Capital punishment (death penalty) news and discussions

[wjfox]

Use of the death penalty is declining over time.

If the current trend is maintained, we can expect two-thirds of UN members to have abolished it by 2038...







... and close to 100% by 2110.






In this thread, we can track the latest progress, follow some notable cases, and discuss this often controversial topic.

[wjfox]

One notable case right now is that of Kenneth Smith:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Smith_(criminal)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... trogen-gas

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68053917

He is scheduled to be executed on Thursday 25th in the Holman Correctional Facility, Alabama, using nitrogen hypoxia. If the sentence is carried out, Smith will become the first death row inmate in the world to die via this method.



Credit: Alabama Department of Corrections

[firestar464]

Americans when other countries say "who cares about un:" ew

Americans when their state does it: jesus ramble ramble blah blah blah murica f*ck yeah

[wjfox]

Kenneth Eugene Smith: Alabama carries out first US nitrogen gas execution

3 hours ago

Alabama has executed convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith with nitrogen gas, the first time the method of capital punishment has been used in the US.

Smith, 58, lost two final appeals to the Supreme Court and one to a federal appeals court, arguing the execution was a cruel and unusual punishment.

[...]

"Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards," Smith said, according to witnesses. "Thank you for supporting me. Love all of you."

After the gas began to flow into his mask, the inmate is said to have smiled, nodded toward his family and signed "I love you".

Witnesses observed two to four minutes of writhing and about five minutes of heavy breathing before he was pronounced dead at 20:25 local time (02:35 GMT).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68085513

[firestar464]

Missouri executes a man for the 1998 killing of a woman despite her family’s calls to spare his life

https://www.wptv.com/us-news/crime/miss ... e-his-life

[firestar464]

Stop the Oct. 17 execution of Robert Roberson, an innocent father

https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/ ... -roberson/

There's another wrongful execution coming up. Mind signing the petition?

[firestar464]

He’s the world’s longest-serving death row inmate. A court just exonerated him.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/he ... r-AA1rcTvn

[firestar464]

Stop the Oct. 17 execution of Robert Roberson, an innocent father

https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/ ... -roberson/

There's another wrongful execution coming up. Mind signing the petition?

Texas Supreme Court temporarily stops Robert Roberson’s execution

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/te ... r-AA1soq14

[firestar464]

He’s the world’s longest-serving death row inmate. A court just exonerated him.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/he ... r-AA1rcTvn

Local police apologises to man acquitted from nearly 50 years on death row

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/lo ... i-AA1sEdwh

[firestar464]

Stop the Oct. 17 execution of Robert Roberson, an innocent father

https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/ ... -roberson/

There's another wrongful execution coming up. Mind signing the petition?

Texas Supreme Court temporarily stops Robert Roberson’s execution

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/te ... r-AA1soq14

Texas man set to be executed a no-show at legislative hearing: AP Explains

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/te ... i-AA1sG2Gq

[firestar464]

Ken Paxton and Texas House members accuse each other of mischaracterizing Robert Roberson’s case

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/24 ... al-battle/

[firestar464]

AG Ken Paxton calls for resignation of state House member over Roberson execution case

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin ... erson-case

[firestar464]

Filipina who won a last-minute reprieve from an Indonesian firing squad is returning home

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/fi ... r-AA1w27qf

[firestar464]

Roberson subpoenaed again

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas ... l/3722547/
https://archive.ph/P1POM (The Texan article, provides some more details)

[weatheriscool]

Biden commutes most federal death row sentences to life in prison before Trump takes office

Source: CNN Politics

Published 5:00 AM EST, Mon December 23, 2024

CNN — President Joe Biden announced Monday that he is taking 37 people off federal death row to serve out life sentences behind bars — a decision that leaves only three federal prisoners awaiting execution when President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month.

“Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole,” Biden announced in a statement released Monday.

Notably, the president did not commute the sentences of three people whose crimes included mass shootings or acts of terrorism: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of two brothers responsible for the deadly Boston Marathon bombing in 2013; Dylann Roof, a White nationalist who massacred nine people at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018.

“These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder,” Biden said, referring to his Justice Department’s halt on federal executions. The majority of the 37 individuals whose sentences were commuted Monday were convicted for less high-profile offenses, such as murders tied to drug trafficking or the killings of prison guards or other inmates.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/23/politics ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

Why Texas Lawmakers Tried To Stop America's First 'Shaken Baby Syndrome' Execution

https://reason.com/2025/01/23/the-case- ... -roberson/

[wjfox]

After 15 years without executions, Louisiana ready to resume them using gas, Jeff Landry says

Feb 10, 2025

Louisiana has approved a protocol for executions by nitrogen hypoxia, which will allow death sentences to be carried out again after nearly 15 years, Gov. Jeff Landry said Monday.

“For too long, Louisiana has failed to uphold the promises made to victims of our State’s most violent crimes; but that failure of leadership by previous administrations is over,” said Landry in a news release. “The time for broken promises has ended; we will carry out these sentences and justice will be dispensed.”

Louisiana has not carried out the death penalty since 2010.

In an execution by nitrogen hypoxia, the inmate's face is covered by a mask and pure nitrogen is pumped in instead of oxygen, causing death by asphyxiation.

https://www.nola.com/news/courts/louisi ... 4c10d.html

[wjfox]

Idaho governor signs bill making firing squad the state’s primary execution method

Thursday 13 March 2025 02:02 GMT

Idaho’s governor signed into law a bill Wednesday making the firing squad the state’s primary method of execution.

Joan Varsek, a spokesperson for Republican Governor Brad Little, confirmed the news to The Independent.

“I have long made clear my support of capital punishment. My signing of House Bill 37 is consistent with my support of the Idaho Legislature’s actions in setting the policies around methods of execution in the state of Idaho,” Little said in a written statement.

“As governor, my job is to follow the law and ensure that lawful criminal sentences are carried out as ordered by the courts.”

Idaho will become the first state with such a policy once the law goes into effect on July 1, 2026. Four other states — Utah, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Mississippi — allow firing squad executions. None of the others, however, use firing squads as a primary execution method. Only four people have been put to death via firing squad in the U.S. in the last half century.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 14148.html