As the year comes to a close, there will be many opportunities to look back at how 2015 stacked up in terms of the country’s use of the death penalty. NPR’s Nina Totenberg – known for her analysis of the Supreme Court – took a first stab, looking at the low number of executions in… Continue reading Why Has The Death Penalty Grown Increasingly Rare?
Tag: Momentum
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College Republicans in Kansas endorse repeal
Citing pro-life views and fiscal responsibility, the Kansas Federation of College Republicans unanimously adopted a resolution calling for repeal of the death penalty. The group urged Kansas legislators to pass repeal and joined ranks with the Republican Liberty Caucus of Kansas, who announced support for repeal last year. The Kansas Republican Party has also dropped… Continue reading College Republicans in Kansas endorse repeal
Texas has not sentenced anyone to death in 2015
While Texas may seem like an outlier in the national trend away from the death penalty, even the Lone Star State is turning away from the antiquated, broken system. For the first time in more than 20 years, no jury in the previous 6-month period has imposed the death penalty. Read the full story in… Continue reading Texas has not sentenced anyone to death in 2015
EJUSA’s statements on death penalty repeal in Nebraska
Nebraska’s death penalty repeal sets a trend for the nation Statement by Shari Silberstein, Executive Director of Equal Justice USA: “Nebraska’s vote marks the end of the death penalty in the United States. Americans have been moving away from executions for more than ten years, but now we have a red state turning that trend… Continue reading EJUSA’s statements on death penalty repeal in Nebraska
Video: International attention to the death penalty
The death penalty is not only dying in the United States. It’s dying all over the world. In the Western Hemisphere, 34 of the 35 countries have ended the death penalty in law or in practice. That was the subject of the 56th Lecture of the Americas, sponsored by the Organization of American States last… Continue reading Video: International attention to the death penalty
North Carolina poll shows state is moving away from the death penalty
A recent survey by Public Policy Polling found that nearly 70% of the residents of North Carolina support ending the death penalty if the offenders pay restitution to victims’ families, are required to work, and remain in prison for life. A majority of the poll-takers who identified themselves as politically conservative said they also favor… Continue reading North Carolina poll shows state is moving away from the death penalty
New poll shows views on the death penalty are changing
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… Continue reading New poll shows views on the death penalty are changing
Death penalty foes hope N.J. will inspire others to follow suit
New Jersey Sen. Robert Martin is mindful of history.
“One hundred years from now I hope we will be remembered for having had the courage to be leaders in advancing this cause for a more civilized society,” said Martin, R-Morris.
The cause: Abolishing the death penalty.
The New Jersey is poised to give final legislative approval on Thursday to abolishing the death penalty, becoming the first state to do so since 1965 when Iowa and West Virginia abolished it.
The state Senate approved the bill Monday; The Assembly will vote Thursday and is expected to pass it. Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he’ll sign the bill.
Death penalty foes are hoping New Jersey will inspire others to follow suit.
“I hope New Jersey will give encouragement to other legislators and public officials to have the courage to face this issue squarely,” said Joshua Rubenstein, Amnesty International USA’s northeast director.
Diann Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said New Jersey reflects a growing national trend against the death penalty, with executions in decline and more states weighing abolition.
“We have learned a lot about the death penalty in the past 30 years,” Rust-Tierney said. “When you look closely at the facts, it just doesn’t add up to sound policy.”
She noted New Jersey’s votes come a week after Michael L. McCormick of Tennessee was acquitted in a retrial after spending 15 years on death row.
The nation has executed 1,099 people since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized the death penalty in 1976. In 1999, 98 people were executed, the most since 1976; last year 53 people were executed, the lowest since 1996.
“The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has a death penalty, keeping company with the likes of Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Afghanistan,” said New Jersey Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union.
Other states have considered abolishing the death penalty, but none have advanced as far as New Jersey. According to the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center, 37 states have the death penalty.
“Some people deserve to die and we have an obligation to execute them,” said New York Law School professor Robert Blecker, a national death penalty supporter who has been lobbying New Jersey lawmakers against abolition.
But death penalty foes point to recent success:
_ The Massachusetts House in November rejected reinstating the death penalty.
_ A 2004 appeals court decision found New York’s death penalty law unconstitutional.
_ The American Bar Association recently said problems in state death penalty procedures justify a nationwide execution freeze.
_ Tennessee lawmakers are analyzing that state’s death penalty.
_ Then-Gov. George Ryan of Illinois declared a moratorium on executions in 2000 after 13 people who were found to have been wrongfully convicted were released.