James Clark: Out of more than 900 men and women sentenced to die in California only 13 have ever been executed. Victims’ family members are dragged through decades of appeals and hearings while they wait for an execution that rarely comes.
California’s Death Penalty Prevents True Community Justice
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Aqeela Sherrills: The great irony, of course, is that while the state props up a failed system that discriminates against African-Americans and Latinos and anyone who is poor, it fails to provide justice to victims.
Tide Turning on California’s Death Penalty
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James Clark: The dominoes are falling fast as more and more people in California are learning what a waste the death penalty has become.
Hey Gov. Brown, Can You Hear Us Now?
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James Clark: Jerry Brown said “it’s all on the table.” If that’s true, why is he prioritizing death row over real help—like counseling—for victims’ families?
Illinois Ends the Death Penalty: Wake-up Call for California
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Natasha Minsker: It’s time to stop playing the killing game. Let’s use the hundreds of millions of dollars we’ll save to protect some of those essential services now threatened with death. Let’s stop asking people like me to lie to those victim’s family members.
Dear Terminator, Lay Off Our Executioners
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David Holtzman: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger can help. In what very little time he has left in office, he can give his legacy a considerable boost by commuting the state’s hundreds of pending death sentences to life in prison without possibility of release. As a Los Angeles resident on the world’s stage, he should be sensitive to his image at home and abroad.
Retired Supreme Court Justice: Capital Punishment ‘Shot Through with Racism’
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Jessie Daniels: This bold move against racism and the death penalty by a retired Supreme Court Justice is good news for those concerned with the injustice of capital punishment.
Beyond the Grim Sleeper: Cut Death Penalty to Fund Criminal Investigations
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Aqeela Sherrills: Why do we continue to waste hundreds of millions of dollars on the death penalty even though it has never been proven to deter murderers and even though 1,000 killers get away with murder each year?
Should Catholic Justices Recuse Themselves on Certain Cases?
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If Sonia Sotomayer, President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, joins the court she will turn its five Catholic members into a two-thirds majority. She will in fact be replacing one of the two Protestants who remained on the court. This dramatic change in the composition of the Supreme Court can be traced to the [...]
Stop Wasting Money on Executions
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Capital Punishment is Too Expensive California remains on track to spend over $1 billion on the death penalty in the next five years, in the midst of the worst financial crisis in nearly a century. Incredibly, even as state officials announce that they must fill a deficit of $21.3 billion this year, and contemplate drastic [...]
A Message From Amnesty International – Troy Anthony Davis
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Troy Anthony Davis faces execution for the murder of Police Officer Mark MacPhail in Georgia, despite a strong claim of innocence. 7 out of 9 witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony, no murder weapon was found and no physical evidence links Davis to the crime. This week the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected [...]
Close Down Guantanamo? What About Our Own Hellholes?
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As Tom Paine once opined on this subject: “When it shall be said in any country in the world, ‘My poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive’— when these things can be said then may that country boast of its constitution and its government.” Folks, we gotta ways to go.
Color of Law: Please Don’t Feed the Prison Monster
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At its worst, America’s criminal justice system represents the place where racism, greed and corruption intersect. At its best, it is inherently flawed, unjust, and unreliable, and little better than its worst. The engine that drives this injustice system is known as the prison industrial complex. It is the theater in which the nation’s foremost [...]
Troy Davis: The Case Continues
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by Dr. Alan Bean – The Troy Davis case indicates just how subjective the legal system really is. The federal 11th Court of Appeals deals with cases in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. A panel of three judges, selected from this court, considered the Davis case yesterday.
Update: Troy Anthony Davis
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After the United States Supreme Court refused to hear Davis’ case, the Federal Appeals Court in Atlanta, Ga granted Troy Anthony Davis a temporary stay of execution. This stay was granted just days before he was scheduled to be executed on Monday, October 27, 2008. “Upon our thorough review of the record, we conclude that [...]
It Is Likely We Have Executed Innocent People
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Troy Anthony Davis, the Death Penalty and Innocent Men Most Americans have limited contact with the judicial system. For the most part, our contact with the courts usually amounts to an occasional interaction in traffic court or small claims court. Unless you are an attorney, law student, or are in some other way associated with [...]
Elections Have Consequenses – Can We Sit By and Let This Happen?
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The United States Supreme Court won’t consider Troy Davis’ appeal. Troy Davis was scheduled to be executed last month in Georgia but the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution just two hours before the execution was to occur in order to determine whether it the justices would hear his appeal. This case has [...]
U.S. Supreme Court Issues a Stay of Execution for Troy Anthony Davis
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Troy Anthony Davis was granted a last-minute reprieve today, September 23, 2008, according to a report by Rusy Domin of CNN International. This morning, before going to work, Dick and I joined hands in prayer for the life of Troy Anthony Davis. He was scheduled to be executed tonight at 7:00pm ET in Georgia for [...]
Occassionally, We Get Feedback
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I love doing surveys and polls. We put questions out on the Web, people answer, we post their responses. It’s a pretty simple process. But this simple process yields a big payoff. It results in us hearing from you. For me, getting your reponse is what makes the survey process rewarding. Everyday, Dick and I [...]
Are Progressives Blind to the Prison-Industrial Complex?
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ver the summer, my husband Dick and I attended one of the first meetings of the Downtown Los Angeles Chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America. Amid the high rises and lofts of the rapidly growing middleclass demographic of LA’s Civic Center, a modest sized group of progressive activists gathered on the patio of the [...]
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Troy Anthony Davis – Executing the Innocent
Troy Anthony Davis – Executing the Innocent I’ve posted several pieces on the tragic case of Troy Anthony Davis. I can’t let this story go. The more I study the law, the more I’m convinced there are times when the administration of the law can be far removed from questions of guilt or innocence. A [...]