Georgia rejects clemency for death row inmate who claims mental disability
The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday rejected a clemency bid by death row inmate Warren Hill who was convicted of two counts of murder but argues he should not be executed...
Canada commission finds issues with accountability, communication in Afghan detainee treatment
The Canada Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) on Wednesday announced that it would make recommendations to improve military police investigations based on its four-year investigation into allegations of misconduct in handling Afghan detainees. The MPCC...
Extending Miller v. Alabama to All Juvenile Homicide Offenders
JURIST Senior Editor Elizabeth Imbarlina, University of Pittsburgh School of Law Class of 2014, argues that the US Supreme Court's reasoning in Miller v. Alabama can be extended to abolish life in prison without the possibility of parole sentences for...
Supreme Court rules mandatory life sentences for juveniles unconstitutional
The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled 5-4 in two combined cases that mandatory life sentences for juveniles violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. In Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs...
The Supreme Court of Arkansas ruled on Friday that a state law passed in 2009 that gives the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC) authority to administer lethal injection drugs of its choice during...
Rights group sues over California prison solitary confinement
The Center for Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of several inmates over solitary confinement policies at a California prison Security Housing Unit (SHU). The defendants are California Governor Jerry Brown, the Secretary...
Towards Exempting the Severely Mentally Ill from the Death Penalty
JURIST Guest Columnist Olga Vlasova, Brooklyn Law School Class of 2013, is the Sparer Public Interest Law Fellow. She argues for prohibiting the death penalty for severely mentally ill offenders...According to Mental Health America, about 10 percent of all death...
The UN Office for the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) on Monday welcomed a report published by the US Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) ...
JURIST Assistant Editor Katherine Bacher, University of Pittsburgh School of Law Class of 2014, argues that the US Supreme Court should consider reinstating capital punishment for defendants who committed serious crimes while under the age of 18... (Her opinions are...
Sentencing Children to Die in Prison is Cruel and Unusual Punishment
JURIST Guest Columnist Jason Szanyi, staff attorney at the Center for Children's Law and Policy, says that the Supreme Court should follow prior precedent and ban the sentence of life without parole for juvenile homicide offenders...This past month, the US...
