Death Penalty

Time To Kill The Death Penalty

August 30, 2015 Bernie Horn, www.ourfuture.org Resist! capital punishment, Death Penalty

By Bernie Horn for Campaign for America's Future - The death penalty is a tragic little corner of America’s “culture wars,” where mostly Southerners insist that their moral beliefs require them to execute thy neighbor. Little do they understand that they’re on the wrong side of history. There’s been quite a turnaround from the late 1980s and early 1990s, when progressives were afraid to speak out against the death penalty. At that time polls indicated that about 80 percent of Americans favored capital punishment while only 16 percent opposed it. The polls don’t look so bad today, but at least on the surface Americans still favor the death penalty by a margin of two to one. And yet, progressives should now feel comfortable on this issue, especially in a primary election. Most Democrats do not favor capital punishment and support by independents is around 60 percent and falling fast.

Act Out! [19] – 5 Reasons To End Death Penalty; Yes We Need Feminism

July 10, 2015 Eleanor Goldfield, www.occupy.com Resistance Report Death Penalty, Feminism, Media

By Eleanor Goldfield in Occupy - Hey guys, lose the catcalls, it’s O.K. to just say hi. Activists celebrate the good, the bad and the ugly for America’s 239th. We will take a good look at how activists relate to this day while keeping up the good fight. The episode features art, images, and messages for this past 'independence day'. SCOTUS doesn’t mind burning people alive, but here are five reasons why the death penalty should be abolished. Supporters of the death penalty blame activists of why the current torture of inmates on death row occurs due to limited options on how to kill people and make them suffer. The death penalty is a symptom of the culture of violence. Get an update on the #ShellNo actions and what’s next for the brave kayaktivists. Femicide is a hate crime and Dr. Heidi Lewis explains what feminism really is and how the personal is political.

Nebraska Becomes First State To Abolish Death Penalty Since 1973

May 28, 2015 Kim Bellware, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Death Penalty, Law, Nebraska

The days of the death penalty in Nebraska are ending. Lawmakers repealed the death penalty on Wednesday with a 30-19 vote that overrodethe veto Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts signed on Tuesday. One week earlier,lawmakers voted 32-15 to pass LB 268, which would replace the death penalty with life without parole as the state's highest penalty. The number of death penalty states in the U.S. stands at 31 following Nebraska's repeal. "We're just thrilled that these legislators studied this issue so carefully and so intently and ultimately came to the conclusion that repealing the death penalty is the best thing for the state," Stacy Anderson, executive director of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, told The Huffington Post on Wednesday.

Advocates Ask Gov Nixon To Acknowledge Racism In Executions

April 2, 2015 Staci Pratt, www.madpmo.org Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Death Penalty, Racism

St. Louis--The State of Missouri is scheduled to execute Andre Cole on April 14 and Kimber Edwards on May 12 despite evidence that all black potential jurors were removed from each those capital juries by St Louis County prosecutors simply because they were black. The NAACP, ACLU, and dozens of other organizations and congregations in St Louis and around the state have joined in a call for Governor Nixon to convene a Board of Inquiry to halt the executions and investigate this issue. In a letter delivered to Governor Nixon, numerous state legislators and organizations representing thousands of Missouri residents from across the state joined in the request to investigate the systemic exclusion of African-American jurors in death penalty cases from St. Louis County, particularly by all-white decision-makers.

Ohio Inmates Challenge Lethal Injection Drug Law

December 26, 2014 Staff, www.ap.org Organize! Death Penalty

Four death row inmates are suing Ohio officials over a new state law that shields the names of companies that provide lethal injection drugs. Attorneys for the inmates claim in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the law violates their free speech rights by concealing the identities of those to whom they would like to direct their messages about the death penalty. They also contend it restricts information that helps inform the public debate over capital punishment. The new restrictions cleared the Legislature last week, and Gov. John Kasich signed the law Friday. They take effect in March. The law also keeps confidential the names of participants in Ohio executions. The anonymity for companies — which would last 20 years — is aimed at compounding pharmacies that mix doses of specialty drugs. Inmates Ronald Phillips, Raymond Tibbetts, Robert Van Hook and Grady Brinkley claim in their lawsuit that the policy will silence one side of the debate over executions. "Everyone should be deeply troubled by this bold piece of legislation which has been passed to artificially reduce public criticism of government actions in one of the most important areas in which it acts: the taking of a human life," said Cleveland attorney Timothy Sweeney, who represents Phillips.

US Becoming Isolated In Support For Death Penalty

December 18, 2014 Natasja Sheriff, www.america.aljazeera.com Educate! Death Penalty, Human Rights, Torture, United Nations

The United Nations General Assembly is expected on Thursday to vote once again on a draft resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, with the United States likely to become even more isolated in its support for capital punishment. The resolution was first adopted by the General Assembly in 2007; this is the fifth time member states will vote. On Nov. 21, 114 of the 193 U.N. member states voted “yes” on the draft resolution at a session of the Third Committee, which is responsible for social, humanitarian and cultural issues. Thirty-six countries opposed the resolution. The U.S. has repeatedly lodged “no” votes alongside countries with troubling human rights records — including China, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the top four executing countries in 2013. The United States ranked fifth.

