Search | Prison Legal News

Death Penalty Deterrents?

Article • December 15, 1994 • from PLN December, 1994

Filed under: Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Death Penalty Deterrents? by Former California Governor Edmund "Pat" Brown, in his book, Public Justice, Private Mercy, recounts how a plumber convicted of robbery was among the prisoners who built California's gas chamber at San Quentin. He helped to install it and watched test pigs die as the chamber's effectiveness …

Federal Crime Bill Passes

Article • December 15, 1994 • from PLN December, 1994

Filed under: Transfers, Police Misconduct, Gender Discrimination -- Women, Sex Offender Registration, Tuberculosis, DNA Testing/Samples, Drug Testing, Crime/Demographics, Crime, Databases, Overcrowding, Education, Disclosure of Records, Consent Decrees, Limitations, Good Time, Three Strikes, Immigration, Death Penalty, Federal Legislation, Fathers in Prison, Mothers in Prison

Federal Crime Bill Passes by Paul Wright By Paul Wright In the October and November, 1993, issues of PLN, I wrote articles about the "anti-crime" proposals that had been submitted in the US Congress by democrats and republicans, respectively. I predicted then the most repressive aspects of both proposals would …

Houston - Death Penalty Capital of USA

Article • December 15, 1994 • from PLN December, 1994

Filed under: Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Houston - Death Penalty Capital of USA by Dan Pens In one week this September, six separate capital murder cases were being tried in Harris County, Texas, of which Houston is the main city. Some legal observers consider this to be a national record. "They may have done this in …

Fast Food Style Death Penalty Defense

Article • December 15, 1994 • from PLN December, 1994

Filed under: Attorney Misconduct, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Fast Food Style Death Penalty Defense by Harris County, Texas, which encompasses Houston, is the death-penalty capital of the U.S. [See: Houston, Death Penalty Capital of USA on page 15 of this issue]. What better place for a lawyer to develop and market the same techniques that made fast food …

The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the 18th Century (Book Review)

Article • November 15, 1994 • from PLN November, 1994

Filed under: Reviews, Prisoners-International, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the 18th Century (Book Review) by Sandy Judd by Peter Linebaugh (Cambridge University Press, 1992) Review by Sandy Judd A title like The London Hanged might make a person think this is another book about death--an 18th century version of those true …

Bias in Military Death Penalty

Article • October 15, 1994 • from PLN October, 1994

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty, Military Law

Bias in Military Death Penalty by The Vol. 5, No. 6, issue of PLN reported on studies showing the new federal death penalty was racially biased. A recent report issued by the Death Penalty Information Center notes that of the six men (three soldiers, two marines and an airman) awaiting …

Demanding Death

Article • September 15, 1994 • from PLN September, 1994

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Demanding Death by Mumia Abu-Jamal By Mumia Abu-Jamal Michael Alan Durocher, of Florida's Death Row, wrote to the Governor, literally begging for death. Gov. Lawton Chiles agreed, signed his death warrant, and Durocher sent him a thank you note. On August 25, 1993, at 7:15 a.m., Durocher, 33, got his …

Art and Writings Against the Death Penalty / Save Mumia Abu Jamal

Article • September 15, 1994 • from PLN September, 1994

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Art and Writings Against the Death Penalty / Save Mumia Abu Jamal by by Adrian Lomax Mumia Abu-Jamal learned early what happens to African Americans who speak their minds. In 1968, at the age of 16, Mumia and some of his friends marched in Philadelphia to protest the presidential candidacy …

The Death Penalty in Black and White

Article • September 15, 1994 • from PLN September, 1994

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Victims, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

The Death Penalty in Black and White by Michael Ross By Michael Ross "[The] evidence shows that there is a better than even chance in Georgia that race will influence the decision to impose the death penalty: a majority of defendants in white-victim crimes would not have been sentenced to …

WA Initiative to Increase Gun Penalties

Article • August 15, 1994 • from PLN August, 1994

Filed under: Crime, Sentencing, Death Penalty, State Legislation

WA Initiative to Increase Gun Penalties by Paul Wright By Paul Wright The Washington Citizens for Justice are the right-wingers headed by Dave LaCourse, of the Public Policy Institute in Bellevue, WA; John Carlson, of KVI radio and Seattle Times columnist and Ida Ballasiotes, Republican state representative for Mercer Island. …

