Capital Punishment
Capital Punishment is a profoundly complex and controversial aspect of the criminal justice system. This section provides articles that explore the history, legal frameworks, and ethical debates surrounding Capital Punishment in various jurisdictions. Correctional professionals can gain insights into the procedures, implications, and ongoing discussions about using the death penalty. Understanding Capital Punishment is crucial for those involved in its administration and those engaged in broader criminal justice reform efforts. For further context, explore related topics on supermax prisons.
Paul Kendrick, 30, was sentenced for the 2018 beating death of Sgt. Mark Baserman and received two additional life terms for assaults on COs
Byron Black was convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two daughters in 1988 while on work-release for another shooting
Edward Zakrzewski’s execution is the ninth in 2025 — more than any other state and the most Florida has carried out in a year since 1976
Inmate David Cox asked the state to schedule his execution in 2018, calling himself “worthy of death”
The state says that allowing spiritual advisers to touch inmates as they die is a security risk
Gov. Mike Parson is considering whether to reduce the convict’s sentence to life in prison without parole
The move settles a 2017 lawsuit challenging the use of solitary confinement for death row inmates in the state
The inmate’s lawyers argued that his trial counsel should have done more to show he is intellectually disabled
Ohio passed the law banning the death penalty for seriously mentally ill inmates earlier this year
Attorney General Merrick Garland gave no timetable for the moratorium
Under the state’s revised capital punishment law, inmates must have the choice between the electric chair and a firing squad
Attorneys have argued that the state hasn’t tried hard enough to get lethal injection drugs or compound them itself — as some other states have done
This comes despite widespread concern that enough safeguards are in place to prevent executing the innocent
The nation’s last lethal-gas execution was carried out more than two decades ago
SCDC is slated to use the electric chair to execute Brad Sigmon on June 18
At issue is how juries review “aggravating” factors
Lethal injection was the default execution method in the state when Brad Sigmon was sentenced
Death row inmates will be asked to choose whether they want to die by electric chair, firing squad or lethal injection
Firing squads have not been used in the U.S. for more than a decade
Raymond Riles’ “death sentence can no longer stand” because the 70-year-old’s history of mental illness wasn’t properly considered by jurors
The governor signed legislation Wednesday making Virginia the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty
“Not a day goes by that we’re not scanning the news for hints of when or if the Biden administration will take meaningful action to implement his promises”
The justices agreed to hear an appeal filed by the Trump administration
The death penalty would be blocked for people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder or delusional disorder
The state can’t put anyone to death now because its supply of lethal injection drugs expired and it has not been able to buy any more
Right now, inmates can choose between electrocution and the current default method of lethal injection
The legislation repealing the death penalty now heads to Gov. Ralph Northam, who has said he will sign it into law
Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose face the death penalty in the deaths of Sgt. Christopher Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue
Bills will be introduced “in the near future” that would replace all capital sentences with a sentence of life in prison without parole
Executioners’ accounts are at odds with reports by media witnesses of how inmates’ stomachs rolled, shook and shuddered as the pentobarbital took effect
The organizations sent a letter to Biden, urging that he act immediately “on your promise of ensuring equality, equity and justice in our criminal legal system”
Critics want Biden to bulldoze the federal death chamber in Indiana and strike the death penalty from U.S. statutes entirely
It’s a dramatic shift for Virginia, which has put more people to death over its centuries-long history than any other state
