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.
Louisiana’s special session also included bills that included restricting parole eligibility, harsher penalties for some crimes and publicizing some juvenile court records
The jury voted 11-1 in favor of the death penalty after convicting the 24-year-old man in the death of Mobile Police Officer Sean Tuder
South Carolina’s current execution law requires inmates to be sent to the electric chair unless they choose a different method
Rolando Ruiz was given a lethal injection for fatally shooting Theresa Rodriguez outside her home in 1992
According to a lawsuit settlement, California will no longer keep death row inmates in solitary confinement only because of their purported gang affiliations
Rolando Ruiz is scheduled to die for the murder-for-hire slaying he carried out more than 24 years ago
Officer Susan Canfield was killed when her horse was struck by a truck used in the inmate’s escape
The court lifted the stay on its ruling upholding Arkansas’ lethal injection law
Inmates’ attorneys say a stay blocking the executions is still in place while an amended complaint challenging the state’s lethal injection law is pending
Gov. Asa Hutchinson scheduled execution dates for eight inmates in an attempt to resume the death penalty after a nearly 12-year hiatus
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review appeals in three Texas death row cases, including one where a man pleaded guilty to a triple slaying
Investigators said Dillion Gage Compton is accused of killing CO Marianne Johnson on July 16
The justices agreed to take up the appeal from Marion Wilson, who was convicted for his role in killing a CO in 1996
The last time the state executed an inmate was in 2005
The state could end its practice of allowing judges to hand down death sentences despite a jury’s recommendation
Lawyers filed a motion to set an execution date for Tommy Arthur, one day after SCOTUS turned down his latest appeal
At issue is whether a contested sedative is powerful enough to put inmates into a deep state of unconsciousness before two drugs paralyze them and stop their hearts
Executions have been on hold since 2014 after Joseph Rudolph Wood, who was given 15 doses of midazolam and a painkiller, took nearly two hours to die
The last inmate executed coughed for the first 13 minutes of the procedure and appeared to move after a consciousness check
The appeals court agreed with the state that a law that protects the identity of the state’s execution team applies to those who supply the execution drug
A Senate version of the bill has not been scheduled for a hearing, so it appears the measure will suffer the same fate as death penalty repeal efforts in previous years
Roof says prosecutors didn’t have jurisdiction to bring their case against him
Capital punishment was abolished by the state Supreme Court in 2015
Bills to abolish the state’s death penalty have failed in every legislative session since 1999
The prisons agency tried to obtain the active ingredient in the drug, pentobarbital, in hopes of having a compounded version made
Lawmakers are advancing a proposal to add firing squad, electrocution and gas chamber as execution methods in case a court blocks the use of lethal injection drugs
The judge refused to lift his order delaying Ohio’s executions after declaring the state’s new lethal injection process unconstitutional
Proposal sponsor Rep. Paul Ray said human trafficking is a big problem in Utah, so he wants to hold the leaders of human trafficking rings accountable
Steven Dean Gordon has been sentenced to death for abducting and murdering four women over a six-month span
Lawmakers are considering a plan that would expand capital punishment in the state so that criminals convicted of sex trafficking that leads to death could be executed
Attorneys argued that life without parole is an appropriate alternative for death row inmate Gary Otte, who has matured and made efforts to better himself in prison
The court allowed the execution reprieve for a man who killed a store worker in a robbery that garnered $1.25
The cause of death is pending an autopsy
