capital-punishment

Firing squads could return as states debate the death penalty | Analysis

BY: - March 10, 2023

Twenty-seven states allow capital punishment, but public support for it has declined.

Five things to know about the death penalty in Pa. | Friday Morning Coffee

BY: - February 24, 2023

Lawmakers in the state House and Senate have reintroduced bills to get Pennsylvania out of the capital punishment business.

COMMENTARY
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, joined by members of his administration and business leaders, signed an executive order on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, to establish the Pennsylvania Office of Transformation and Opportunity. (Capital-Star photo by Cassie Miller)

Pa. Gov. Shapiro evolves, seeks to abolish fallible and irreversible death penalty | Michael Coard

BY: - February 24, 2023

Shapiro's view on capital punishment has evolved, and a columnist's view of him has too. Here's why.

Pennsylvania Capitol Building. May 24, 2022. Harrisburg, Pa. (Photo by Amanda Berg, for the Capital-Star).

Democrats propose abolishing death penalty; Republican floats mandatory sentence for murdering cop

BY: - February 22, 2023

Democrats reintroduced legislation to ban capital punishment in Pennsylvania.

COMMENTARY

Pa. shouldn’t wait any longer to abolish the death penalty | Friday Morning Coffee

BY: - February 17, 2023

It's racist, biased, and brutalizes all of us. End it.

Shapiro refuses to sign execution warrants, calls on lawmakers to abolish capital punishment

BY: - February 16, 2023

Gov. Josh Shapiro also called on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to abolish capital punishment altogether.

COMMENTARY

Virginia abolished biased, botched executions; more states should follow suit | Opinion

BY: - January 5, 2023

The imposition of a death sentence gives a false impression that justice is being served.

Botched executions reached ‘astonishing’ high in 2022, report finds

BY: - December 18, 2022

Two more death row prisoners were exonerated in 2022, even as society’s ultimate sanction became more geographically isolated, with only a handful of states carrying out executions in the last year, according to a new report. The number of botched executions also reached an “astonishing” level, according to the research by the Death Penalty Information […]

COMMENTARY

Allegheny Co. DA Zappala’s decision to seek death penalty doesn’t serve justice | Opinion

BY: - May 27, 2022

Between 1978 and 2018, Pa. executed three people and spent $1B on capital prosecutions. A waste of time and money.

As he fights COVID-19, supporters call for Mumia Abu-Jamal’s release from prison

BY: - March 8, 2021

The 66-year-old, who was convicted in the death of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, now suffers from an array of health problems, his supporters say, justifying his release on humanitarian grounds.

COMMENTARY

As executions slowed during pandemic, death penalty opposition continued to grow | Wednesday Morning Coffee

BY: - December 16, 2020

More than two-thirds of states (34) have either repealed the death penalty or not carried out an execution in 10 years, according to a new report. That includes Pennsylvania.

COMMENTARY

More white Americans still support the death penalty. There’s an unpleasant reason for that| Friday Morning Coffee

BY: - November 29, 2019

Should all-white juries be permitted in death penalty cases involving black defendants?