Research finds that the threat of being sentenced to death has no bearing on how people contemplate violent crime.
An illustration of a deserter being executed by a firing squad at the Federal Camp in Alexandria during the American civil war.
Kean Collection/Getty Images
South Carolina has had trouble securing enough lethal injection drugs for executions. So it has turned to an old form of killing: the firing squad, last used in the Civil War.
In some cases, death row inmates have been strapped to the gurney for hours.
AP Photo/Sue Ogrock
In 1972, justices handed down a decision that attacked discriminatory and capricious death sentences. But it left the door ajar for states to continue the practice.
The Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal decision ends years of confusion over the status of prisoners on death row.
Shutterstock
The execution of Lisa Montgomery in the U.S. earlier this year demonstrates how society misunderstands the effects of mental illness and trauma on criminal behaviour.
The federal death chamber at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, as seen in April 1995.
AP Photo/Chuck Robinson
The most commonly used justification for capital punishment is not actually supported by evidence.
Four of the 10 federal prisoners executed this year: Wesley Purkey, killed July 16; Dustin Honken, killed July 17; Brandon Bernard, killed Dec. 10; and Alfred Bourgeois, killed Dec. 11. In some cases, survivors of their victims addressed the court.
AP Photo
Victim impact statements give survivors a voice in the criminal justice process. But research shows their wrenching personal testimonies may not bring closure and can add racial bias into sentencing.
The lethal injection chamber at a California prison.
Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The promised benefits of lethal injection – a quick, painless death – have never come true. There’s not even agreement about which drugs are best for executions.
People who oppose the death penalty cannot serve on juries in those cases.
Crazy City Lady/Shutterstock.com
Many recent executions in the US by lethal injections have resulted in prolonged suffering before death. A historian asks: Could the guillotine be a preferable method?
James Acker, University at Albany, State University of New York e Brian Keough, University at Albany, State University of New York
The National Death Penalty Archive collects documents and paraphernalia behind the thousands of executions that have taken place on American soil.
Indonesian activists hold candles during a candlelight protest against death penalty executions, outside the presidential palace in Jakarta in 2016.
Mast Irham/EPA
Pope Francis has said that death penalty violates the dignity of a person. But, this might just deepen the debate among Christians, who for a long time have been divided over the issue.
The British home secretary has decided not to seek assurances from the US that it wouldn’t use the death penalty for an IS duo arrested in Syria. This must be opposed.