death penalty
A very particular humanity
Suzanne Robertson didn’t meet “life” on death row. She met a man named Cecil who loved cheesecake.
More than 100 faith leaders are trying to prevent Andre Thomas’s execution
Imagine what might happen if they poured that energy into abolishing the death penalty in Texas.
The federal death penalty and the Trump administration’s last-minute killing spree
The first federal execution in 17 years took place last summer. Twelve more followed.
How Sister Helen Prejean became a “social justice sister”
“What saves us is learning how to love, even to the point of death.”
There’s no good reason to bring back the federal death penalty
The Trump administration and public opinion are moving in opposite directions.
Tracing the racist history of the death penalty in Georgia
R.J. Maratea argues that lynching declined when white people began to realize that the courtroom would work just as well.
Innocent on death row
Two memoirs by men who endured decades of criminal injustice before being exonerated
When mercy and justice meet
As we make laws and try to adjudicate justice, we often lose sight of the human faces affected.
Balance the scales
We can no longer pretend that the scales of justice in America are fair and balanced.
Is the death penalty on the way out?
Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that Florida’s death penalty sentencing violates the Sixth Amendment. Tomorrow, the court will consider whether to hear a death-row petition based on the Eighth. The first is comparatively narrow in scope: Florida has to stop sending people to its rather bustling death row unless that decision is made by a real live jury.
The second, however, could be quite sweeping.
Unmoved
The state killed Kelly Gissendaner despite the evidence of a changed life. This points to a desire for retribution rather than reformation.
Fearing evil
It feels to me like evil is hovering over the prison in the form of a government ready to kill a woman who prayed with me when my father was dying of cancer. There isn't a thing I can do about it except pray this psalm and damn if we can't get it right.
Two responses to my death penalty/LWOP article
I was trying to write a provocative article for a readership that includes many people who a) oppose the death penalty for faith-based reasons, and b) take for granted that replacing it with LWOP is a fairly straightforward good. But I should have done more to anticipate how others might see a one-sided article where I saw a narrowly focused one.