FEATURED POST

Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

Published
Image
The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
Post a Comment

Ohio: Jeffrey Hill spared

Published
Gov. Ted Strickland spared the life of a death row inmate who killed his mother in a cocaine-induced rage and whose scheduled execution was opposed by his family, including his mother’s siblings.

The inmate, Jeffrey Hill, 44, had been scheduled to die March 3. But Mr. Strickland said he agreed with the Ohio Parole Board, which recommended last week that Mr. Hill not be put to death and should eventually be released from prison.

Mr. Hill stabbed his mother, Emma Hill, to death in 1991. As she lay dying in her Cincinnati apartment, he took $20 from her to spend on drugs, returning later to take $80. Mr. Hill’s family said they had suffered enough and that putting him to death would only make matters worse.

Source: NYT, Feb. 13, 2009
Related content:

Comments

Post a Comment

Constructive and informative comments are welcome. Please note that offensive and pro-death penalty comments will not be published.

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Iran: 27 executions in three days

Published
Image
A woman, four Baluchis and eight Kurds were among those executed The total number of those executed since the beginning of September amounts to 75 The Iranian regime hanged at least 27 prisoners in three days, September 27-29, 2016, in Gohardasht, Orumiyeh, Minab and Khorrambad prisons. Among the eight prisoners hanged together in Orumiyeh, there was a woman by the name of Molouk Noori. Seven other prisoners were Kurds from Orumiyeh. Seven prisoners were hanged in the Central Prison of Minab (southern Hormuzgan Province). They aged between 25 and 30, and four of them were Baluchis. In another criminal measure, eleven prisoners were hanged in Gohardasht Prison (northwest of Tehran). Two of them had been relocated to Gohardasht in a sudden nightly transfer from Khorin Prison of Varamin. The number of those executed since the beginning of September thus amounts to 75. The families of those executed in Orumiyeh staged a protest outside Darya Prison which led ...
Read more

Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

Published
Image
The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
Read more

USA | Biden commutes sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row, excluding Robert Bowers, Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Published
Image
President Biden used his clemency authority Monday to commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row to life without parole, in one of the most significant moves taken against capital punishment in recent presidential history. Biden did not commute the sentences of three men who were involved in cases of terrorism or hate-fueled mass murder, including Robert Bowers , convicted for the 2018 mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue; Dylann Roof , convicted for the 2015 mass shooting at a Black church in Charleston, S.C.; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev , convicted of the 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon.
Read more

Women Being Sent to the Gallows in Alarming Numbers in Iran

Published
Image
Many Were Child Brides Hanged for Murder of Abusive Husbands From Whom There Was No Protection  December 18, 2024 — Amidst a huge surge in executions in the Islamic Republic— 862 so far in 2024, the highest per capita execution rate globally—the Iranian authorities are now increasingly including women in those it sends to the gallows. Since the start of 2024, Iran has executed at least 29 women. More executions of women may have taken place that are unknown.
Read more

Trump vows to pursue executions after Biden commutes most of federal death row

Published
Image
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump promised on Tuesday to “vigorously pursue” capital punishment after President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row partly to stop Trump from pushing forward their executions. Trump criticized Biden’s decision on Monday to change the sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned people to life in prison without parole, arguing that it was senseless and insulted the families of their victims. Biden said converting their punishments to life imprisonment was consistent with the moratorium imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.
Read more

US carries out 25 executions this year as death penalty trends in nation held steady

Published
Image
HOUSTON (AP) — The number of executions in the U.S. remained near historic lows in 2024 and was mostly carried out in a small group of states, including Alabama, which became the first state to use nitrogen gas as an execution method, according to an annual report on capital punishment. The report by the Death Penalty Information Center was released on Thursday, the same day that Oklahoma conducted the nation’s 25th and final execution of the year. Kevin Ray Underwood received a lethal injection Thursday morning for the killing of a 10-year-old girl that was part of a cannibalistic fantasy.
Read more

Japan | Chisako Kakehi, sentenced to death for cyanide murders, dies in custody

Published
Image
Chisako Kakehi, a woman sentenced to death for the murders of three elderly men using cyanide compounds, has died, local media reported Thursday. The 78-year-old death row inmate was convicted of murdering the men — with the intent of inheriting their assets — in Kyoto, Osaka, and Hyogo prefectures between 2012 and 2013. Among the victims was her 75-year-old husband, Isao. The other two were men with whom she had entered common-law relationships.
Read more

Vietnam court sentences 27 to death for smuggling over 600 kg of narcotics

Published
Image
A court in Vietnam sentenced 27 people to death on Friday after finding them guilty of trafficking more than 600 kilos of narcotics including heroin, ketamine and methamphetamine, state media reported A court in Vietnam sentenced 27 people to death on Friday after finding them guilty of trafficking more than 600 kilos of narcotics including heroin, ketamine and methamphetamine, state media reported. Gang leader and notorious female crime boss Vu Hoang Anh, alias Oanh Ha, was among those condemned to death, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
Read more

Saudi Arabia executed 330 people this year, highest number in decades

Published
Image
Saudi Arabia has reportedly executed 330 people this year, in what rights groups are calling the highest number in decades. According to the Reuters news agency, the latest number of executions carried out by Saudi authorities – based on announcements compiled by the human rights group Reprieve – has reached up to 330 people, in a significant increase from the 172 executed last year and the 196 executed in 2022.
Read more

Iran | Executions in Rasht, Mahabad, Karaj, Nahavand, Roudbar

Published
Image
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 20, 2024: Mojtaba Jamshidian and Jebrael Naseri were executed for drug-related offences in Rasht Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Rasht (Lakan) Central Prison on 14 December. His identity has been established as Mojtaba Jamshidian from Khomein. He was sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.
Read more