Death Penalty

For the first time in a long time, crime is not a banner issue in this year’s big election.  A quick round-up on where the major party candidates for president and vice president stand on capital punishment.  (In alphabetical order.) Joe Biden - Biden supports capital punishment.  Biden was the driving force behind the Violent Crime [...]

News Update 08.08.08 North Carolina The Rowan County district attorney has announced that he will not seek the death penalty against Candace Drye, the only female defendant among the three people charged with the June murder of a local dentist. District Attorney Bill Kenerly also agreed not to seek death against a woman, already serving time [...]

Richard Holbrooke in an interview for the Sarajevo’s newspaper Dnevni Avaz: He deserves the death penalty for what he did. Radovan Karadzic’s arrest is of the historical importance. The news about... This is just a reminder about the new stuff, thanks a lot.

By CAITLIN HEANEY Evening Sun Reporter Adams County's decision whether to seek the death penalty for a Fairfield man accused of stabbing a former co-worker more than 100 times and setting his body... Pro-Death Penalty, Keeping the public informed on death penalty,lethal injection, and execution news.

Daily Dispatch The story, about a 23-year old girl who faked her death to escape three men who violently raped her, hacked her with knives and dumped her bloodied body into a river , hit a nerve... Pro-Death Penalty, Keeping the public informed on death penalty,lethal injection, and execution news.

Redding News. The state Supreme Court this week upheld the 1994 death penalty conviction of a migrant worker who fatally shot a sheriff's deputy in the back of the head while en route to the Shasta... Pro-Death Penalty, Keeping the public informed on death penalty,lethal injection, and execution news.

Activists: Halt death penalty in California [hat tip Talk Left]:WE are an unlikely pair - not "The Odd Couple," but close. Forty-five years ago, one was a successful lawyer practicing in Orange County, the other an aspiring actor living there because his new wife taught at Laguna Beach High School. The lawyer had lawsuits to handle, papers to be filed, people to be found, summonses and subpoenas

News Update 07.18.08 North Carolina Mecklenburg County prosecutors have announced that they will not seek the death penalty against Michael Arthur Howell, who is accused of killing a state insurance examiner who was auditing his Charlotte business. Sallie Rohrbach disappeared during her investigation of Howell; her body was found in South Carolina days later. Howell [...]

McClatchy Watch and Stop the ACLU find Barack Obama flip-flopping on the discussion of sentencing bin Laden to death and then almost hastily trying to fix his mistake. First, on June 18, he said: “What would be important would be for us to do it in a way that allows the entire world to understand the murderous acts that he’s engaged in and not to make him into a martyr, and to assure that the

Associated Press WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) -- Prosecutors say two Virginia Beach men accused of killing a porn producer in Pennsylvania made a number of incriminating admissions. Bryan Kocis was... The amusement of Joe Kerekes and Harlow Cuadra murdering Brian Kocis. In the end they both will pay for their sins.

"Iran’s parliament is set to debate a draft bill which could see the death penalty used for..." Fetched from Darkly Dreaming Casper 2 weeks, 1 day ago.

For many years death penalty has been one of the most controversial topics not only in United States, but all over the world. People and different organizations have been arguing on this topic for a very long time. So now there are two main positions on the question. First one is that death penalty should [...]

Associated Press Writer / July 6, 2008 MONTPELIER, Vt.—It's been more than 50 years since the state of Vermont sentenced anyone to death and 54 years since its last execution, but the man charged... The amusement of Joe Kerekes and Harlow Cuadra murdering Brian Kocis. In the end they both will pay for their sins.

TECUMSEH, Neb. — For more than 10 years, John Lotter has faced death in Nebraska's electric chair for the grisly 1993 triple murder that spawned the movie "Boys Don't Cry." But the state Supreme... The amusement of Joe Kerekes and Harlow Cuadra murdering Brian Kocis. In the end they both will pay for their sins.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has removed the constitutional cloud from the state's method of administering lethal injection in capital cases, Mississippi seems to be getting about the business of... The amusement of Joe Kerekes and Harlow Cuadra murdering Brian Kocis. In the end they both will pay for their sins.

