By Lonnae O’Neal Parker via the Washington Post There’s a steadfast cheeriness to Christina Swarns as she talks rapid fire about the contours of her day. There are the rigors of her end-to-end Manhattan commute, how rarely she dresses like a grown-up and the usual challenges of the professional working mom. But that changes when the conversation [...]

By Lee A. Daniels
The death penalty, once an inviolate feature of America’s legal and political landscape, has lost significant support among the American public, according to a report released this week.

In an article for the Open Society blog, Christina Swarns, Director of the Criminal Justice Practice of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, discusses how the controversial case had “continued to follow the arc of [the debate about] the American death penalty.”

The defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose controversial 1982 conviction and death sentence for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer galvanized a worldwide protest, recorded a critical landmark this week.

Today, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office announced that it will not seek another death sentence for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Pennsylvania law now requires Mr. Abu-Jamal to be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for his controversial 1982 murder conviction in the shooting death of a police officer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

By The Editors
A broad-based group of civil rights groups, faith-based leaders and individuals prominent in other fields, including law enforcement are urging the Harris County (Texas) District Attorney to delay setting an execution date for Duane Buck, who now sits on that state’s death row.

(New York, NY)  –  Today the United States Supreme Court rejected a request from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to overturn the most recent federal appeals court decision declaring Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence unconstitutional.  The Court’s decision brings to an end nearly thirty years of litigation over the fairness of the sentencing hearing that resulted [...]

By George E. Curry
Ray Charles sings about Georgia being on his mind. But, as Troy Davis is to be laid to rest Saturday in Savannah, Georgia is also on the minds of distraught death penalty opponents who saw him executed on the basis of questionable evidence and despite an array of witnesses who had recanted their original testimony.

By The Editors The U.S. Supreme Court late Thursday stayed the scheduled execution by the state of  Texas of Duane Buck in order to review the appeal of Buck’s attorneys that his sentencing was tainted by racial bias. Buck, 48, who is African American, was convicted of the 1995 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Debra Gardner, [...]

By The Editors
A study released last month by the Montgomery, Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative shows that Alabama is unique even among the other 33 states which have capital punishment laws. It is the only state whose statute enables judges to easily overrule jury decisions in capital cases imposing a sentence of death or life without the possibility of parole. As a result, Alabama judges have overwhelmingly chosen to discard jurors’ sentences of life and impose a death sentence.