Fed Death Penalty Biased

Article • June 15, 1994 • from PLN June, 1994

Filed under: Racial Discrimination, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Fed Death Penalty Biased by In 1988 federal law was amended to allow for the execution of drug dealers who committed murder in the furtherance of their drug enterprises. Since the law came into effect the Justice Department has sought the death penalty in 37 cases. Of the 37 defendants …

FLA Death Penalty Games

Article • September 15, 1993 • from PLN September, 1993

Filed under: Public Defenders, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

FLA Death Penalty Games by Frank Valdez I'm in the midst of challenging the reappointment of a guy named Spalding to the Capital Collateral Representative (CCR) post of Florida (that's the state funded agency that handles collateral appeals for indigent capital/condemned prisoners). I'm still on direct appeal, but I feel …

The Evolution of Criminal Justice

Article • June 15, 1993 • from PLN June, 1993

Filed under: Commentary/Reviews, Self Incrimination, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Death Penalty

The Evolution of Criminal Justice by Sandy Judd In twentieth century America, coerced confessions to criminal acts are not technically admissible as evidence in courts of law. Since the 1980's, however, a movement against the enforcement of such "technicalities" has developed within the federal courts. As more forms of questionable …

Infamous Punishment The Psychological Consequences of Isolation, NPPJ,1993

Publication • 1993

Filed under: Conditions of Confinement, Death Penalty, Mental Health

Infamous Punishment The Psychological Consequences of Isolation, NPPJ,1993 "Infamous Punishment": The Psychological Consequences of Isolation The NPP JOURNAL continues its in depth coverage of supermaximum secu rity prisons. In the Fall 1992 issue, we ran an overview article, "The Marioni zation of American Prisons," and a piece on Barlinnie, the …

Disabled Executed

Article • March 15, 1993 • from PLN March, 1993

Filed under: Discrimination, Disabled Prisoners, Death Penalty

Disabled Executed by On January 19, 1993, the state of Virginia executed Charles Stamper. Stamper had been confined to a wheelchair since his spinal cord was injured in a prison brawl. Stamper was denied permission to walk to the electric chair in leg braces and a walker. Instead, prison guards …

Editorial

Article • March 15, 1993 • from PLN March, 1993

Filed under: Editorials, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Editorial by Ed Mead Why do you think Paul and I go through all the trouble to put out this paper each month? Why do our outside volunteers so consistently work to produce and mail every issue? It certainly isn't because we or our volunteers have nothing better to do …

Death Penalty Foes Boo Pennsylvania Governor

Article • December 15, 1992 • from PLN December, 1992

Filed under: Political Prisoners, Organizing, Death Penalty

Death Penalty Foes Boo Pennsylvania Governor by Paul Wright By Paul Wright Robert Casey is the governor of Pennsylvania. He claims to be "pro-life" because he opposes a woman's right to choose abortion and has signed into law one of the more restrictive abortion laws in the U.S. (which was …

Texas Death Row Prisoners on Hunger Strike

Article • December 15, 1992 • from PLN December, 1992

Filed under: Prison Rebellion, Hunger Strikes, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Texas Death Row Prisoners on Hunger Strike by Texas Death Row Prisoners On Hunger Strike Since July 19, 1992, more that 50 condemned prisoners on Texas's death row commenced a chain hunger strike. They are fasting in pairs for three days at a time, consuming only liquids, when the strike …

U.S. Slammed on Death Penalty

Article • December 15, 1992 • from PLN December, 1992

Filed under: Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

U.S. Slammed on Death Penalty by While a growing number of countries are abolishing the death penalty as a form of justice for convicted criminals, the United States is executing convicts at a faster rate than ever before, the head of Amnesty International recently said. America's insistence on upholding the …

Crime and Punishment in America

Article • December 15, 1992 • from PLN December, 1992

Filed under: Crime, Death Penalty/Death Row, Death Penalty

Crime and Punishment in America by Paul Wright Crime And Punishment In America By Paul Wright The October 7, 1992, edition of the Seattle Times reported that in Carson, CA a homeless man had been acquitted by a jury of stealing aluminum cans from a recycling bin. The man was …