By:  LINDSEY O’NEILL, ESQ. The U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that the death penalty is unconstitutional in child rape cases.  In a split decision (a 5-4 vote), the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s death penalty law for convicted child rapists on the basis that the death penalty constitutes cruel and unusual punishment for the crime of [...]

An Afghan journalist accused of distributing an unacceptable translation of the Koran should be put to death, says former Prime Minister Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai.Ahmadzai, who ran in the 2004 presidential election against current President Hamid Karzai, told Adnkronos International (AKI) he supported the death penalty for Zalmay. "Today Afghanistan is full of vices. Several Afghan restaurants serve liq

Many people across the United States have their own strong opinions on the death penalty. It is a very controversial subject that many times just leads to more arguments and fights. I myself being born and raised in the state of Georgia and interested in the politics of this state have come across released audio tapes of 2 Georgia state executions from 1984 which I will get to shortly.In 1984 Geor

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:HEBRAIC AND JUDAIC CONCEPTS CONCERNING THE DEATH PENALTY     To: Hilton Head Ethics SeminarFrom:  Howard RadestRe: Seminar meeting, Wednesday, June 4, 2008Our final Ethics Seminar of this season will meet on Wednesday, June 4 from 3 – 5 pm. at the Hilton Head Public Library.   Leading the discussion will be Rabbi Arthur Segal, a member of our Sem

(Lack of) freedom of speech on full display in Afghanistan Afghan journalism student facing death over alleged Islam insult says he was tortured KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan journalism student sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam told an appeals court Sunday he confessed to writing materials that questioned the religion’s treatment of women because he was [...]

Who's talking about it? Canada Green Party leader Elizabeth May this week asked the government to demand foreign countries not carry out the death penalty of Canadians imprisoned in other countries. The death penalty has been illegal in Canada for...

Recently I had a Federal judge reject my attempts to keep a client on death row from being executed. I was appointed to represent the defendant after he had lost his trial; lost his appeal in state court; and lost...

Georgia's execution of William Earl Lynd is the first of the year. Lynd was convicted of murdering his girlfriend in 1988. Here are some charts on Death Row and executions in the United States:Death Row Population, 1953-2007Executions, 1789-2008Executions, 1953-2008Death Row Population v. Executions, 1953-2007

China executed more people in the last year that any another country of the world, with at least 470 deaths. The information is part of a report divulged in this tuesday (15) for the International Amnesty. Although still to be the first one of ranking, the country reduced the number of executions in comparison the 2006, when the number arrived the 1,010, according to international entity.In reply to the data the Ministry of Foreign affairs Chinese informed that China limited the penalty of death to a small number of serious criminals e, therefore, does not plan aboliz it. "We control strict and take a cautious attitude in relation to the death penalty to only guarantee that this if wall lamp to a small number of criminals who had committed serious delicts", Jiang Yu said, spokesman of the

Today the human rights organisation Amnesty International has published the number of people in 2007 that were executed.At least 1,250 were killed, while over 3,340 are still waiting to recieve their death sentence.Top of the grim list was China, where 470 were executed.Then came Iran (317), followed by Saudi Arabia (143), Pakistan (135), and then the United States of America (42).Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:Yet again China has executed more people than any country in the world and even now, in Olympics year, China is secretly executing people after unfair trials and alleged torture.Last year also saw the first ever UN resolution in favour of a global moratorium on executions. It was voted through by over 100 nations.Amnesty International blog on this topic