Washington Governor Suspends Death Penalty

February 12, 2014 Rachel La Corte, www.seattlepi.com Resist! Death Penalty

Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday he was suspending the use of the death penalty in Washington state for as long as he's in office, announcing a move that he hopes will enable officials to "join a growing national conversation about capital punishment." The first-term Democrat said he came to the decision after months of review, meetings with victims' families, prosecutors and law enforcement. "There have been too many doubts raised about capital punishment, there are too many flaws in this system today," Inslee said at a news conference. "There is too much at stake to accept an imperfect system." Inslee's action is the latest of several state moves on the death penalty in recent years.

Secret, Untested Drug Cocktails Are Leading To Botched Executions

February 8, 2014 Staff, www.democracynow.org Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Death Penalty, Human Rights

"I have seen about 20 executions in Ohio, and this one started out very similar to the others. The chemicals started flowing, and Mr. McGuire turned his head away from his family and appeared to close his eyes and become unconscious. And that’s how they normally go, but this one differed in that he started gasping, as his son described. His stomach was going—compressing and then going out. He clenched his fists. Mainly, it was the deep gasping. I think the attorneys called it "air hunger," and it was almost a choking sound, a snorting sound. And keep in mind that we’re hearing this through glass, so we’re not in the same room, but we’re in the next room through glass, and they were very audible, loud gasps that he was expressing. And it appeared to be he was trying to breathe, and he was struggling in some capacity. Don’t believe he was conscious, have no idea if he was feeling pain, but it was definitely a struggle unlike anything I’d seen in all the executions I’ve witnessed."

The Secret Cruelty of US Executions

January 22, 2014 Robert Wilber, Martha Rosenburg www.alternet.org Educate! Death Penalty

Of course, a U.S. execution is already secretive. After the prisoner is strapped down and the needles inserted, the drape is closed and the audience only sees the supine prisoner with long tubes running from his arm to a hole in the wall. The warden and chief executioner who "work" the chemical from the other side of the wall are never seen. Sometimes there are not even witnesses. But now secrecy extends to "Individuals who prescribe, compound, prepare, or otherwise supply the chemicals for use in the lethal injection procedure,” charges National Public Radio. "It’s just a shroud of secrecy to try to prevent criticism and skepticism from the public," agrees American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri legal director Tony Rothert. “I think the First Amendment gives the public the right to know who the execution team is, and to question whether or not they’re qualified."

Doctor Angry Ohio Executed Inmate Despite ‘Horror’ Warning

January 21, 2014 Ed Pilkington, www.theguardian.com Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Death Penalty, Human Rights

"The anaesthesiologist who told a court that a new two-drug protocol used in an execution in Ohio would cause the inmate “agony and horror”, has expressed anger the state pressed ahead with the experiment despite his warnings[…]A minute-by-minute timeline of the execution recorded by the department of correction shows that the first syringe of midazolam and hydromorphone was injected into McGuire at 10.27am on Thursday, and the second syringe of the two-drug cocktail a minute later. At 10.42am, the medical team asked for five more minutes to be certain of death, and it was not until 10.52am – 25 minutes after the start of the execution – that the timeline records “no heart sounds, no lung sounds”. Jonathan Groner, a professor of clinical surgery at Ohio state college of medicine, said there were several disturbing issues thrown up by the department of correction's record. The actual cause of death would have been a massive overdose of hydromorphone, which is an opioid. “This was a death by narcotic overdose. When heroin addicts die they die unpleasantly — and that's what happened here.”

After 12 Years On Death Row: ‘Me, I Have to Live’

October 21, 2013 AbZimet, www.commondreams.org Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Death Penalty

Anthony Graves was released in 2010 after serving 18 years in a Texas prison - 12 on Death Row, over four in solitary confinement, with two execution dates postponed - for a 1992 murder he didn't commit. Unbitter about having been so long "exposed to the underbelly of the beast," he was awarded $1.45 million; he spent some on himself, his mother, and a foundation to help at-risk kids whose parents are in prison, and spoke at public events on the issue. This week, he also established a law scholarship fund at the University of Texas Law School Foundation in the name of Nicole Cásarez, the Houston attorney and journalism professor - his "defender, friend, sister and angel" - who fought along with her students for eight years to free him.

They Killed Him With The Whole World Watching

October 17, 2013 Stanley Howard, www.socialistworker.org Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Death Penalty, Police abuse, Racism

"Stanley Howard is a victim of torture by Chicago police and a former Illinois death row prisoner who was exonerated and pardoned by former Gov. George Ryan in 2003. While on death row, he cofounded the Death Row 10 along with other police torture victims. Though still imprisoned unjustly, Stanley works with the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and writes regularly for its newsletter, the New Abolitionist. Here, he reviews the new book I Am Troy Davis, which tells the story of the innocent death prisoner murdered by the state of Georgia in 2011. Though he was killed, Troy Davis' struggle inspired people around the country to stand up against the racist death penalty."

Source Of Death Penalty, 2% Of Counties

October 5, 2013 Lisa De Bode, america.aljazeera.com Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Death Penalty

More than half of all executions carried out in the U.S. stem from cases in just two percent of counties, yet taxpayers nationwide have shouldered the estimated $25 billion cost of death row sentences since 1973, a new study found. Death sentences are at their lowest level in four decades – 85 percent of all counties have not had a single person executed in more than 45 years according to the study – but criminal offenders in the states of California, Texas, Oklahoma and Florida have a disproportionate chance of ending up on death row, with a small number of counties responsible for a majority of death penalty sentences across the country. Research also revealed that just 62 of the 3,143 counties in the U.S. were responsible for 52% of all death row inmates executed since 1976.

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