Search Results for: cruel AND unusual punishment

The highest court in Massachusetts ruled on Thursday that individuals under the age of 21 cannot be sentenced to life without parole, becoming the first state to do so. In a 4-3 decision overruling the previous legislative action, the court raised the minimum age from 18 to 21, citing brain development science and the Massachusetts [...]

On Jan. 25, the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) plans to execute Kenneth Smith by forcing him to breathe pure nitrogen gas, an untested execution method with profound legal and ethical consequences. Death penalty abolitionists worldwide have railed against this form of capital punishment, but these efforts have thus far failed to alter the state’s [...]

Four UN experts urged US officials on Wednesday to cancel the execution of an inmate in Alabama by nitrogen hypoxia. Kenneth Smith, who was sentenced to life without parole in 1988 after being convicted for murder, is scheduled to be executed on January 25, 2o24. The UN experts asserted that Smith’s execution will mark “the [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case involving the denial of exercise time to an inmate in solitary confinement. The case centers around Michael Johnson, who was incarcerated at the Pontiac Correctional Center in Illinois. Johnson, who suffers from severe mental health issues, including bipolar depression, severe depression and other diagnosed [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 6-1 on Friday that the mandatory minimum sentence for child luring is unconstitutional as it violates the right against cruel and unusual punishment under Section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom. The judgment arose out of two separate cases of child luring, one with a sentence [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed on Thursday to reconsider a decision from August that a provision of the Mississippi Constitution that permanently prevents people convicted of certain felonies from voting is unconstitutional.  The court agreed to rehear the case involving Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution after Secretary of State [...]

The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that an 1890 state constitutional provision permanently preventing people convicted of certain felonies from voting, Section 241, is unconstitutional. Judge James Dennis writing for the majority, discussed the racial history of the Mississippi Constitution that was ratified in 1890, writing, “From the outset, the object of [...]

The UN Committee against Torture issued findings on New Zealand, Romania, Spain and Switzerland on Friday in its latest session. The overarching “theme” of the session was the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which was used as a benchmark (as well as previous state reports) to identify if the four member states incorporated this [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from the state of Alabama regarding a death row inmate’s request for an alternative execution method. With the court’s decision, a lower court ruling in favor of the death row inmate stands and the alternative method, as opposed to lethal injection, should be allowed. [...]

A new report released by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) has dubbed 2022 the “Year of the Botched Execution,” shedding light on critical issues that mire the capital punishment process in the US — including racial discrimination and problems with prosecutorial accountability. The report highlights that botched executions and protocol errors have led to [...]