Dennis Fritz, Author of "Journey Toward Justice". Dennis Fritz, the "co-conspirator" in Grisham's 2006 book, "The Innocent Man", Favors Bill That Would Halt the Death Penalty in Missouri...A man wrongfully imprisoned for 12 years for murder who was profiled in John Grisham's nonfiction best seller "The Innocent Man" urged lawmakers Thursday to support a three-year death penalty moratorium in Missouri.Dennis Fritz, the "co-conspirator" in Grisham's 2006 book, told the House's Crime Prevention and Public Safety committee Tuesday that capital punishment should be suspended until the state can review the cases of inmates sitting on death row to ensure the convictions were proper and accurate."There are many, many other people out there -- it's my opinion -- on death row that are innocent," sai

You might find it hard to believe (I don’t), but Tim Kaine has broken another one of his 2005 campaign promises.  Simultaneously granting reprieve to a cop killer and putting a moratorium on the death penalty in the Commonwealth, Kaine has both betrayed Virginians and stopped otherwise legal executions not under the realm of the [...]

Last week, Professors Linda E. Carter and Mary-Beth Moylan of McGeorge School of Law (University of the Pacific) testified before the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice. Their testimony was supported by a remarkable document, a paper entitled, "Clemency in Capital Cases," which focused primarily on the death penalty in the State of California, procedures for clemency petitions in that state and reasons that have been offered in the past for granting or denying clemency. An additional section discusses clemency and death penalty cases in five other states (North Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Georgia and Nevada).Carter and Moylan document that from 1893 to present, there have been 513 executions in the State of California. In that same time period, there were 105 commutatio

  Former radio personality and Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal has once again escaped the death penalty after courts today ruled the previous decision sentencing him to death was... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Justices Rule Against Bush on Death Penalty Case - New York TimesExcerpt:"In a death-penalty case that has become an international issue, the Supreme Court declared on Tuesday that President Bush had no power to tell the State of Texas to reopen the case of a Mexican who has been condemned for murder and rape."

We just received this report from "Perspective's" Middle-East Bureau. In its first session since last week's general elections, the new Iranian parliament is expected to discuss a law that will... NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE OVERLY RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL OR STUPID!

This would be shocking, and big news, if it were something that we death penalty opponents have not been saying for years. BUT... it is still good news to see it getting press. Death penalty costs Md. more than life term [hat tip Abolisth the Death Penalty]:The death penalty has cost Maryland taxpayers at least $186 million more in prosecuting and defending capital murder cases over two decades than would have been spent without the threat of execution, according to a study to be released today. In addition, because most death sentences in Maryland are overturned and eventually reduced to life without parole, state residents are often saddled with the high cost of a capital case and the bill for housing a convicted killer for life, the study found.

Fewer than 55,000 Americans currently receive treatment in psychiatric hospitals. Meanwhile, almost 10 times that number — nearly 500,000 — mentally ill men and women are serving time in U.S. jails and prisons.Out of 2 million prisoners, 500,000 are mentally ill. The mental illnesses are clinical and include manic depression (bipolar disorder) and schizophrenia. Prisons are not equipped to treat individuals who have been diagnosed.Ron Williamson was bipolar, Ron Williamson was the subject of John Grisham's book, The Innocent Man. He wasn’t given his meds and would appear in court incoherent. Chances are that he couldn’t offer much help to his legally blind attorney.A friend of mine sent me this Mental Illness and the Death Penalty Resource Guide , prepared by Kristin Houlé to me t

Cost Study in Illinois ReleasedDated 2/2/2008 - A cost study was recently done in Illinois. It was compiled by Elliot Slosar who is a co-founder of the Abolition in Illinois Movement. The study reveals the shocking amount of funds that go into Illinois' death penalty system. I have attached the Executive Summary to this post...Executive SummarySince the inception of the Capital Litigation Trust Fund in 2000, the State of Illinois has disbursed $148,344,735. The 2008 budget for the Capital Litigation Trust Fund is $15,732,553 -- $6,691,200 of which is earmarked for capital cases in Cook County alone.With an allocation of $65,249,900 since the inception of the trust fund, Cook County has sent six men to death row. The County has actually spent $32,677,089.34, which is an average cost of

I recently entered a post about getting a life sentence for a client in January 2008, who had committed a murder in 1990, and was originally sentenced to death in 1993. A question I often hear is why do death...

