On June 26th, Kimberly McCarthy became the 500th person to be executed in Texas since the state resumed the death penalty in 1982. McCarthy’s execution proceeded despite claims that racial bias played a role in the conviction and death sentence. McCarthy, an African American convicted of killing her neighbor Dorothy Booth, faced a nearly all…
The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. released a new video highlighting the racial discrimination in the Texas death penalty system and the shocking case of death-sentenced prisoner, Duane Buck. < Mr. Buck was sentenced to death in Harris County (Houston), Texas, after his trial prosecutor elicited testimony from a psychologist indicating that Mr….
This morning a few Nebraskan lawmakers prevented a vote on the death penalty through filibuster – despite there being an apparent majority who would have voted for repeal. Some of those repeal supporters in particular made the death penalty’s flaws crystal clear throughout the 11-hour debate. It is critical that these key leaders know that…
Maryland’s Governor, Martin O’Malley, today signed the legislation to repeal Maryland’s death penalty. The new law makes Maryland the sixth state in six years to end the death penalty. Maryland represents the first time a Governor put the full weight of his office behind a campaign to end the death penalty. Governor O’Malley sponsored the…
Illinois is using the savings from repealing the death penalty to improve support for families of homicide victims. Funds for this initiative came from the Death Penalty Abolition Fund, which was established as a result of Illinois’ repeal of the death penalty in 2011. The goal was to make sure that repeal was more than…
One hundred and six years ago today Kansas became one of the first states to pass legislation ending the death penalty. Kansas’ death penalty was reinstated a few times since 1907, most recently in 1994. But it was never embraced. In 2010 the State Senate voted 20-20 on repealing the death penalty, with 12 Republicans…
The capital conviction of Jerry Hartfield, an illiterate man with an IQ of 51, was overturned in 1983. At that time, the appeals court ordered a new trial – but that trial never happened. The case was at a virtual standstill until 2006, when another prisoner helped him file a handwritten motion asking that Hartfield…
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty renewed their call for repeal of the Montana’s death penalty following a recent ruling declaring the state’s execution method unconstitutional. “Conservatives dislike waste and inefficiency. That is why we should cast a critical eye when the State is involved with the business of executing people,” said Roy Brown, former…
Today the PA Coalition Against Rape joined numerous groups against sexual violence, hundreds of child advocates, faith leaders, and former jurors in calling on Pennsylvania’s governor to stop the execution of Terrance “Terry” Williams. Pennsylvania is scheduled to execute Williams on October 3rd for killing two men, Amos Norwood and Herbert Hamilton. What the jury…
A new study finds that 3 percent of executions in the United States were “botched.” What the study doesn’t tell you is the ripple affects of harm these botched executions can take. Every execution requires a team of corrections officers who watch the inmate in his or her final days, who strap the inmate to…