Racial Justice Reports

In 2020, President Joe Biden promised to end the fed­er­al death penal­ty dur­ing his admin­is­tra­tion and his Attorney General, Merrick Garland, acknowl­edged its many long­stand­ing con­cerns as rea­sons to pause fed­er­al exe­cu­tions pend­ing an inter­nal review of Department of Justice poli­cies and prac­tices. Project 2025, the prod­uct of a polit­i­cal con­ser­v­a­tive move­ment, calls for President Trump to ​“obtain final­i­ty” for all fed­er­al death row pris­on­ers. Before any deci­sion about future use of the…

Missouri is one of a hand­ful of states that has con­sis­tent­ly exe­cut­ed peo­ple in the last five years. In 2023, Missouri exe­cut­ed four peo­ple. Understanding the his­tor­i­cal appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty in Missouri helps our under­stand­ing of how capital punishment…

Whenever the peo­ple of this city and coun­ty believe that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is nec­es­sary to expi­ate a crime, they hold their own court, select­ing a jury to their lik­ing, and if the deci­sion of​‘Guilty’ is had, they fin­ish up their work at the old courthouse…

McLaurin v. Okla. State Regents for Higher Ed., 87 F. Supp. 528, 531 (W.D.