YouTube - Jury Recommends Death Penalty For Lisa Montgomery This is a short news video on Lisa Montomery and her crimes. What I found interesting was her husbands comments at the end. He is sticking by her side.

In an interview published in yesterday’s Jackson Free Press, Grisham says he met many wrongfully convicted people while researching the book, and “it doesn’t take too many conversations with men who are imprisoned and will probably never get out, who are innocent, to kind of flip you, to make you suddenly aware of this problem. That’s what happened to me.”It was Ron Williamson’s obituary in the Dec. 9, 2004, issue of The New York Times that caught attorney and author John Grisham’s eye.“It had all the elements of a novel,” Grisham said in an interview with the Jackson Free Press. “The small town Southern feel to it; the small town sport hero going off to make his mark in the major leagues and failing; a grizzly murder; a wrongful conviction; a trip to death row; insanit

  It follows the map of countries in the world where death penalty is regularly applied without respecting human and civil rights: Today could be a good day. Infact the “U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty with a view to abolishing capital punishment. The vote in the 192-member world body [...]

N.J. to Vote on Death PenaltyExcerpt:"New Jersey lawmakers are poised to give final legislative approval on Thursday to a bill abolishing the death penalty, becoming the first state to do so since 1965 when Iowa and West Virginia abolished it."http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071213/death-penalty-new-jersey/

The New York Times has, "New Jersey Nears Repeal of Death Penalty."The New Jersey Senate voted Monday to make the state the first in the country to repeal the death penalty since 1976, when the United States Supreme Court set guidelines for the nation's current system of capital punishment.Approval in the Senate was seen as the biggest obstacle to the repeal, and in the end, it passed 21 to 16, receiving the bare minimum number of votes required in the 40-seat chamber. Three senators did not vote.Legislators on both sides of the debate said they expected the measure to pass easily on Thursday in the General Assembly, where Democrats hold 50 of the 80 seats.Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat and a staunch opponent of the death penalty, has said he would sign a measure ending executions."Today New Jersey can become a leader, an inspiration to other states," Senator Robert Martin, a Republican from Morris Plains who voted for the bill, said during Monday's debate.For those opposed to

Dennis Fritz will be guest speaker at the Annual Meetingfor Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty Kansas City ChapterDate Nov. 15, 2007 - Location - First United Methodist Church on the Independence Square, 400 W. Maple, Independence, MO 64050.Time 7:00 P.M.Dennis Fritz, Exonerated after spending 12 years with a life sentence in Ada, Oklahoma. Thanks to help from the Innocence Project of New York, Fritz was granted a new trial, found innocent and freed from prison in 1999.Mr Fritz is a Board member for the Kansas City Chapter of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty and author of Journey Toward Justice.Dennis Fritz appeared on "Dateline," "Hannity and Colmes" and other national TV and radio shows.A History of Missourians to Abolish the Death PenaltyFrom MADP website:A loosely structured statewide abolition coalition has been active in Missouri since at least 1987 when Missouri passed legislation to permit lethal injection and prepared its first execution since re-instating the de

Have you ever been given an assignment to write an essay on some controversial issue, for example, essay on death penalty? If yes, then this paper can be of a great interest for you, because here you can find tips on how to make it stand out in the pile of similar death penalty essays.   How do you start your death penalty essay?   The best way to attract attention of your target audience is to start with interesting story, and it does not matter whether it is true or not. Many lively stories for death penalty essay can be easily found in the newspaper or any other media source. Another alternative for introduction of your death penalty essay is a quote of a famous person, who states his/her position on the issue of the capital punishment. (more…)

