“Recommended this week” features highlights from the past week in news about the death penalty, crime survivors, and trauma-informed responses to crime.
Execution drop makes some think death penalty is fading away, Associated Press
The end is near. Executions are on track to hit a 25-year low in 2016.
Colorado Rep Don Pabon on John Fugelsang’s ‘Tell Me Everything’, Sirius XM via YouTube
The National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL) recently passed a resolution in favor of repealing the death penalty. With the help of Equal Justice USA, they studied the issue and came to the conclusion that the system is broken beyond repair and must be ended. Colorado State Representative Dan Pabon joins John Fugelsang on Sirius XM’s “Tell Me Everything” to talk about the resolution and NHCSL’s commitment to ending the death penalty in the U.S.
Meet The Ex-Gang Members From Chicago, Baltimore Trying to Keep Blood Off The Streets, The Real News on YouTube
A video primer on the Cure Violence model to prevent harm and treat violence like a public health epidemic.
Communities Collaborate To Quash Violence, Huffington Post
Using a public health framework to help prevent violence: “With a public health approach to youth violence prevention that is population-based and works to increase protective factors, the Health Department strives to reduce risks and focuses on prevention.”
We can argue about whether death penalty is too ‘cruel’ to be legal, but it’s certainly too ‘unusual’ to be fair, The Dallas Morning News
It wasn’t long ago that The Dallas Morning News supported the death penalty. Now, they realize that the system is broken beyond repair.
A sentence that is dysfunctional, too costly, Omaha World Herald
The speaker of the Nebraska legislature reminds Nebraskans: “There are many reasons why we voted to end Nebraska’s death penalty. It is nothing more than a dysfunctional symbol — it doesn’t prevent violent crime; the threat of it caused the Beatrice Six to plead guilty to crimes they didn’t commit, costing taxpayers additional tens of millions of dollars; and the fact that we can’t actually carry out the sentence means we’re making false promises to the families of murder victims.”
Death penalty, symbol of Florida’s racial bias, The Miami Herald
Great op-ed by NAACP Florida State Conference President Adora Obi Nweze about Florida’s death penalty chaos and its disproportionate effect on people of color.
New OTSE Report Details Dwindling Death Penalty, Ohioans to Stop Executions
Ohioans to Stop Executions releases “A Relic of the Past: Ohio’s Dwindling Death Penalty,” a report on the status of Ohio’s death penalty. This report is published during the 40th anniversary year of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 2, 1976 decision in Gregg v. Georgia.
