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 gov.: No clemency despite DA's plea

Published
Ohio Death Chamber
Ohio Gov. John Kasich has rejected clemency for a condemned Cleveland killer despite a prosecutor's rare plea to commute his sentence to life without parole.

Kasich announced his decision Wednesday not to grant mercy to death row inmate Billy Slagle in his neighbor's 1987 stabbing death.

Attorneys for the 44-year-old Slagle had long argued he deserved clemency because he was just 18 at the time of the slaying and already a drug addict and alcoholic with a chaotic upbringing.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty had changed his office's approach to capital punishment and says he doubts it could obtain a death sentence for Slagle under today's laws.

Friends of victim Mari Anne Pope say sparing Slagle would have dishonored the jury's sentence.

Source: Associated Press, July 30, 2013
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

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

North Carolina governor commutes death sentences of 15 inmates

Published
Image
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper commuted the death sentences of 15 men on his final day in office. All 15 will still serve life sentences without the possibility of parole. RALEIGH, N.C. — In one of his final acts in office, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper commuted the death sentences of 15 men convicted of murder to life in prison without parole on Tuesday, reducing the state's death row population by more than 10%.
Read more

France officially asks Indonesia to transfer Serge Atlaoui

Published
Image
French diplomats have acknowledged that talks were underway for the transfer of the 61-year-old Frenchman arrested in 2005 at a drugs factory. JAKARTA: France has sent Indonesia an official request for the transfer of a French death row inmate who has spent nearly 20 years in prison, an Indonesian minister told AFP on Saturday. Indonesia has in recent weeks released half a dozen high-profile detainees, including a Filipina mum on death row and the last five members of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug ring.
Read more

China | Man sentenced to death for ramming car into crowd, killing 35

Published
Image
62-year-old man drove his car into crowds, killing 35 people on Nov. 11 A Chinese court sentenced a 62-year-old man to death on Friday for a deadly car-ramming incident that killed 35 people and injured 43 others, according to state media. The Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court found Fan Weiqiu guilty of endangering public safety after he deliberately drove his car into crowds exercising outside a sports complex on Nov. 11, 2024 in southern China's Guangdong Province, Xinhua reported.
Read more

Iran executed at least 883 people in 2024

Published
Image
Since the beginning of 2024, Iranian authorities have carried out at least 883 executions, with 94 percent conducted in complete secrecy. This has sparked widespread public protests both inside and outside the country. The Iranian human rights site "HRANA" revealed that at least 883 executions took place in Iranian prisons during 2024, reflecting an 18.3 percent increase compared to the previous year. In 2023, authorities in Iran executed 834 individuals, marking the highest toll since 2015.
Read more

Zimbabwe abolishes Death Penalty, prisoners on death row to be resentenced

Published
Image
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has signed into law the Death Penalty Abolition Act. Zimbabwe currently has over 60 prisoners on death row who will now have their sentences commuted. The last execution in the country was nearly two decades ago in 2005. Parliament had pushed to amend the Criminal Law Code, Criminal Procedure Law and the Defence Act which allowed the death penalty in cases of murder committed under aggravating circumstances.
Read more

Iran executes three Afghan nationals on first day of 2025

Published
Image
Iran executed three Afghan nationals on the first day of 2025 at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, according to two human rights watchdog organizations. Halvash reported that Iran executed two individuals from Afghanistan and one Baloch national in Bandar Abbas prison. They were executed without holding a last meeting with their families, the watchdog said. Another human rights watchdog, Henvaw, reported the execution of an Afghan national.
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

Five Public Executions in Iran

Published
Image
Shiraz, Iran, September 18, 2014 The execution wave continues in Iran. According to the official and unofficial reports, in the last 30 days at least 95 people have been executed in different Iranian cities. This is an average of more than 3 executions everyday. Iran Human Rights urges the international community to condemn the execution wave in Iran. Iran Human Rights, September 18, 2014: Five people were hanged publicly in the cities of Shiraz and Sardasht (Province of Fars, Southern Iran) early Thursday morning September 18., reported the Iranian state media. According to the Young Journalists Club (YJC), a news website close to the Iranian security forces, four of the men were hanged in the “Azadi (Liberty) Square” of Shiraz. These men were identified as: “Bahram”, “Edalat” and “Mohammad” charged with kidnapping and rape, and “Jahanbakhsh B.” charged with “corruption on the earth” and armed robbery. One man identified as “Hossein Sh.” was hanged publicly in Sardas...
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