Some activists involved in the anti-death penalty campaign in Indonesia have said that Islam makes it more difficult for Indonesia to get rid of capital punishment.The debate on the death penalty was reignited in Indonesia - the world's most populous Muslim country - after a recent Court of Appeal ruling upheld the death penalty for serious crimes, such as drug trafficking.Agung Yudhawiranata, the director of campaigns and networking for The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) told Adnkronos International (AKI) that "the problem is based on the Koran, which says that some crimes are to be punished by death".“It follows that, in Indonesia, most people believe the death penalty is allowed and the government is reluctant to say it is against the penalty, because it would not be popular among common people,” he added.Indonesia News Blog: http://indosnesos.blogspot.com

Dennis Fritz will be the featured speaker at the Iowans Against the Death Penalty's 45 th anniversary dinner Oct.27 th. Dennis Fritz, author of "Journey Toward Justice," the story of his wrongful conviction in the 1982 murder and rape of a waitress. He was freed when DNA evidence cleared him in 1999 after serving 11 years in prison. The other defendant convicted and later freed in the murder, Ron Williamson, was the subject of John Grisham's book "The Innocent Man."James Benzoni, a Des Moines lawyer, will be honored at the anniversary dinner for his efforts to keep Iowa free of capital punishment. He once faced murder charges and became a lawyer as a result.Others to be honoredIn addition to James Benzoni, the following people will be honored:• Former Gov. Tom Vilsack, who during eight years as governor fought attempts to reinstate the death penalty• David Baldus , a University of Iowa law professor who conducted research on racial disparity in death penalty sentencing cases• J

Journey Toward Justice author, Dennis Fritz, who served 12 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, will share his experiences and discuss his wrongful conviction, incarceration and eventual exoneration through The Innocence Project at St. Catherine of Siena, the Catholic Parish on the Campus of Drake University. Oct. 28th. Dennis Fritz is the other innocent man in John Grisham's book, The Innocent Man.Dennis Fritz will also keynote the Iowans Against the Death Penalty 45th Anniversary Award Dinner on Saturday evening, October 27 at the Catholic Pastoral Center.The event is being presented by the Iowans Against The Death Penalty.About the book Journey Toward Justice (Description from Seven Locks Press)A chilling illustration of how one prosecutor’s reckless pursuit of justice shattered a man’s life, Journey Toward Justice, is a testimony to the triumph of the human spirit and how one man’s extraordinary faith and resolve, along with the wonder of technology, help transfor

Capital punishment is overwhelmingly supported by the American people.Sixty-nine percent of Americans support the Death Penalty and the majority say death penalty is applied fairly. Highest point was in 1994, but its risen in the last 4 years.The Oct. 4-7 Gallup poll indicates that 69% of Americans respond "yes" when asked this question: "Are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder?" This level of support for the death penalty is generally in line with the level of support that Gallup has measured in 13 polls featuring this question since 1999.Most people do not know the danger that innocent people will be executed because of errors in the criminal justice system. Most Americans do not know the reasons, why innocent people are wrongly convicted in capital cases. The reasons included:eyewitness error - from confusion or faulty memory.government misconduct - by both the police and the prosecution.junk science - mishandled evidence or use of unqualified "experts

October 10th is to be observed as the ‘World Day against the Death Penalty’. UN members will vote on a While 130 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, 69 countries retain and use the death penalty. But, the number of countries which actually executes prisoners in any one year is much smaller. Since 1990, more than 50 countries have abolished capital punishment for all crimes.Human rights organizations like Amnesty International express their unconditional opposition to death penalty as a violation of the right to life and the right to be not subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In fact, the death penalty has never been shown to be a more effective deterrent than other, more humane forms of punishment.The World Coalition against the Death Penalty (WCADP), of which organizations like Amnesty International are members, is organizing a day of local action around the world on October 10, celebrated as the World Day against the Death

