“Recommended this week” features highlights from the past week in news about the death penalty, crime survivors, and trauma-informed responses to crime.
Meet the red-state conservatives fighting to abolish the death penalty, The Washington Post
In college, Senator Colby Coash celebrated at a tailgate party outside of a prison during an execution. Now he’s part of the growing conservative movement to end the death penalty in the United States. In an in-depth article about that movement, The Washington Post interviews EJUSA staff members Heather Beaudoin and Marc Hyden, both part of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.
Killing Dylann Roof, The Atlantic
In the aftermath of the mass shooting in a black church in Charleston last year, the government praised the families of the victims for their powerful messages of forgiveness. Now, that same government wants to execute the man who committed the crime, even though his death by lethal injection will change nothing about the conditions that lead him to violence. Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a very powerful analysis on DOJ’s announcement to seek the death penalty for Dylann Roof.
Federal Judge OKs Louisiana’s Request For No Executions Until At Least 2018, Buzzfeed
An Eighth Amendment and equal protection case brought by the inmates regarding the state’s lethal injection protocol is on hold, so there will be no executions in Louisiana for at least 18th month.
Life After Wrongful Conviction, The New York Times
Can you imagine what life would be like after spending years — or decades — in prison for a crime you didn’t commit? What about on death row?
Report: Police departments need mental health programs, U.S. News and World Reports
Police officers witness high levels of trauma in the work that they do, and this report displays a need for departments to address that.
Child witnesses of Chicago gun violence talk their way through the pain, CBS News
Story Squad allows child victims of gun violence to record and share their stories as a form of healing.
