Judicial appointments and the death penalty are among areas where a lame-duck administration can still leave a mark. Donald Trump’s second presidential term will begin on Jan. 20, bringing with it promises to dramatically reshape many aspects of the criminal justice system. The U.S. Senate — with its authority over confirming judicial nominees — will also shift from Democratic to Republican control.
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USA | Black gay female immigrant disabled judge appointed to Washington State’s Supreme Court
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“I believe, as a marginalized individual—being a black gay female immigrant disabled judge—that my perspective is a little different.”
Grace Helen Whitener, a Black, gay, female, disabled, immigrant judge has been appointed to Washington State’s Supreme Court.
Whitener was sworn in by Democrat governor Jay Inslee, who also swore in Jewish Native American politician Raquel Monotya-Lewis and Mary Yu, an Asian-American Latina lesbian who officiated the first same-sex marriage in Washington.
Whitener, Montoya-Lewis and Yu’s appointments mean Washington State is now one of the most diverse courts in history.
Before her history-making nomination to the Supreme Court, Whitener said: “I believe, as a marginalized individual—being a black gay female immigrant disabled judge—that my perspective is a little different.
“I try to make sure that everyone that comes into this courtroom feels welcome, feels safe, and feels like they will get a fair hearing.”
Throughout her career, the 55-year-old has been an outspoken advice for judicial diversity and marginalised communities in the legal system. She once called out Washington State for the “limited number of judges of colour”.
“It’s not reflective of the population that it serves,” Whitener said in an interview for Inside Olympia. “One core cannon of our judicial system is trust and confidence – building it on our communities.
“Having a judiciary that is reflective of the community that it serves is truly important in raising trust and confidence in the services that we provide as judicial officers.”
Whitener was born and raised in Trinidad, but moved to the United States at 16 to pursue a career in medical care. She later earned degrees at Baruch College in New York and the Seattle University School Law.
After working as a prosecutor, public defender and defence attorney, she became the first Black LGBTQ judge in Washington.
In September 2019, Whitener received the prestigious Justice Charles Z. Smith Excellence in Diversity Award from the Washington State Bar Association.
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Judicial appointments and the death penalty are among areas where a lame-duck administration can still leave a mark. Donald Trump’s second presidential term will begin on Jan. 20, bringing with it promises to dramatically reshape many aspects of the criminal justice system. The U.S. Senate — with its authority over confirming judicial nominees — will also shift from Democratic to Republican control.
I once witnessed a public execution in China. It was in the early summer of 1993. As a student studying abroad, I was traveling in the Tibet Autonomous Region in southwestern China and happened to see the public spectacle of killing criminals in the town of Lhasa. Even now, recalling it makes me feel a twinge of pain deep in my chest. It’s an unforgettable memory.
Alabama is set to execute Carey Dale Grayson by nitrogen gas hypoxia Thursday evening for a brutal Jefferson County murder. It would be the state's sixth execution for the year and third in two months. It would also be only the third nitrogen gas hypoxia execution in the nation, after Alabama conducted the first execution by the then-untried method in January.
Saudi Arabia has executed more than 100 foreigners this year, according to an AFP tally indicating a sharp increase which one rights group said was unprecedented. The latest execution, on Saturday in the southwestern region of Najran, was of a Yemeni national convicted of smuggling drugs into the Gulf kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. That brought to 101 the number of foreigners executed so far in 2024, according to the tally which is compiled from state media reports.
You don't have to tell Daniel Troya and the 40 other denizens of federal death row locked in shed-sized solitary cells for 23 hours a day, every day, that elections have consequences. To them, from inside the U.S. government's only death row located in Terre Haute, Indiana, Tuesday's election is quite literally a matter of life and death: If Kamala Harris wins, they live; if Donald Trump wins, they die. "He's gonna kill everyone here that he can," Troya, 41, said in an email from behind bars. "That's as easy to predict as the sun rising."
Texas death-sentenced prisoner Melissa Lucio is “actually innocent; she did not kill her [two-year-old] daughter,” explained Judge Arturo Nelson in his October 16th decision, which was made public on November 14, 2024. Judge Nelson’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law now go to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA), which will make the final decision about whether to overturn Ms. Lucio’s conviction and 2008 death sentence.
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); November 16, 2024: At least nine people including a woman, an Afghan national and two Kurdish minorities were executed for murder and drug-related charges in Ghezel Hesar Prison on Wednesday. Ahmad Alizadeh was previously reported to have been executed that day, bringing the total number of people executed that day to ten. At least five others have been transferred for execution.
Ahead of the scheduled execution of a man for drug-related offences, in violation of international law and standards, in Singapore on Friday 22 November, Amnesty International’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said: “The upcoming execution of Rosman bin Abdullah underlines the chilling determination of the Singapore authorities to continue to implement the death penalty. Singapore is among a handful of countries still executing people for drug-related offences, in violation of international human rights law and standards. This must stop immediately.
BACK IN 2010, overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Mary Jane Veloso was arrested in Indonesia. She was convicted of drug trafficking after being caught carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in Yogyakarta. She was then given the death penalty despite pleading innocence – saying that she was only a victim of human trafficking. Initially, she started working as an OFW to give her children a better life. As per her lawyer Agus Salim, she had gone to Dubai to work as a domestic helper, but returned to Manila before the end of her contract because she was allegedly almost raped.
Ron McAndrew is a former Florida State Penitentiary warden A pro-Trump former Florida prison warden who oversaw executions is urging President Biden to commute all federal and military death sentences before leaving office. "I voted for President Trump in all of his campaigns, and I agree with him on most of his positions, but not the death penalty," Ron McAndrew, former warden of the Florida State Penitentiary, wrote in a letter to the outgoing president. "I have written to President Trump personally to ask him to stop calling for more executions."
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