“Recommended this week” features highlights from the past week in news about the death penalty, crime survivors, and trauma-informed responses to crime. Restorative Justice: Why Do We Need it?, Brave New Films EJUSA believes restorative justice can transform our justice system. Now a new film by Brave New Films explains why. The Death Penalty Is Finally Dying. Here’s…
The latest sign that the death penalty is falling out of favor comes from Delaware, where earlier this month, the State Supreme Court struck down Delaware’s capital punishment statute as unconstitutional. The Court found that judges rather than juries wielded far too much power in determining who received a death sentence. The Delaware Attorney General…
Nevada just became the ninth death penalty state to go a decade or more without an execution. Add those nine to the 19 states without capital punishment, and you have 28 states that have abandoned executions in either law or practice. And in the remaining states? The death penalty is in complete chaos. Florida’s death…
Last week, I was a guest on Tipping Point with Liz Wheeler to discuss Oklahoma’s damning grand jury report on their lethal injection scandal and Florida’s unconstitutional death penalty. You can watch the segment below: Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty (CCATDP), a project of Equal Justice USA, is a network of political and social…
Update 10/1/15, 9:42pm: Alfredo Pieto was executed in Virginia tonight at 9:17pm. His lawyers had just filed an application for a stay with the U.S. Supreme Court when news of his execution was announced. Update 10/1/15, 7:36pm: After a change of venue, a Federal Court in Virginia heard arguments about the lethal injections drugs to…
In a unanimous ruling early this afternoon, the highest criminal court in Oklahoma granted a two-week stay in the execution of Richard Glossip. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals released their ruling, granting Glossip’s request for time to review new evidence. One piece of evidence submitted to the court was a sworn affidavit from another…
Time is running out for Richard Glossip. In less than 24 hours, Glossip is scheduled be executed, despite mounting evidence of his innocence. Call Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin now, and ask her to stay the execution to allow for further investigation. Her phone lines are being flooded, but she needs to hear from you that…
June’s Supreme Court Decision in Glossip v Grossaddressed one small debate about a specific lethal injection protocol. It also opened the door to many new questions about the future of the death penalty and the likelihood that the Supreme Court will one day rule on the constitutionality of the policy itself. At the heart of…
In 2014, the United States saw its fewest executions in twenty years. Now, less than a quarter of the way into 2015, two new governors – Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania and Kate Brown of Oregon – have declared a halt to executions in their states. In other states, lingering questions over lethal injection are also…
The NAACP has been an essential partner in our most recent campaigns to end the death penalty. This year marked their 105th National Convention, and EJUSA National Organizer Cherrell Brown traveled to Las Vegas to participate. In addition to catching up with some of our strongest allies in the organization, Cherrell made new connections with…