A new nationwide poll shows that the majority of Americans now support alternatives, such as life without parole and restitution for victims, over the death penalty. It also shows that the death penalty is simply not the hot button issue people used to think it was. Most poll respondents said that if their representatives supported…
Read MoreZiggy Zeigler is a former elected official in Montana, a leader in the Montana Catholic community and a prominent figure in the state’s Republican party. He is also a murder victim’s family member. In this editorial, he shares some of his experiences in the aftermath of his fathers’ murder and what he wants to see…
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When a murder goes unsolved, the victim’s family is left with only their imaginations of what might have happened. There are no answers and certainly no justice. That is why New Hampshire state representative Renny Cushing supported a law establishing the state’s first Cold Case Unit dedicated exclusively to investigating unsolved murders. “When they reopen…
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Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 for setting the house fire that killed his three daughters, but a spate of forensic fire experts have said (both before and after the execution) there is no credible evidence that it was arson. The Texas Forensic Science Commission, which was charged with examining the forensic practices in…
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New Yorkers for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NYADP) could have closed up shop years ago – when New York effectively ended the death penalty. But they are still in business and the recent case involving Frank Sterling is a good reminder why. Frank Sterling had been awake for 36 hours when he confessed to…
Read MoreFor every execution, there is a team of executioners. They are the ones who watch the inmate in his or her final days, who strap the inmate to the gurney, who insert and reinsert the needles, and who remove the inmate from the gurney following the execution. They are the ones who deal with botched…
Read MoreNew Hampshire’s death penalty study commission, which started its investigation in October 2009, just concluded its final hearing. The Commission has heard from over a hundred witnesses on issues such as innocence, fairness, public safety, and alternatives. The review has been a showcase of the death penalty’s litany of problems. Ray Krone and Juan Melendez…
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“There may be other reasons to support the death penalty, but the belief that it deters murder should not be one of them,” said Tomislav Kovandzic a University of Texas (UT) criminologist who testified at the most recent hearing of the New Hampshire Commission to Study the Death Penalty. Kovandzic’s UT study found no support…
Read MoreThe American Law Institute (ALI), one of the most respected institutions in American jurisprudence, recently got rid of the capital punishment section from its Model Penal Code. If that sounds dry to you, consider this: the Model Penal Code serves as a blueprint for state laws. Their capital punishment section was the framework on which…
Read MoreA bill that would end the death penalty in Kansas passed the senate judiciary committee by a vote of 7 to 4! The ‘yeses’ included five Republicans and two Democrats and this bi-partisan endorsement moves the bill on to the full state senate, which will debate the issue as early as next week. The committee’s…
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