I like to post some good news stories from each state and from around the world. Here is a news release from the state of New Jersey.New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death PenaltyThe goal of New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NJADP) is to win public and political support for the elimination of execution as a form of punishment in New Jersey. It is our conviction that the death penalty is by its nature unjust in application and immoral in principle.Quinnipiac Poll Finds Majority of New Jerseyans Favor Life Without Parole Over The Death PenaltyPublic Support continues to Trend Away from ExecutionsTRENTON – A Quinnipiac University poll released today shows that New Jerseyans prefer - by a 10-point margin - the punishment of life in prison without parole over the death penalty.By a 51 to 41 % margin, the poll found that New Jerseyans believe that life in prison without parole is the more appropriate punishment for murder."This poll demonstrates that a majority o

According to New Yorkers Against The Death Penalty, The Death Penalty cost a great deal more than life in prison."Elimination of the death penalty [in California] would result in a net savings to the state of at least tens of millions of dollars annually, and a net savings to local governments in the millions to tens of millions of dollars on a statewide basis." (Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the California Legislature, 09/9/99)Total cost of death penalty is 38% greater than total cost of life without parole sentences. (Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, January 10, 2002)Since its return to New York in 1995, $160 million has been spent. The New York Daily News estimates that before the first execution takes place, $238 million will be spent.In addition to the funds required to try death penalty cases, the New York Department of Correctional Services spent $1.3 million to construct New York's 12-inmate death row and pays nearly $300,000 per year to guard the unit. (New York

News Update 09.13.07 North Carolina Erwin Chemerinsky, Duke Law School’s own god of constitutional law, signed a contract on September 4th to become the first dean of the new law school at UC-Irvine. Yesterday, the school rescinded their offer, apparently upset over Chemerinsky’s criticism of the DOJ’s plan to give the Attorney General more control over capital cases. Pretty much everyone thinks this was a bad move on UCI’s part. Samples: one and two. Your loss, California. Elsewhere Since the Supreme Court decided Coker v. Georgia in 1977, no one has been executed in the United States for the crime of rape. But the Court’s decision applied only to the rape of an adult woman. A Louisiana man, facing death for the rape of an 8-year-old girl, is asking the court to consider whether his death sentence is constitutional. You can read Patrick Kennedy’s entire petition here. Kennedy is the only person on death row in the United States for a non-hom

10/21/2004: Debate on death penalty and abortion. Alan Keys and Barack Obama You Tube Video.Debate Organized by the League of Women Voters, Chicago Urban League and Asian American Instituteread more digg story

Via the LA Times: The death penalty system in California is so backed up that the state would have to execute five prisoners a month for the next 10 years just to clear the prisoners already on death row. The average wait for execution in the state is 17.2 years, twice the national figure. And the backlog is likely to grow, considering the trend: Thirty people have been on death row for more than 25 years, 119 for more than 20 years and 408 for more than a decade. Why don’t we just end it then? (Especially becaus the alternative to ending it is to have more lawyers.) Email this post...

Important News: Not Good News At AllUS Attorney General Gonzales to wield new death penalty authority.by wsws (reposted) Wednesday Aug 22nd, 2007 7:35 AMThe US Justice Department is finalizing regulations that would give Attorney General Alberto Gonzales new authority in capital cases to shorten the time death row inmates have to appeal their convictions in federal court. The new provisions, added to last year’s reauthorization of the “anti-terror” USA Patriot Act, grant the attorney general the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate legal counsel to capital defendants. Federal judges now hold that authority. The rules will be written into law after the September 23 deadline for “public comment” has passed. In essence, the attorney general will be given the sole authority to “fast track” death penalty procedures, severely restricting the time condemned inmates have to appeal their convictions after their cases have been settled in state courts.Wr

Colleen Eren, Organizer, New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty is a friend of mine and we keep in constant contact. She would like to get more Suffolk County, Long Islanders on board. I told her I will try to help her any way I can. If you live in Suffolk County, Long Island and would like to become a member, contact Colleen Eren at www.nyadp.org. Here is something Colleen wrote.As a woman living in Brooklyn, trust me, I care about reducing violence in New York. Who wouldn't fully support the idea of lowering crime rates, making the streets safer, having fewer murders against civilians and police officers? Even if it takes some of my hard-earned taxpayer dollars, I consider it a worthwhile investment if these dollars went to improving DNA data bases so we could find repeat offenders. I would consider it worthwhile if these dollars went to funding domestic violence services, to better police training and resources, to gang interdiction programs, to resources for victims of violence.But

