capital punishment

States Find Other Execution Methods After Difficulties With Lethal Injection

8:09am April 06, 2017

by Debbie Elliott

Nationwide, the number and pace of executions are down, but states are looking at alternative, previous methods after restrictions have increased making the drugs for lethal injection hard to obtain.

Queue Listen Now

National

Florida Governor Pulls Murder Cases From Prosecutor Who Shuns Death Penalty

7:49pm April 03, 2017

by Debbie Elliott

Gov. Rick Scott is reassigning 21 first-degree murder cases from State Attorney Aramis Ayala, who says seeking capital punishment is not in the best interest of justice.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaking on Feb. 1. Kasich has postponed the state's next eight executions amidst a legal challenge to Ohio's lethal injection protocol.

Ohio Postpones 8 Executions Amidst Legal Challenge To Lethal Injection Procedure

4:52pm February 10, 2017

by Rebecca Hersher

As a federal court considers the state's appeal of a decision last month blocking its three-drug lethal injection protocol, Gov. John Kasich announced he was putting executions on hold until May.

The death chamber at the Southern Ohio Corrections Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, as seen in 2005. A federal judge has rejected the state's lethal injection drug protocol, postponing three upcoming executions.

Federal Judge Blocks Ohio's Lethal Injection Protocol

2:20pm January 26, 2017

by Rebecca Hersher

The judge rejected the state's use of midazolam, one of the drugs used in botched executions in Arizona, Ohio, Oklahoma and Alabama. The ruling puts Ohio's next three scheduled executions on hold.

Ricky Gray is scheduled to be executed at the Greensville prison in Jarratt, Va., Wednesday night.

National

Virginia Executes Convict With Drug From Anonymous Compounding Pharmacy

10:20pm January 18, 2017

by Rebecca Hersher

The execution of Ricky Gray on Wednesday was the first known instance of a state using midazolam, a sedative, that was not manufactured by a pharmaceutical company.

An undated photo shows Tywanza Sanders, who was among the nine people killed by Dylann Roof.

National

'What Happened To You, Dylann?' Victim's Friend Asks Roof At Sentencing

8:01pm January 11, 2017

by Rebecca Hersher

The white man who murdered nine black people in a church in Charleston, S.C., is the first person to receive the death penalty in a federal trial that included hate crimes charges.

A 2010 photo shows the interior of the lethal injection facility at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif.

National

Death Sentences And Executions Are Down, But Voters Still Support Death Penalty Laws

12:05am December 21, 2016

by Rebecca Hersher

In 2016, 30 people were sentenced to death in America, and 20 people were executed. Both numbers are the lowest in decades, but voters in three states also voted to keep execution on the books.

Women wave flags in front of a billboard bearing a picture of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Aug. 2 in Ankara's Kizilay Square during a protest against the failed military coup in July.

World News

After Failed Coup, Some Turks Call For Reinstating The Death Penalty

4:32pm August 02, 2016

by Peter Kenyon

Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says public demand for restoring it can't be ignored. But doing so would hurt Turkey's bid to join the EU.

Queue Listen Now

The death chamber of the lethal injection facility at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif.

Use Of Death Penalty Continues Its Decline In The United States

12:15pm December 16, 2015

by Eyder Peralta

According to numbers compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center, the number of people executed in the United States is at its lowest level since 1991. Death sentences are down 33 percent.

Anti-death penalty activists, including members of MoveOn.org and other advocay groups, rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in a final attempt to prevent the execution of Oklahoma inmate Richard Glossip on Sept. 29.

National

Are Last-Minute Death Penalty Delays Cruel And Unusual Punishment?

4:25pm November 23, 2015

by Jacob McCleland

The death penalty in the U.S. is under scrutiny after a series of botched executions. Some death row lawyers and activists say the repeated delays are torture for prisoners like Richard Glossip.