Entries by Hayley Richbart

Some elect­ed offi­cials and leg­is­la­tors have recent­ly pro­mot­ed some meth­ods of exe­cu­tion as more​“humane” than oth­ers. But every exe­cu­tion method ever used has been shown to car­ry the risk of error and mal­func­tion, with the result that the pris­on­er may expe­ri­ence pain and suf­fer­ing as they are exe­cut­ed. Exactly how much pain and suf­fer­ing the law per­mits is a con­sti­tu­tion­al ques­tion that has evolved with time and society’s beliefs. Methods once viewed as…

On Veterans Day, the Death Penalty Information Center will release a new report about vet­er­ans and the death penal­ty, explor­ing the last­ing effects of mil­i­tary ser­vice and explain­ing why mil­i­tary expe­ri­ences mat­ter when vet­er­ans inter­act with the legal sys­tem. This arti­cle takes a moment to reflect on* Battle Scars *— DPI​’s first path­break­ing report about vet­er­ans and the death penal­ty released a decade ago — and two of the pow­er­ful indi­vid­ual stories of…