Harmon Wray died Tuesday, July 24, 2007 from complications of a massive stroke. Harmon was an organizing member of TCASK Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing, and has been relentless in his work to end the death penalty in Tennessee.Harmon was a champion for prison reform and upholding the dignity of those who are incarcerated. As a teacher and author, he educated countless numbers of people concerning the myriad problems with our current criminal justice system. As adjunct faculty of Vanderbilt Divinity School , Harmon created and coordinated a class at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, comprised of both Vanderbilt students and inmates. Harmon was also a founder of the Restorative Justice Coalition of Tennessee , seeking to transform the current criminal justice system from a system primarily focused on punishment to one which facilitates healing and restoration. Most recently, he authored Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for our Failed Prison System.Harmon was

Passage of Yet Another Death Penalty Bill Called CynicalOn July 16, the New York State legislature responded to the tragic death of a police officer shot in the line of duty by passing its third death penalty bill this year. Below is a statement on the Senate’s action by David Kaczynski, Executive Director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty.July 16 2007 - “We join all New Yorkers in grieving for the recent loss of Police Officer Timoshenko, and other officers and troopers who have died in the service of all of us. “But State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno knows that today’s passage of a death penalty bill all but identical to one passed earlier this year is a cynical and empty gesture that has no chance of becoming law. “He knows, as New Yorkers have learned, that the death penalty does not represent swift or sure punishment. No one has been executed in New York in 44 years. “It is unconscionable that Senator Bruno has led his chamber in this cynical exercise wit

I am opposed to capital punishment. That is not to say I don’t think strong arguments can be made in its favour, on the contrary, I think it is a very difficult dilemma to decide, and by no means clear cut. Personally, I find the idea of an innocent man being executed in error so repugnant, that for most cases, I just don’t think it is worth the risk. There may be some cases where we can be almost completely certain that we have the guilty person, but I still oppose the state’s right to take his life. We are not simply protecting the public by executing him, as we would by destroying a dangerous, rabid dog. By executing, we effectively ‘give up’ on that person. As a humanist, believing that nobody is absolutely evil, I find that hard to do. Even a convicted murderer can contribute something to society, if he can be rehabilitated. I know what you’re thinking: that’s a big ‘if’. Indeed it is. It is not my intention to argue that all criminals can, at least in

Despite clear and convincing evidence that Philip Workman did not fire the bullet that killed Lt. Ronald Oliver, Workman was executed early yesterday morning. In the end, the courts rejected Workman’s challenge to Tennessee’s new execution protocols and Workman went to his death without the full facts of the case ever being given a full and fair hearing. Any argument that Tennesseans can rely on the capital punishment system to provide fair, just, and accurate outcomes died with Workman at 1:38 am yesterday morning. Not content with executing Workman, the Attorney General’s office has requested that execution dates be set for the four men whose executions were stayed during the Governor’s 90-day moratorium, E.J. Harbison, Pervis Payne, Mika’eel Abdullah Abdus-Samad, and Daryl Holton. These men could face execution in as little as a week. But now, even as we mourn, this is the time to rededicate ourselves to bringing an end, once and for all, to executions in our state. Chang

Today I noticed this on Abolish the Death Penalty Blog: and found it very interesting. This is from their Blog -Innocent and ExecutedToday we launched the online version of Innocent and Executed: Four Chapters in the Life of America's Death Penalty. This report tells the story of four men -- Larry Griffin of Missouri and Ruben Cantu, Carlos De Luna and Cameron Todd Willingham, all of Texas -- who were executed despite being almost certainly if not demonstrably innocent. You can see the "micro site" we created here.Many thanks to Josh Hilgart and Jason Zanon, friends and old colleagues of mine, for providing the technical assistance that allowed this to happen. ENDGreat Job, Josh Hilgart and Jason Zanon and Friends. From Barbara's Journey Toward JusticeHere is The Link AgainAbolish the Death Penalty: Innocent and Executed

