death penalty

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  5/23/2023
  

  Republican Push for More Capital Punishment Echoes Crime Panic of the 1980s

  by Duncan Hosie

  The Supreme Court decision in 1976 that allowed the states to resume executions coincided with a rise in anxiety over crime and pushed politicians to pledge more executions. 

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• 4/23/2023
  

  Despite Popular Opposition, The Death Penalty Marches on Unabated

  by Rick Halperin

  A commitment to human rights cannot coexist with capital punishment. Political leaders must heed the growing public opposition to the death penalty and move to abolish it. 

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• 6/28/2022
  

  50 Years Ago, a SCOTUS Decision Placed a Moratorium on Executions. It's Time to Revive it, Permanently

  by Rick Halperin

  Fifty years ago this week, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty violated the Constitution, opening a de facto moratorium as states legislated new capital punishment statutes. It's time to make this brief victory for human rights permanent. 

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• SOURCE: Vox
  5/20/2021
  

  Why Firing Squads are Making a Comeback in 21st-Century America

  South Carolina's proposed return to execution by firing squad reflects the facts that, while the Roberts Court is very protective of capital punishment, it is increasingly difficult for states to acquire the drugs needed to perform lethal injections. It remains to be seen if firing squads will turn public opinion against capital punishment. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/24/2021
  

  Virginia Becomes First Southern State to Abolish the Death Penalty

  Governor Ralph Northam explained that the state could guarantee neither racial equity nor the indisputable guilt of condemned prisoners. Virginia had executed more prisoners than any American state or colony in 413 years of the death penalty.

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• 2/28/2021
  

  Is Virginia's Move to Abolish the Beginning of the End of the Death Penalty in America?

  by Rick Halperin

  Virginia's move to abolish capital punishment is long overdue, and other states and the federal government should follow suit to restore American legitimacy on global human rights. 

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• SOURCE: Racist Roots: Origins of North Carolina's Death Penalty
  10/5/2020
  

  “The Death Penalty Is Another Confederate Monument We Must Tear Down.”

  A collaborative project examines the history of capital punishment in North Carolina, beginning with an introduction by death penalty litigator Henderson Hill. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/24/19
  

  White supremacists dragged James Byrd to his death in 1998. One of them was just executed.

  Some community members still talk about the negative impression left by the horrific crime and legal aftermath.

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• SOURCE: New Yorker
  8-22-16
  

  New Yorker profiles activist who's drawing attention to lynchings

  by Jeffrey Toobin

  In Alabama, Bryan Stevenson is saving inmates from execution and memorializing the darkest episodes of America’s past.

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• 10-6-15
  

  “It’s a Hell of a Thing, Killing a Man.”

  by Anthony Galvin

  George Stinney was one of the 4% of executed people who are completely innocent. His crime was being black in the forties. He was 14.

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• SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
  9-2-14
  

  There's no such thing as a gentle execution

  by Jonathan Zimmerman

  We have spent two centuries trying to put people to death without putting them in discomfort. And it hasn't worked.