capital-punishment

The Death Penalty Is Slowly Dying

Hamilton Nolan · 12/18/14 11:40AM

The persistence of capital punishment in some American states is cause for disgust. There is some good news, though: the death penalty is on the decline. These year end numbers prove it.

Adam Weinstein · 05/16/14 08:12AM

Nearly two-thirds of Americans polled by NBC News said they'd favor a return to death by gas, electric chair, firing squad or hanging if lethal injection was found impractical. What's your preference? Personally, I'd like to have seen polling numbers for garroting and breaking on the wheel.

Only White People Support the Death Penalty

Hamilton Nolan · 03/28/14 11:53AM

In a month that has seen the exoneration of both the world's and our nation's longest-serving death row inmates, it is worth asking: where the hell does all the support for the death penalty come from? The answer may not surprise you.

More Evidence That Texas Wrongfully Executed a Man

Hamilton Nolan · 02/28/14 12:13PM

In 2004, the state of Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham for the crime of setting fire to his own house, killing his three children. Today, evidence is stronger than ever that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice.

Hamilton Nolan · 02/11/14 03:12PM

The governor of Washington has suspended the death penalty in his state, citing "too many flaws in this system."

Cord Jefferson · 01/16/14 02:33PM

"A condemned Ohio inmate appeared to gasp several times and took more than 15 minutes to die Thursday as he was executed with a combination of drugs never before tried in the U.S." Dennis McGuire's attorney called the execution "a failed, agonizing experiment by the state of Ohio."

Max Rivlin-Nadler · 06/30/13 10:08AM

Lost Words in the Chamber is a blog that runs the revealing, desperate, and sometimes beautiful last words of prisoners being executed in the United States. [via NYT]

Inescapable 'Free Mumia' Signs Finally Do Something Good

Max Read · 12/07/11 03:05PM

After 30 years of "Free Mumia" signs, t-shirts and bumper stickers being omnipresent at every single even vaguely left-leaning rally, the state of Pennsylvania has announced that it will no longer seek the death penalty against the journalist and former Black Panther, who was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer in 1981.