February 22, 2007 -
As Chris noted in this recent post, there is growing world-wide opposition to the death penalty, and the numbers are down in the U.S. but it's still most prevalent in the South.
October 18, 2006 -
If ever criminal defendants need quality representation, it's when their life is on the line. But at least 37 people currently on North Carolina's death row -- and at least 16 people executed by the state since 1977 -- did not have lawyers at trial who would meet today's minimum standards of qualification for capital defense attorneys.
June 27, 2006 -
From Tennessee Independent Media:
Pending Double-Execution Reveals Inherent Flaws in Tennessee's Death Penalty System
by Anna Thompson
Nashville: In the past forty-six years, the state of Tennessee has executed only one man. Now, in one day, it plans to execute two. Both Sedley Alley and Paul Dennis Reid are scheduled to die in the early morning of June 28th and both cases reveal critical flaws in Tennessee’s broken death penalty system.
January 31, 2006 -
Pam Spaulding has an excellent post up reminding people that Coretta Scott King wasn't just "the wife of Martin," although she worked tirelessly to ensure his legacy was remembered -- including battling the unconstructed Southerners l
November 7, 2005 -
The editorial board of The Birmingham News, Alabama's largest newspaper, announced today in a long editorial that it's changing course and is now opposed to death sentences:
June 1, 2005 -
Today, years of battle over the death penalty will come to a head as the North Carolina House will vote on whether to pause executions for two to three years -- a move endorsed by hundreds of municipalities and organizations across the state, and across the ideological spectrum.
May 23, 2005 -
The Houston Chronicle ran an important news story yesterday, which reported the encouraging news that "Death sentences are at the lowest point since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976," including states in "the venerable Southern 'death belt."
April 14, 2005 -
In recent decades, most states have rejected electrocution, firing squads, hanging, and gas chambers as cruel and unusual, leaving lethal injection the most popular method of execution in this country.