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.
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
Richard Jordan abducted and fatally shot Edwina Marter before demanding $25,000 from her husband, leading to nearly 50 years of court appeals and legal challenges
Supreme Court
The ruling allows Ruben Gutierrez to seek DNA testing he says could prove he was not responsible for the 1998 stabbing death
Board members rejected Murray Hooper’s claims that he was innocent and that there wasn’t credible evidence to support his convictions
The governor granted another temporary reprieve to death row inmate Richard Glossip, pushing his scheduled execution back until February 2023
The filing argues that the federal government’s refusal to surrender John Hanson usurps the state’s authority
“He needs competent mental healthcare. Surely the prison can find a place to put him where he is not a danger to himself or others,” the inmate’s attorney said
“What a mess the state of Alabama has made by not doing adequate recordkeeping,” said Judge Adalberto Jordan
Benjamin Cole died by lethal injection Thursday morning despite claims from his attorneys that he had been severely mentally ill
Benjamin Cole, sentenced to death for killing his 9-month-old daughter, will receive a lethal injection on Thursday
Smith claimed that Alabama’s lethal injection protocol violated the prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment in the Eighth Amendment
Murray Hooper will die by lethal injection or gas in an execution scheduled for Nov. 16
Attorneys representing Alan Miller say he is “the only living execution survivor in the United States.”
The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the ruling rejecting the appeal from inmate Andre Thomas, who killed his estranged wife and two children in 2004
Judge had previously ruled that two of the state’s three methods for electrocution — the firing squad and the electric chair — are unconstitutional
Alabama DOC attempted to put Alan Eugene Miller to death on Sept 22, but the execution team was unable to connect the IV line
John Ramirez challenged state prison rules that prevented his pastor from touching him and praying aloud during his execution, saying his religious freedom was being violated
The state’s troubles executing inmates have put a national spotlight on Alabama, and the biggest challenge has been finding a vein to start the three-drug lethal injection mixture
Kenneth Eugene Smith is set to die at William C. Holman Correctional Facility on November 17 for the slaying of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett
McLaughlin, now 48, was convicted of raping and stabbing to death 45-year-old Beverly Guenther on Nov. 20, 2003
Randy Halprin, 45, was among the inmates who escaped from a Texas prison in Dec. 2000, committing numerous robberies and killing Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins
Attorneys for Benjamin Cole, 57, who killed his 9-month-old daughter, Breanna, in 2002, argued that he is severely mentally ill
The last-minute reprieve came nearly three hours after a divided U.S. Supreme Court had cleared the way for the execution to begin
Yusef Maisonet, an imam to Muslim death row inmates Dominique Ray and Nathaniel Wood, alleged that Alabama violated his rights by barring him from attending the inmates’ executions
While the method has never been used, some argue that it will be more humane than the state’s current three-drug lethal injection cocktail
The book spotlights Jarvis Masters’ legal battle to overturn his death sentence in the murder of a corrections officer
States began proposing nitrogen hypoxia as an alternate execution method because of difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs and ongoing litigation
While nitrogen hypoxia has been authorized by Alabama and two other states for executions, it has never been used by a state
Lawyers for four men on the state’s death row testified that the prisoners would feel terrible pain whether their bodies were “cooking” by electricity or heart stopped by a marksman’s bullet
Lawsuit concerns how state handled rollout of letting the men and women awaiting execution know about ending their lives via nitrogen hypoxia
State argued the lawsuit by Alan Eugene Miller, who was convicted of killing three men in a workplace shooting in 1999, does not state a claim a judge could use to block the execution
The group cited the length of time that passed before Joe Nathan James Jr. received the lethal injection and a private autopsy indicating his arm may have been cut to find a vein
Alan Eugene Miller is set to be executed Sept. 22 for killing three men in a 1999 shooting spree
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