death penalty

National

California Voters Decide To Uphold Death Penalty, Streamline The Process

5:03pm November 09, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

California voters rejected a ballot measure that would have abolished capital punishment, and narrowly approved a competing measure designed to speed up the execution process.

4 States Opt To Raise Minimum Wage; 7 Loosen Marijuana Laws

11:06am November 09, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

California and Washington passed stricter gun control measures, Nebraska and Oklahoma both passed measures backing the death penalty, and Colorado became the sixth state to legalize assisted suicide.

National

Florida's Supreme Court Declares State Death Penalty Law Unconstitutional

3:08pm October 14, 2016

by Bill Chappell

Florida "effectively has no death penalty," leaving the legal standing of some 390 death row inmates in doubt, as member station WLRN reports.

After A Long Lull, Texas Set To Execute Barney Ronald Fuller Jr.

3:07pm October 05, 2016

by Eyder Peralta

The country writ large has seen a slowdown in executions. In Texas, a leader in executions, Fuller could become the first person put to death in more than five months.

National

Supreme Court To Hear Death Penalty Case Based On Racially Tainted Testimony

6:42am October 05, 2016

by Nina Totenberg

Duane Buck was given the death penalty after an expert witness testified that he was more likely to be dangerous in the future because he was black. The Supreme Court hears his case Wednesday.

Queue Listen Now

Larry Greene, public information director of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, demonstrates how a curtain is pulled between the death chamber and witness room at the prison in Lucasville, Ohio.

National

Using New Drug Cocktail, Ohio Seeks To Resume Death Penalty

2:50pm October 03, 2016

by Eyder Peralta

The state says it intends to use a three-drug cocktail to execute Ronald Phillips in January. While state officials did not disclose where they acquired the drugs, they say they are FDA approved.

Delaware Supreme Court Finds State's Death Penalty Law Is Unconstitutional

5:52pm August 02, 2016

by Eyder Peralta

Capital murder trials and executions had been hold awaiting this decision. The justices found that juries, not judges, should have final say in whether to sentence someone to death.

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

This undated photo was taken of John Hinckley Jr. in front of the White House. He attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in D.C. on March 30, 1981.

After Hinckley, States Tightened Use Of The Insanity Plea

4:40pm July 28, 2016

by Natalie Jacewicz

John Hinckley's not-guilty verdict prompted tighter restrictions on the insanity defense. Civil rights advocates say that means seriously ill people are imprisoned without adequate treatment.

Pfizer's corporate headquarters in midtown Manhattan.

Pfizer To Stop Selling Drugs For Use In Lethal Injections

10:25pm May 13, 2016

by Laura Wagner

The drugmaker was the "last remaining open-market source of drugs used in executions," The New York Times reported. Other U.S. and European firms had already blocked drugs from use in executions.