Abolish the Death Penalty: Ronald Williamson: dead at 51The other Innocent Man In John Grisham's The Innocent man writes book. Journey Toward Justice. A Heartfelt Story now Best Seller on Amazon.comJourney Toward Justice Author Dennis Fritz click here On Amazon HereInternational Orders Order Here Journey Toward Justice by Dennis Fritz From Around The World click on here Amazon International Just type in Journey Toward Justice Author Dennis Fritz

I want to talk about a story I read today. As many of you know there was a little boy abducted in Georgia a couple of weeks ago and was found in a trash bag dead, that is a tradgedy. A sex offender that lived in the trailer park was charged with his murder. Along with the sex offenders mother and father. The report says that the sex offender raped the little boy, the sex offenders father raped the boy, they both forced the child to perform oral sex on them, and the mother masturbated while watching, then they strangled him. If any of you people out there oppose the death penalty, I would like for you to reconsider your opinion. These people are as sick as anyone can get. Here is a link to the story that I read. WRAL-TV

This Quiz is from The Death Penalty Information Center .Feel like reading, here is a great book that changed my mind about the Death Penalty "Journey Toward Justice" Memoir by Dennis Fritz - Seven Locks Press, Santa Ana, CaOn Amazon Here

Let's take a stroll down amnesia lane. In the mid-1980s, there were more than a dozen police officers killed in the line of duty in Canada. This prompted calls for the restoration of the death penalty in Canada which had been formally abolished in 1976 (the same year it was restored in the United States).read more | digg story

Okay, here's a BR position that I don't agree with: He supports the death penalty. "He's willing to listen to the proponents, but he still supports preserving capital punishment for the most heinous crimes," an aide, who asked not to be identified, said Tuesday. " Strange for a Catholic. But, frankly, a pretty substantial majority of Americans continue to support a death penalty, so, while this could hurt him with liberal Democrats, it doesn't hurt his chances for prez. Plus, it further establishes him as a moderate, which, with the polarization of the Republic, is what we need now. - MC

Top 10 Death Penalty BlogsI copied this from ABout.com- Hey why isnt my blog there! 1) Capital Defense WeeklyThis blog is an obvious labor of love for Karl Keys, the Massachusetts defense attorney who has visibly put countless hours into making it the most up-to-date and informative blog about U.S. capital punishment anywhere, with plenty of information on ongoing cases and recent rulings. Presumably it really was a weekly newsletter when it was founded in 1997, but now it's updated almost every day.2) Meet VernonVernon Evans is a prisoner on Maryland's death row, convicted of killing two hotel clerks in 1983. He proclaims his innocence. While working through the long appeals process, he maintains this blog through a friend who forwards him questions from users and posts his answers online, providing a rare glimpse into the life of a man sentenced to die.3) Asia Death PenaltyIn the United States, the death penalty is a divisive issue, but the vast majority of executions take place on

{mosgoogle right}HIROSHIMA -- A 32-year-old man whose wife and 11-month daughter were murdered in April 1999 described the death penalty handed down on the convicted perpetrator -- aged just 18 at the time of the killing -- as a fair ruling."A proper ruling has been handed down," the 32-year-old man, Hiroshi Motomura, said in a news conference after the ruling.The defendant, who had faced charges of murder and rape resulting in death, was handed the death penalty in a ru [...]

{mosgoogle right}The Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for a man convicted of murdering his live-in girlfriend and her daughter in Kanagawa Prefecture in 2001."There is no room for leniency considering the motives for his crime," Presiding Judge Chiharu Saiguchi said in dismissing an appeal by the defendant, 47-year-old Toshiaki Kaga.Kaga got into an argument with Manami Matsui, 12, the d