Death Penalty

'Worse Than Death'

Alexander Cockburn : New Mexico

Now that New Mexico has ditched the death penalty, not much will change--except for the worse.

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.

Killing Time

Mary Mapes : Texas

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

Sunil Dutta

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

Patrick Mulvaney

The Garden State has become the center of gravity in the fight to abolish capital punishment.

Questioning Capital Punishment

Bruce Shapiro

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

Bruce Shapiro

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.

Grim Fairy Tales

Patricia J. Williams : Youth

Too Young to Die

: Supreme Court

Waiting for Roper v. Simmons

Patrick Mulvaney : Supreme Court

A forum on the juvenile death penalty.

A Killing Tradition

Joan Jacobs Brumberg : Virginia

Minors like Malvo fare poorly in Virginia.