There was little controversy when President Bill Clinton nominated Stephen Breyer to the bench in 1994. His tenure on the Supreme Court reflects those less partisan times.
Physical touch at the end of life has a special significance in many cultures and offers solace.
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A video of Ahmaud Arbery was widely seen and shared by the citizens who could be called on to judge the accused killers. The issue was recently argued before the Supreme Court.
A vigil in protest against the death penalty in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2016.
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Lisa Hajjar, University of California, Santa Barbara
A scholar who has visited Guantanamo 11 times to observe legal proceedings in the 9/11 terrorism case explains why the conflict continues to delay the case going to trial.
While most other Pacific nations take a strong abolitionist stances on the death penalty, PNG is moving in the opposite direction – despite not having executed any prisoners since 1954.
The Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal decision ends years of confusion over the status of prisoners on death row.
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From his positions at the United Nations, Professor Heyns made a huge impact on the protection of the right to life and the right of peaceful assembly.
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.
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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 Justice Department has approved alternatives to lethal injections for federal executions. But no method of capital punishment has been without gruesome stories of what went wrong.
Negotiations on the recent defence pact between the two nations had stalled over the issue of the death penalty, which Japan has and Australia opposes.
Canada doesn’t extradite people to countries with the death penalty. But there are other ways to put those accused of crimes at serious risk.
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Canadians should know more about how our government co-operates with other countries in criminal cases. Are we unwittingly risking the lives or rights of those accused of crimes?
The lethal injection chamber at a California prison.
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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.
An inmate at California Men’s Colony prison.
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The Federal Bureau of Prisons recently opened a unit for people suffering dementia. But is incarceration a ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment for those who don’t understand why they are behind bars?
A vigil in protest against an execution in Virginia in 2009.
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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?
Shot at Dawn Memorial at Alrewas, Staffordshire, which commemorates British soldiers shot as cowards during World War I.
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