Shift on Death Penalty

Former supporter cites racism, politics, judicial activism

(Newser) - Former Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens is making clear for the first time why he switched course on the death penalty in 2008, calling it unconstitutional, the New York Times reports. Writing in the New York Review of Books, Stevens, who supported capital punishment in 1976, reveals his revised...

Iraqi President Refuses to Execute Saddam Cohort

He won't sign order for Tariq Aziz

(Newser) - Although Tariq Aziz has been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by Iraq's supreme court, the president of the country says he won't sign the order. Interestingly, Aziz is also on trial for attacks on the Kurds, and President Jalal Talabani is a member of the ethnic...

US in Company of Thugs on Capital Punishment
US in Company of Thugs
on Capital Punishment
OPINION
Nov 10, 2010 1:58 PM CST

US in Company of Thugs on Capital Punishment

Op-ed: It should make all of us stop and think

(Newser) - A new Gallup poll about the death penalty may not change anyone's views on the matter, but one aspect of it should at least "give us all pause for thought," writes Steven L. Taylor at Outside the Beltway . It's not the big takeaway stat—that support for capital...

Debate Over Killer's Fate Seeps Into Conn. Races

Death penalty becomes central issue after home invasion conviction

(Newser) - One of the most horrific crimes in Connecticut's history may weigh on the state's elections. Stephen Hayes is awaiting sentencing for the home invasion murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters next week and Republican candidates for Senate and governor have been making the death penalty a central issue....

Drug Shortage Puts Executions on Hold

Lethal injection ingredient in short supply

(Newser) - Executions by lethal injection have been put on hold in several states because of a shortage of a key ingredient for the killer shot. Sodium thiopental—generally used to render the condemned unconscious before other drugs are injected, although Ohio and Washington use it to kill—is in short supply...

Ga. Executes Inmate Who Attempted Suicide

Triple murderer dies by lethal injection

(Newser) - A Georgia inmate who tried to kill himself last week was executed by lethal injection last night after the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal for a stay of execution. Brandon Rhode, 31—convicted of the 1998 murders of a trucking company owner, his 11-year-old son, and his 15-year-old daughter—...

Utah AG Tweets Execution News

Critics find social media approach disrespectful

(Newser) - Today's execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner —the first by firing squad in 14 years—was also likely the first execution announced on Twitter, Mashable reports. Utah AG Mark Shurtleff tweeted about the event: “I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner’s execution....

Utah Firing Squad Executes Inmate

No reprieve for Ronnie Lee Gardner

(Newser) - Ronnie Lee Gardner became the first American executed by firing squad in the 21st century at just after midnight in a Utah prison. The convicted killer was strapped into a chair and five police marksmen fired at a target on his chest, AP reports. One gun was loaded with an...

India Elders Get Death in Honor Killing

First use of capital punishment for this crime

(Newser) - The village elders hunted the young couple down, dragging them from a bus, strangling the groom and forcing his bride to drink pesticide in an honor killing with roots thousands of years old. But for the first time, India has sentenced the murderers to death for their actions, setting up...

China Secretly Executes Thousands Each Year—or More

Cattle rustling, vandalism capital offenses in China

(Newser) - Want to find out how many people China executes each year? Not a chance, Kate Allen writes in the Guardian . Though China is known to execute more people each year than all other countries put together, the government keeps the actual numbers under such tight wraps that even Amnesty International...

Condemned Man Spared During Last Meal

Murder convict Hank Skinner granted last-minute reprieve

(Newser) - A death row inmate in Texas was spared Wednesday just as he was finishing his last meal on earth—chicken, a bacon cheeseburger, fries, catfish, onion rings, and a salad. Hank Skinner, who had been on death row since 1995, was convicted of bludgeoning to death his live-in girlfriend and...

Guillotine Returns to Paris
 Guillotine Returns to Paris 
Mar 17, 2010 11:22 AM CDT

Guillotine Returns to Paris

On display at museum 33 years after last head rolled

(Newser) - Some 33 years after the last head rolled in France, the guillotine is back—as a cutting-edge display item in a Paris museum exhibit about crime and punishment. The former instrument of death was displayed at the request of Robert Badinter, the politician who ended the death penalty in France,...

Jurors Used Bible to Decide Death Sentence

Amnesty International troubled by Old Testament justice

(Newser) - Death-row foes are complaining that a Texas jury ordered to consider only evidence presented in court consulted the Old Testament before condemning a man to death. Jurors examined highlighted passages in Bibles passed around the jury room to help them decide the fate of Khristian Oliver. The con killed a...

Ohio Con Wins Week Break After Botched Execution

Executioners struggled to find vein for 2 hours

(Newser) - An Ohio death row inmate was given a week-long reprieve by the governor yesterday after the execution team couldn't find a usable vein in over 2 hours of trying at his planned execution, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer . Romell Broom, convicted of raping and killing a teen girl in...

Obama May Soon Face Decisions on Death Penalty
Obama May Soon Face Decisions on Death Penalty
ANALYSIS
Jun 21, 2009 12:50 PM CDT

Obama May Soon Face Decisions on Death Penalty

Cases might alter president's support for narrow use of executions

(Newser) - As if reviving the economy, reforming health care, taming North Korea, and forging relations with Iran weren’t challenges enough, President Obama may soon have to deal with the death penalty. Within months, the cases of six federal death-row inmates, all black and all convicted of capital murder, could land...

Iranian Female Artist Hanged Amid Uproar

Execution follows retracted confession for alleged murder

(Newser) - International supporters yesterday criticized the execution of an Iranian woman for a murder allegedly committed when she was a juvenile, despite a 2-month stay of execution ordered less than 3 weeks ago, the Telegraph reports. Her lawyer wasn’t notified 48 hours before the hanging, as is required. Delara Darabi’...

New Mexico Bans Death Penalty
 New Mexico
Bans Death Penalty
Mar 19, 2009 3:14 AM CDT

New Mexico Bans Death Penalty

Guv abolishes executions after wrestling with conscience

(Newser) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has signed a bill abolishing the state's death penalty, reports the Santa Fe New Mexican. Richardson, who formerly supported capital punishment, said replacing execution with life in prison without the possibility of parole was “the most difficult decision of his political life.” He...

Amnesty Moves to Stop 128 Iraqi Executions

Says international standards may have been ignored in trials

(Newser) - Amnesty International has called for Iraq not to execute 128 prisoners sentenced to death, saying their trials may not have conformed with international rules, Reuters reports. Amnesty says Iraq should release the names of and charges against the prisoners, noting that capital punishment is an ineffective threat when suicide bombing...

Recession May Kill Pricey Death Penalty

Worried about legal costs, states consider abolition

(Newser) - Death and taxes may always be with us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t fiddle with them. Specifically, as the recession decreases tax revenue for states, some are considering abolishing the death penalty, which can cost millions. “And we can’t afford that, when there are better...

Punishment Fits the Crime for Colo. Noise Offenders

Teens made to listen to an hour of Manilow after late-night backyard gig

(Newser) - One Colorado judge has had it with teenagers making repeat appearances in his court for noise violations. So rather than issue a fine for mom and dad to pay, he’s devised his own punishment: Noise violators are forced to listen to an hour of gloriously un-hip music, from Barney...

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