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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.

Arkansas Governor Signs New Lethal Injection Law

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February 20, 2013: Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe's office said today that he signed legislation (SB 237) that rewrites the state's lethal injection law, despite his misgivings about the death penalty.

The new law spells out in greater detail the procedures the state must follow in carrying out executions. It says the state must use a lethal dose of a barbiturate but leaves it up to the Department of Correction to determine which one.

The legislation came up after the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state's 2009 lethal injection law last year.

The new law means Arkansas could potentially resume capital punishment, but court challenges may further delay the state from executing a prisoner for the 1st time since 2005.

Source: Associated Press, Feb. 20, 2013


Legal challenges likely to delay Ark. executions

Arkansas got a new lethal injection law this week, but court challenges will likely block the state from resuming executions anytime soon.

The attorney general's office expects some of Arkansas' 37 death row inmates to challenge the new law that revises another law the state Supreme Court struck down last year.

No new legal challenges had surfaced by Friday - 2 days after Gov. Mike Beebe signed the new execution legislation. No new execution dates have been set either, meaning the state doesn't have any pending executions.

The new law spells out in greater detail the procedures the state must follow in carrying out executions. It says the state must use a lethal dose of a barbiturate, but leaves it up to Department of Correction to determine which one.

Source: Associated Press, February 22, 2013
Location: Arkansas
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Photos of maximum-security prisons in Norway and the US reveal the extremes of prison life

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US Administrative Security Facility, or ADX Florence, in Florence, Colorado. Inside the walls of the toughest prison in the US, a fork is a deadly weapon. Inside the walls of Norway's toughest prison, a fork is, well ... a fork. The differences extend far past silverware. In just about every way, the approaches that the US and Norway take to criminal justice fall on opposite ends of the spectrum. While the US uses isolation to punish offenders and keep them away from civil society, Norway prefers to rehabilitate its inmates so they can return to the outside world — there are no life sentences . No two prisons make that difference more clear than the super-max Administrative Security Facility, or ADX Florence , in Florence, Colorado and Halden Prison , in Halden, Norway. Not all US prisons are as strict as ADX, and while Halden is technically maximum-security, it's still closer to the rule than the exception in Norway. Here's what life is like at both e
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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.
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Switzerland | The Guillotine of Geneva

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Idaho death-row inmate survived injection intended to kill him. Now state will try again.

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A day after Idaho prison’s system advised that it is again ready to perform a lethal injection, an Ada County judge issued the latest death warrant for Thomas Creech, the state’s longest-serving death row prisoner, and scheduled him for another execution.  Creech, 74, is now set to be executed on Nov. 13. If fulfilled, the execution would be Idaho’s first in more than a dozen years. Prison officials called off Creech’s planned execution earlier this year when for nearly an hour they were unable to locate a suitable vein for an IV to inject him with the lethal chemicals. 
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Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denies Robert Roberson’s stay of execution request

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Wyoming | One of Matthew Shepard’s Murderers Denied Sentence Reduction

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Activists Call on President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty Before Leaving Office

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Alabama set to tie record for executions in 50 years with upcoming lethal injection

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Iran Executes 16 People in One Day Amid Surge in Death Penalties

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The Islamic Republic’s authorities have executed at least sixteen people in a single day. According to a report by the Iran Human Rights Organization, the death sentences of 13 men and one woman were carried out on Wednesday at Karaj Central Prison. On the same day, two other prisoners were also executed at Urmia Central Prison. The charges against these prisoners were listed as “premeditated murder,” “rape,” or drug-related offenses, for which they had been sentenced to death.
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