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The US Supreme Court has refused to take up the case of a Georgia
death-row inmate who says the courts have denied him an opportunity to prove
his innocence even after seven of nine trial witnesses changed their testimony.
See story from
Christian Science Monitor
In a major ruling sharply restricting crimes carrying
potential death sentences, the US Supreme Court invalidated part of a Louisiana
statute that made aggravated sexual assault against a child under 12 a capital
offense. See
story from Christian Science Monitor
New questions have been raised in recent years over the U.S. death penalty, as some officials say minorities and the poor are disproportionately
put to death. In other cases, DNA tests resulted in the release of a few
inmates who were scheduled to die. See
story from Voice of America
The Supreme Court has held that lethal-injection procedures
in Kentucky do not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and
unusual punishment. The action opens the way for an end to a de facto national
moratorium on lethal injection executions that has been in place since the
fall. See story
from Christian Science Monitor
Thirty years ago the US Supreme Court issued a landmark
decision, declaring that sentencing someone to death for the crime of rape was
cruel and unusual punishment. The court is now considering whether that same
ban should apply to child rape. See story from
Christian Science Monitor
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether lethal
injection can be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. See story from
Christian Science Monitor
New Jersey is about to become the first state in 31 years to
abolish the death penalty. See
story from Associated Press
A case before the US Supreme Court tests the relationship
between the degree of insanity and the appropriateness of capital punishment. See story from
Christian Science Monitor
Many inmates' lawyers, at the crucial point when jurors
decide between life and death after conviction, fail to adequately defend them.
A broad review of recent death-penalty cases in Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama
and Virginia shows how commonplace those failures have become. In addition,
appeal courts frequently overlook trial errors. See
story from McClatchy Newspapers
Florida Governor Jeb Bush has halted executions in the US
state after a flawed death by lethal injection. California has also suspended
executions after a judge has ruled death by lethal injection violates a state
ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The judge ruled California's
"implementation of lethal injection is broken", but said "it can
be fixed". See
story from BBC
The death penalty is getting tighter scrutiny in China as a review of cases by China's Supreme Court may reduce the potential for wrongful convictions. In the wake of some publicized miscarriages of justice, the Supreme Court last week to assume exclusive authority to review all death sentences, in a move that legal scholars say could reduce abuses in imposing the death penalty and potentially cut the number of people executed in China by as much as one-third. China is thought to execute more prisoners each year than the rest of the world's nations put together, though the statistics are secret. Amnesty International says China executed at least 1,770 people last year, but estimates the real figure to be far higher. See story from Christian Science Monitor
In a pair of rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court gave death row inmates new routes for challenging the constitutionality of lethal injections and for using newly discovered scientific evidence. See story from Cox News Service
As the primary form of capital punishment in America, lethal injection is largely viewed as the most humane method yet developed of state-sanctioned execution. It is quick and relatively cheap. Few inmates would prefer to face an alternative, such as the gas chamber or the electric chair. The condemned inmate is widely believed to feel no pain. But such assumptions are increasingly coming under attack because the death can be very painful unless the injections are administered correctly. See story from Christian Science Monitor
After two docotrs refuse to assist a lethal injection in California, debate over end-of-life ethics grows. See story from Christian Science Monitor
Exactly 229 death-row inmates have been granted clemency since the United States reinstated capital punishment in 1976, and the list of reasons is short. The 16 governors who have given such pardons cited just three reasons: lingering doubt about guilt, a governor's own philosophical opposition to the death penalty, and mental disability of the accused. Starkly absent from the list - notable because of a high-profile clemency request now pending in California - is character reform of the guilty. See story from Christian Science Monitor
China is reevaluating its death penalty policy in the face of increasing international scruting. Human rights groups say China executes far more people than the rest of the world's governments combined. Amnesty International found evidence of 3,400 death sentences carried out in 2004 but says the real number may be closer to 10,000 a year. This compares with 59 in the U.S. in 2004. More than 70 countries use the death penalty, but most apply it only in the case of a few extremely violent crimes. China executes people for 68 offenses, many nonviolent, including smuggling, tax evasion, corruption, "endangering national security" and separatism, which includes advocating Tibetan or Taiwanese independence. See story from Los Angeles Times
In what may lead to a significant decline in death sentences, Texas has decided to allow jurors in capital cases to choose life without the possibility of parole instead of death when they see fit. See story from Christian Science Monitor
U.S. Catholic bishops launched a campaign against the death penalty and presented new data suggesting support for capital punishment among American Catholics had fallen sharply in recent years to below 50 percent. See story from Washington Post
The Supreme Court is considering whether Texas and other states can execute 51 Mexicans who say they were improperly denied legal help from their consulates, a dispute testing the effect of international law in U.S. death penalty cases. See story from Associated Press
American researchers have called for an halt to lethal injection, the most common method of capital punishment in the United States, because it is not always a humane and painless way to die as proper sedation procedures are not followed in some cases. See story from Reuters
The United States has withdrawn from an accord that lets an international court decide disputes over foreign inmates, an agreement U.S. death penalty opponents have been using to fight death row cases. See story from Reuters
In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute juvenile killers, ending a practice in 19 states that has been roundly condemned by many of America's closest allies. See story from Washington Post
On issues such as juvenile death penalty, the court considers whether it should weigh international opinion. See story from Christian Science Monitor
The number of U.S. convicts imprisoned with death sentences dropped in 2003 to its lowest level in 30 years, helping to provoke the third straight annual decline in the nation's death row population and signaling the continuation of a slow trend away from state- and federally ordered executions, according to data released by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. See story from Washington Post
There are 72 individuals currently on death row for crimes committed as juveniles. The US Supreme Court will be ruling on a Missouri death-penalty case that could invalidate every one of their sentences. See story from Christian Science Monitor
After seven months of debate, an 11-member panel released recommendations they say could give the nation a capital punishment statute "as narrowly tailored, and as infallible, as humanly possible." The proposal departs from many US death penalty statutes by requiring DNA evidence, demanding good legal representation for defendants, and raising prosecutors' burden of proof. Members said they hoped it would be adopted as a model by the federal government, the military, and 38 states that now practice capital punishment, many of which are reconsidering their laws. See story from Christian Science Monitor
The Supreme Court will consider whether its 2002 decision requiring juries to impose death sentences should be imposed retroactively. See story from Christian Science Monitor
The US Supreme Court has taken up a Missouri case to examine the constitutionality of the juvenile death penalty. See story from Christian Science Monitor
When a Virginia jury voted against a death sentence for Washington- area sniper John Lee Malvo, it followed a national trend away from sentencing juvenile offenders to death. The annual death-sentence rate for juvenile offenses has declined rapidly in recent years and death-penalty opponents say it's only a matter of time before capital punishment for those under 18 is eliminated. See story from Christian Science Monitor
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