Articles

After decades of main­tain­ing a posi­tion that the gov­ern­ment should have the legal right to impose cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, the Chicago Tribune is now call­ing for abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty. Noting con­cerns about inno­cence, the arbi­trary nature of the pun­ish­ment, and the pub­lic’s shift away from the death penal­ty, the Tribune announced on March 25 that,​“The evi­dence of mis­takes, the evi­dence of arbi­trary deci­sions, the sober­ing knowledge that…

In a recent Dallas Morning News edi­to­r­i­al, the paper not­ed the incon­gruity between the state apol­o­giz­ing to a prison inmate who was freed fol­low­ing DNA test­ing, and its aggres­sive pur­suit of irrev­o­ca­ble exe­cu­tions. The paper stat­ed that​“human error is an inher­ent part” of the jus­tice sys­tem and called on leg­is­la­tors to enact a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions until the state can review the accu­ra­cy and fair­ness of its capital…

An edi­to­r­i­al pub­lished by the Lexington Herald-Leader not­ed that sup­port for Kentucky’s death penal­ty has declined since the state resumed exe­cu­tions a decade ago. The paper stat­ed that 68% of state res­i­dents ques­tioned in a recent poll pre­ferred a long prison sen­tence over exe­cu­tion for those con­vict­ed of mur­der. The Herald-Leader con­clud­ed that Kentuckians’ grow­ing unease about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is reflec­tive of a broad­er nation­al trend away from the death…

In his final arti­cle for 2006, colum­nist Richard Cohen chose to high­light the​“mad­ness of the death penal­ty” and to draw atten­tion to the exe­cu­tion of those with men­tal ill­ness. Cohen used the case of Gregory Thompson, a severe­ly men­tal­ly ill Tennessee death row inmate, to illus­trate some of the broad­er prob­lems with the death penal­ty. Thompson is delu­sion­al, para­noid, schiz­o­phrenic, and depressed. He takes 12 pills every day and receives twice-monthly anti-psychotic…

Commenting on the recent halt­ing of exe­cu­tions over the lethal injec­tion con­tro­ver­sy and DPIC’s Year End Report, the Boston Globe raised the ques­tion of​“whether exe­cu­tion by any method is right.” Their edi­to­r­i­al con­clud­ed that “[t]his hit-and-miss sys­tem offers no pro­tec­tion for soci­ety,” and stat­ed that a life-with­­out parole alter­na­tive would​“pro­tect soci­ety while allow­ing for redress if a pris­on­er could show he was wrong­ly con­vict­ed. A ban on…

The Albany Democrat-Herald in Oregon recent­ly edi­to­ri­al­ized that the​“death penal­ty isn’t work­ing,” and con­clud­ed​“that the death penal­ty here is a point­less law. If we’re not going to apply this law, then get­ting rid of it would be the less expen­sive course.” The edi­to­r­i­al cit­ed the pos­si­bil­i­ty of error, the arbi­trari­ness of apply­ing the pun­ish­ment to some dan­ger­ous offend­ers but not oth­ers, and the dif­fi­cul­ty of ever…

A Los Angeles Times arti­cle on the recent hear­ings in fed­er­al District Court regard­ing the California’s lethal injec­tion process was enti­tled​“The Chaos Behind California Executions.” Excerpts from the…

As the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission con­tin­ued its review of the state’s law, the Asbury Park Press called for replac­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment with the sen­tence of life with­out parole. This would bet­ter serve the fam­i­lies of vic­tims, accord­ing to the edi­to­r­i­al, because the death penal­ty caus­es years of uncer­tain­ty with lit­tle prospect that the sen­tence will be car­ried out. The edi­to­r­i­al stat­ed:Reasons to drop death penal­ty Posted by the…

Two of Texas’s main news­pa­pers have called for an inde­pen­dent inves­ti­ga­tion into the case of Ruben Cantu, who was exe­cut­ed in Texas in 1993. New evi­dence revealed in the Houston Chronicle ear­li­er in the year has thrown con­sid­er­able doubt on the guilt of Cantu. Susan Reed, the District Attorney of Bexar County where Cantu was tried, has refused to step down as head of the coun­ty’s inves­ti­ga­tion, even though, as a judge, she signed Cantu’s death war­rant, an apparent…

In a recent edi­to­r­i­al, the Washington Post called atten­tion to the case of Earl Washington, who was wrong­ly con­vict­ed and almost exe­cut­ed in Virginia before being freed fol­low­ing DNA tests. The edi­to­r­i­al notes that even a con­fes­sion is far from defin­i­tive proof that the right per­son has been con­vict­ed. Washington was spared through the clemen­cy process after courts denied his claims. Now a new defen­dant, whose DNA matched evi­dence from the crime scene,…