Texas executions and death sentences are occurring at the lowest rate in decades, according to a report from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Tag: Prison Reform
Suicide, self-harm, stabbings and riots – prisons reach crisis point
A dozen of the country’s jails now have such chronic staff shortages they are having to draft in officers from other prisons to help maintain order. The staff shortage has forced some jails into locking prisoners in their cells for extended periods.
The hidden mental health crisis in women’s prisons
From self-harming in groups to starvation and self-immolation, women are overwhelmingly more likely than men to hurt themselves while incarcerated. So why isn’t the prison system responding?
Support for death penalty drops to lowest level in 4 decades
Support for the death penalty for convicted murderers is the lowest it’s been since President Richard Nixon was in office, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.
No death penalty in California?
An initiative that would repeal the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without possibility of parole has qualified for the November ballot, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced.
Women shouldn’t be forced to seek refuge inside a prison
Every year around 9,000 women are sent to prison, yet the only risk of harm posed by most of them is to themselves. Suicides in prison are on the rise. Already this year five women have taken their own lives inside.
Capital punishment’s profound risk
Thirty years ago, Keith Allen Harward narrowly avoided a death sentence. Thanks to DNA evidence, he recently walked out of the Virginia prison where he has spent half of his life for a brutal rape and murder he didn’t commit.
Pope Francis calls for capital punishment ban worldwide
Pope Francis on Sunday called for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty, saying the commandment “You shall not kill” was absolute and equally valid for the guilty as for the innocent.