death penalty

Executions Worldwide Hit Highest Level In 25 Years But Lose Popularity In U.S.

9:04pm April 05, 2016

by Eyder Peralta

According to Amnesty International, the rise was driven mostly by Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. It's a different story in the U.S., where a majority of states have essentially halted executions.

World News

Iran Sentences Billionaire Businessman To Death For Corruption

6:11pm March 06, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Iranian state media report that Babak Zanjani, an oil trader who allegedly helped Iran evade oil sanctions, has been convicted of "spreading corruption on earth." Zanjani can appeal the verdict.

Pope Calls On Christians To Abolish Death Penalty

9:05am February 21, 2016

by Bill Chappell

"The commandment, 'Thou shalt not kill,' has absolute value, and concerns both the innocent and the guilty," Pope Francis says.

National

Florida Delays Execution Until Supreme Court Ruling Is Applied

8:26pm February 02, 2016

by Laura Wagner

The state's highest court has delayed next week's planned execution of an inmate until until it determines how to apply a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the state's death penalty system is flawed.

National

Florida Supreme Court To Decide Whether Executions Can Go Forward

10:38am February 02, 2016

by Greg Allen

Florida's highest court will hear a case that may determine the fate of some 390 death row inmates. The case comes after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state's death sentencing system.

Queue Listen Now

Maine Gov. Paul LePage took aim at drug dealers in his state, saying that carrying a concealed weapon is legal in Maine and suggesting citizens shoot drug dealers. He followed up saying he did not advocate for vigilante justice.

National

Maine Governor To Citizens: 'Load Up And Get Rid Of The Drug Dealers'

3:07pm January 28, 2016

by Laura Wagner

Gov. Paul LePage's comments follow remarks earlier this month in which he characterized drug dealers as men named "D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty" who come to Maine and "impregnate young white girls."

National

Supreme Court Opens Door To Parole For Juveniles Given Life Sentences

8:40pm January 25, 2016

by Nina Totenberg

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Monday that convicts serving life for crimes committed while juveniles must be resentenced. For some prisoners, that may mean early release.

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National

Supreme Court Strikes Down Florida's Process Of Imposing Death Penalty

1:18pm January 12, 2016

by Laura Wagner

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that Florida's capital punishment sentencing process is unconstitutional because it allows judges, not juries, to decide whether to impose the death penalty.

Family members of Shafqat Hussain, who was convicted and hanged in Pakistan in August for killing a boy in 2004, waited to receive his body outside the central jail in Karachi. Pakistan executed more than 300 people last year.

World News

Fewer Countries Are Relying On Death Penalty, But They're Executing More

7:05pm January 07, 2016

by Jackie Northam

Saudi Arabia's spate of 47 executions last week continued a trend from 2015, in which several countries that have the death penalty used it more often.

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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.