Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Billy Sothern : Civil Rights & Liberties
As executions resume in the wake of a Supreme Court decision, we are reminded that a life cannot be willfully ended without violence.
2007
-
Killing Time
After years of performing executions at a pace that scares the bejesus out of the civilized world, Texas has put the brakes on its machine as the Supreme Court considers lethal injection.
-
Sacco & Vanzetti Today
Moshik Temkin : Human Rights & Civil Liberties
History sheds no new light on their guilt or innocence. But it does make clear that their trial and execution was an unjust and intolerable act of barbarism.
-
Divining Demeanor
Patricia J. Williams : Supreme Court
The latest Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty will give prosecutors huge latitude to pick jurors who enthusiastically embrace capital punishment.
-
A Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Billy Sothern : Domestic Violence
Billy Sothern, member of the legal team that represented Patrick Kennedy, convicted of child rape, in a landmark Supreme Court death penalty decision this week, explained the issues at stake in this 2007 essay.
-
Prosecutors and the Death Penalty
Liliana Segura : Attorney General
As the US Attorney purge scandal intensifies, new light is shed on federal prosecutors' struggles with the Justice Department over the death penalty.
-
Kill the Death Penalty
The time has come for the US to join the rest of civilized nations and abolish capital punishment.
-
New Jersey Could Kill the Death Penalty
The Garden State has become the center of gravity in the fight to abolish capital punishment.
2006
-
Questioning Capital Punishment
As doubts grow about the humanity and constitutionality of lethal injection, California, Florida and Maryland have shut down executions. America's flight from the death penalty continues.
-
A Killing Machine Turns 30
This summer marks a grim anniversary of a Supreme Court decision to affirm the death penalty and create a bureaucratic killing machine that puts American justice at odds with the Constitution's underlying values.
-
The Moussaoui Paradox
Bruce Shapiro : Civil Rights After 9/11
Justice triumphed over blood vengeance Wednesday as jurors declined to sentence a marginal 9/11 conspirator to death, while one of the real culprits languishes in a secret prison, unlikely to ever come to trial.
-
Georgia's King Tribute Rings Hollow
Patrick Mulvaney : Civil Rights & Liberties
Abolishing the death penalty was one of Coretta Scott King's signature issues. The irony is that Georgia remains one of the leading practitioners of the death penalty.
2005
-
Waiting for Roper v. Simmons
Patrick Mulvaney : Supreme Court
A forum on the juvenile death penalty.
2003
-
Ryan's Courage
Governor George Ryan's commutations change death-penalty politics forever.
2002
-
Aiming for a Conviction
David Lindorff
A "death qualified" jury cannot be representative of the defendant's community.
-
A Troubling Sentence
Charlie Alston's one holiday wish this season was simply that the criminal justice system uphold his legal rights.
2001
-
Dead Reckoning
Bruce Shapiro : Foreign Affairs
A global effort to force an end to capital punishment in the US is gaining strength.
-
No Vengeance, No Justice
Patricia J. Williams : Media Analysis
It is precisely the dimension of McVeigh's evil that presses us to consider most seriously the limits of state force.
-
McVeigh's Last Message
If the FBI can "misplace" documents in the most notorious death-penalty case since the Rosenbergs, is it any wonder that nearly 100 innocent people have ended up on death row in recent years?
2000
-
Death Trip: The American Way of Execution
Robert Sherrill : Supreme Court
If you tried to sell death-penalty stock on Wall Street, the Securities and Exchange Commission would have you prosecuted for fraud.
This week: A look at the advocacy group MoveOn.org at 10. Plus: Controversy in Africa over the indictment of the Sudanese President; Amy Alexander and Chris Rabb on the challenges facing minority journalists in their transition to the web; and The Nation's new sex column. (13mb mp3)
Get the best of The Nation on your Blackberry or Smartphone: mobile.thenation.com
