Search Results for: clemency

The US prides itself on being a nation built on freedom, justice, and individual rights. And yet the evolution of its system of mass incarceration — a system that cannot be defined without reference to shocking racial disparities — seems to directly contradict these founding principles. The US prison population dwarfs those of nearly every other [...]

The Georgia Parole Board denied clemency for inmate Willie James Pye on Tuesday, making him soon to be the first inmate executed in the state since 2020. Pye was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 after the murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbough, with whom he was involved in a relationship. During the clemency meeting [...]

“It a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” —   Macbeth  When asked to imagine the stereotypes associated with Texas, one might conjure images of barbecue, big trucks, and cowboys. But perhaps a more apt image would be that of injustice undergirding execution. As it all too frequently has in the [...]

Amnesty International reiterated its calls to stop the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama by nitrogen hypoxia. The date for execution has been set for January 25, 2024. In urging Alabama to cancel the execution, Justin Mazzola, a researcher at Amnesty International, stated: The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment, [...]

US President Joe Biden reduced eleven non-violent drug prison terms and pardoned potentially thousands of marijuana possession offenses under federal law or in Washington, DC on Friday. Biden used his pardon power authority under Article II of the US Constitution to pardon the offenders. This power is limited to federal offenses, and the president cannot [...]

The High Court of Justice of Suriname upheld on Wednesday a 20-year prison sentence for former President Desi Bouterse in connection with the December 1982 murders of 15 political opponents during his regime. Bouterse, who served as president of the sovereign state from 2010 to 2020, initially rose to power as Suriname’s de facto leader from [...]

An attorney representing political activist Ahmed Douma took to social media Saturday to announce the activist’s release, made possible by a presidential pardon. Douma had endured a decade of incarceration within the confines of Egyptian state penitentiaries. Douma was resentenced to 15 years in prison by the Cairo Criminal Court in 2019 after initially being [...]

A Texas court Tuesday postponed inmate Andre Thomas’ execution date to allow his legal team to prove that he is not competent to be executed. After confessing to a triple murder in 2004, Thomas gouged his eyes out and claimed divine direction for his crimes. Thomas has been considered “seriously mentally ill” since the incident. Further, [...]

Belarusian law students enrolled at European Humanities University are filing reports with JURIST on current circumstances in Belarus under the constitutionally-disputed presidency of Alexander Lukashenka. Here, one of them discusses new Criminal Code provisions explicitly authorizing Belarusian officials and soldiers to be put to death for committing “treason to the state”. For privacy and security [...]

Belarusian law students enrolled at European Humanities University are filing reports with JURIST on current circumstances in Belarus under the constitutionally-disputed presidency of Alexander Lukashenka. Here, one of them discusses the circumstances of three women currently held as political prisoners in Belarus. For privacy and security reasons, we are withholding the name of the correspondent [...]