Search Results for: parole

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called on Alabama state authorities Tuesday to cancel the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith, which is scheduled to take place next week by nitrogen hypoxia. Türk reemphasized human rights concerns regarding the potential consequences of the untested execution method. According to the statement, execution by nitrogen [...]

Alexei Navalny brought claims against the Russian Ministry of Justice for his treatment in a Siberian prison when he appeared in court via video link, on Thursday. He appeared from a remote Siberian Penal Colony which he had recently been transferred to. During this transfer, he went “missing” within the penal system for nearly three [...]

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 [...]

The US House Homeland Security Committee held its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The hearing was initiated by House Republicans who accused Mayorkas of failing to follow immigration law and of violating the public trust as border crossings have reached record levels. Chairman Mark Greene (R-TN) of the Homeland [...]

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 [...]

As we prepare to usher in 2024, the outlook on Alabama’s administration of the death penalty holds many terrible knowns, and an even greater number of grim unknowns. At the top of any capital punishment-watcher’s list: Is Alabama really going to move forward with the first state-sanctioned nitrogen gassing execution in US history? If all goes according [...]

An Australian appeals court acquitted on Thursday Australian mother Kathleen Folbigg, who was wrongfully convicted of both murder and manslaughter in May 2003 based on the death of her four infant children. In overturning her conviction, the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal cited evidentiary issues with the prosecution’s reliance on circumstantial evidence and [...]

In a distressing and seemingly interminable saga within the UK justice system, individuals sentenced to a mere two years have found themselves ensnared in unyielding decades-long stints of confinement—a grim consequence of the since-abolished Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) policy. In 2020, Lord Brown, a former justice of the UK Supreme Court wrote he had “no [...]

The European Union (EU) claimed on Wednesday that they were “forced to cancel” the electoral observation mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after planning to deploy long-term observers across the DRC. EU Spokesperson Nabila Massrali stated that the cancellation was due to “technical constraints” outside of the EU’s control. However, the EU [...]

The UK Ministry of Justice announced plans to reform Imprisonment for Public Protection (“IPP”) sentences. IPP sentences, originally intended to prevent offenders considered “dangerous” from being released despite their offense not warranting a life sentence, have not been used since 2012. However, many still have ongoing IPP sentences today, leaving them in prison indefinitely or [...]