It was a zinger worthy of a Presidential debate (and almost certainly just as planned). Justice Samuel Alito, confronted Federal Public Defender Robin Conrad in the midst of her oral argument on April 29 in Glossip v. Gross, a case challenging Oklahoma’s lethal injection execution procedure. Yes. I mean, let’s be honest about what’s going on here. … Continue reading »
capital punishment
Life in prison with the remote possibility of death: the death penalty and California’s broken punishment paradigm
This week’s 39-page opinion by U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney — finding California’s death penalty unconstitutional — is already setting off a wave of debate in the media. We will see yet whether it catches any political fire in this dry, but so-far politically placid, season in California. There is much to recommend in the opinion (read it here courtesy … Continue reading »
Execution songs
For millennia, executions were a major public event in the western world. Hanging or shooting or stoning or burning or disemboweling someone in the public square served to warn people against transgressing the law, denying the faith, or just ticking off the ruler. Public executions were also opportunities for moral instruction as presiding ministers extracted … Continue reading »
‘Full force of our justice system’?
The Consoler-in-Chief was in Aurora, Colo. this week to comfort the community struggling to cope with the mass killing (and wounding) over the weekend. Among the tones of emotion and religious faith that the President is remarkably effective at communicating in his restrained and reasonable way, the sharpest and most quoted words were reserved for … Continue reading »
Executing the innocent: Time to boycott Georgia and Texas
I believe the death penalty is an inherently degrading and dehumanizing punishment that should not be used even on the most heinous criminals. But when a state executes individuals with substantial doubt about their actual innocence they have crossed a different line. They are not only human rights violators, they are a clear present danger … Continue reading »
Proud to be from Illinois: Land of Lincoln becomes 16th state to abolish capital punishment
Illinois has just became the 16th state to ban capital punishment: Governor Pat Quinn, a recently elected Democrat, signed into a law a bill abolishing capital punishment passed by the Illinois legislature several weeks ago (read John Schwartz and Emma Fitzsimmons reporting in the NYTimes here). Governor Quinn’s statement highlighted the “new abolitionism” themes that … Continue reading »