originally published by: Delaware Online
published: 14th September 2010

Fairness, justice, equal protection – there is no context for which these ideals are more important than death penalty trials.

Our Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. A death sentence that is arbitrarily imposed or handed down without proper consideration of mitigating evidence (evidence about the crime or the defendant that suggests the death penalty is inappropriate) is cruel and unusual and unconstitutional.

Can our criminal justice system ensure that a death sentence meets these constitutional standards?

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originally published by: ChicagoPressRelease.com
22nd August 2010

On 23 September, 40-year-old Teresa Lewis will become the first woman to be executed in the state of Virginia for almost a century. She’ll also be the first woman put to death in the US since 2005.

Considering that, in the intervening five years, around 220 men will have been executed, it puts it into perspective: executing women is unusual. Of more than 1,200 executions carried out since the US supreme court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, only 11 were of women. And each time that happens, it’s stunningly bad PR for an increasingly unpopular facet of the American justice system.

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