A June 3 editorial in the Sun Sentinel called on Florida Governor Rick Scott (pictured) to veto the Timely Justice Act, a bill passed by the legislature earlier this year that would accelerate executions. The bill requires the governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days of a Supreme Court review, with an execution to follow within 180 days. According to the editorial, flaws in the system, evidenced by death row exonerations, should be sufficient reason to reject a bill that would speed up the death penalty process in the state. The law would give wrongfully convicted inmates approximately eight months to prove their innocence before facing execution. The editorial highlighted the case of former Florida death row inmate Seth Penalver, who spent a dozen years on death row before this conviction was overturned last year. Another inmate, Clemente Javier Aguirre-Jarquin, recently presented DNA evidence that could set him free, seven years after his conviction. The editors concluded, “If the Timely Justice Act were already law, he would not be alive to fight for his own justice.” Twenty four wrongfully convicted inmates have been released from death row in Florida since the mid-1970s, more than any other state in the country. Read full editorial below.
In a recent op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, former FBI Director William Sessions (pictured) underscored the importance of reliable FBI forensic analysis in convicting the guilty and exonerating the innocent. Sessions provided the example of Willie Jerome Manning, who received a last-minute stay of execution in Mississippi in order to allow time to conduct testing on DNA evidence that could exonerate him. Manning was convicted in 1994 based on FBI testimony that has since been invalidated by the U.S. Department of Justice. Sessions also urged state prosecutors and judges to work with defense counsel in cases where the FBI provided potentially unreliable evidence. Sessions concluded, “When evidence used to convict an individual is discovered to be unreliable, justice requires that we review that case, no matter how long ago the conviction occurred.” Read full op-ed below.
The Kansas City Star recently called for an end to the death penalty in Kansas and Missouri. The editors wrote, "The arc of history is bending toward justice when it comes to the death penalty, and there’s no good reason Missouri and Kansas should lag behind and continue to be on the wrong side of both history and justice." The high costs of implementing capital punishment and the risks of wrongful executions were among the reasons cited for doing away with the punishment. With respect to innocence, the paper stated, "The Innocence Project reports that, through the use of DNA evidence, 18 death row prisoners so far have been exonerated. They already had served a total of 229 years behind bars in 11 different states. That should never happen. Nor should execution of the innocent, but the only way to be positive it doesn’t is to ban capital punishment." Kansas has not had a execution since it reinstated the death penalty in 1994. The editorial concluded, “Kansas and Missouri should follow Maryland’s recent example and become the 19th and 20th states to adopt a sane and civilized approach to this matter.” Read full editorial below.
Colorado recently set an execution date in August for 
An editorial in the Miami Herald called on Florida Governor Rick Scott (pictured) to veto a bill recently passed by the legislature requiring the governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days after state Supreme Court review, with the execution taking place within 180 days after that. The editorial listed several death row inmates who were exonerated after spending more than 10 years on death row, and noted, “All of them might have been executed if the legislation that's heading to the governor's desk had been the law.” The paper urged Gov. Scott to block the legislation and wait for a committee appointed by the Florida Supreme Court to study the state’s judicial system to release its findings. The editorial concluded, “If the point is to reduce the stay on death row to less than a decade, it's the wrong focus. The real problem is sloppy justice, cases where evidence is hidden, for instance, and current state rules that allow judges to impose the death penalty without even a unanimous jury vote.” Read the Editorial below.
A recent editorial in the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star highlighted some of the conservative arguments opposing the death penalty. Edward Crane (pictured), founder of the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank, said, “My own view on capital punishment is that it is morally justified but that the government is often so inept and corrupt that innocent people might die as a result. Thus, I personally oppose capital punishment.” The editorial also quoted Mary Kate Cary, former speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush, who said, “It’s becoming harder to justify the death penalty in the face of evidence that our system is flawed.… For years, people like me thought that being tough on crime meant supporting the death penalty. Times have changed, and it’s time for conservatives to get on the right side of the death penalty argument. One can oppose the death penalty and still be in favor of a tough, affordable, accurate and fair criminal justice system.” The editorial also cited the high cost of capital punishment as another conservative argument against the death penalty. Read full editorial below.
A recent editorial in the Nebraska Star-Herald indicated a shift in its position on capital punishment. Although the paper has always supported the death penalty in the past, its latest editorial described the death penalty as "a mockery of justice" and a "charade." The editors continued to express the belief that some murderers might deserve capital punishment, but the infrequency and unpredictability of executions led them to conclude that "[S]o few killers are actually put to death that it’s become a judicial aberration." The paper pointed out that "only three people have been put to death since 1976" and "[n]one of the current 11 death row inmates are scheduled for execution," leading them to the position that "Maybe it’s time to put an end to the charade." Read the full editorial below.
The Dallas Morning News used the recent repeal of the death penalty in Maryland as an occasion to advocate for death-penalty reform in Texas. The editors commented on the overall impropriety of capital punishment: “At best, the death penalty is selectively used state-supported retribution, which has no place in a civilized society.” The editorial supported six pending bills aimed at improving the fairness of the death penalty. One bill would bar the use of informant testimony in death penalty cases if the testimony was obtained from a witness or accomplice in exchange for favorable treatment. Another bill would create criteria based on scientific standards for courts deciding whether a defendant has an intellectual disability that would exclude him from execution. A third bill would introduce a Racial Justice Act into law to protect against bias in death sentencing. Read full editorial below.