Posts Tagged capital punishment

Image of a green execution gurney against a filthy wall.
By Meg Sri • 8 years ago

Death Penalty Support Reaches An All Time Low, and Here’s Why Feminists Should Care

According to a study published this week, the percentage of Americans who support public executions has now reached its lowest point in more than four decades, with less than half of the country offering support for the brutal, internationally disfavoured punishment.

According to a study published this week, the percentage of Americans who support public executions has now reached its lowest point in more than four decades, with less than half of the country offering support for the ...

terry
By Katie Halper • 12 years ago

PA to execute man who killed his sexual abuser

Child advocates, former prosecutors, mental health professionals, former jury members, and the victim’s widow are asking for clemency for a survivor of child sexual abuse who killed his abuser and is scheduled to be executed October 3. Terrance “Terry” Williams was raised by a physically violent mother and was first raped at the age of 6, before being raped repeatedly by his school teacher. As a teenager, he was sexually abused by two adult men, one of whom used his position as a church leader to prey on teenagers and boys. Three months after turning 18, Terry killed one of his abusers, the day after he had raped him.

But the jury had no idea about this abuse. Terry was ...

Child advocates, former prosecutors, mental health professionals, former jury members, and the victim’s widow are asking for clemency for a survivor of child sexual abuse who killed his abuser and is scheduled to be executed ...
By Katie Halper • 12 years ago

Support the death penalty? Then you support executing the innocent

I am vehemently, philosophically opposed to the death penalty. Even if our criminal justice system were not racist, classist, and unfair, I’d be against the death penalty. Even if we somehow had a way to ensure that we only executed people we knew were guilty, I’d be against it.

But I respect the position of people who are for the death penalty in theory, but realize that the way it is implemented calls for, at least, a moratorium on capital punishment. Today, it is impossible to support the death penalty in the United States without tacitly supporting the execution of innocent people. You can try to defend the death penalty and convince yourself that it doesn’t kill innocent people, but you ...

I am vehemently, philosophically opposed to the death penalty. Even if our criminal justice system were not racist, classist, and unfair, I’d be against the death penalty. Even if we somehow had a way to ensure that ...
By Katie Halper • 12 years ago

Capital punishment: doesn’t work and takes place mostly in Texas

The Economist has mapped out all the executions that have taken place in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Not surprisingly, as Think Progress points out, “[o]ver one-third of all executions during this period took place in Texas, for a total of 481 people killed by that state. Of the remaining, non-Texas executions, the overwhelming majority are clustered in a small group of southern states.”

Also, a report released Wednesday by a committee formed by the National Research Council suggests that,

This new report from the Committee on Law and Justice concludes that research to date on the effect of capital punishment on homicide rates is not useful in determining whether the death penalty ...

The Economist has mapped out all the executions that have taken place in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Not surprisingly, as Think Progress points out, “[o]ver one-third of all ...
By Lori Adelman • 13 years ago

A moment of silence

“Thank you for supporting me and my family I have been truly blessed by god through you all. Thank you for showing solidarity and continuing the good fight for humanity.”

-Troy Davis, in an interview conducted just last weekend by Davis’ cousin E. Red.

Last night, Troy Davis was executed by lethal injection at 11:08 PM.

Executed, despite the existence of reasonable doubt in his case.

Executed, despite the protests and pleas of hundreds of thousands of grassroots organizers and global leaders alike, who chanted and wrote and marched to say “Not in my name.”

Executed, despite the utter senselessness of state-sanctioned murder.

Some news sources are reporting* that Davis was strapped to a gurney for his last four hours as ...

“Thank you for supporting me and my family I have been truly blessed by god through you all. Thank you for showing solidarity and continuing the good fight for humanity.”

-Troy Davis, in an