Search results matching tag 'Supreme Court'

Supreme Court to Review Life Sentences for Juvenile Offenders

CC Pro — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:50:00 GMT

In 2005, the Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for juveniles. This week the Court announced it will review whether sentencing a juvenile to life without possibility of parole is cruel and unusual punishment. The justices will consider two cases from Florida that challenge the constitutionality of the life sentences imposed. According to a 2008 Human Rights Watch report, there are 2,484 juveniles that have received such a sentence, with the majority concentrated in the states of California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Executions Decline in U.S. for Third Straight Year

CC Pro — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:43:00 GMT

Figures released by the Death Penalty Information Center indicate thirty-seven (37) executions took place in the United States during 2008. This is the lowest number in 14 years. A partial explanation for the decrease is the informal moratorium on executions that occurred while the Supreme Court deliberated the constitutionality of the three-drug protocol administered by almost all states that employ lethal injection for executions. The Court rendered a decision in April (Baze and Bowling v. Rees) upholding the method. Also of significance is the number of persons sentenced to death (111) during 2008. This is the lowest number since 1976 when the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment. Other factors that may have contributed to the decline are:

High legal and security costs associated with the death penalty;
Pronounced downturns in states' economies;
A drop in the number of violent crimes;
Changing public sentiment regarding use of the death penalty

Supreme Court Rules on Lethal Injection Method

CC Pro — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:03:00 GMT

The most common method used in lethal injection executions in the United States has been upheld by the Supreme Court. A constitutional challenge was made regarding the State of Kentucky's use of the three drugs that sedate, paralyze and, finally, kill inmates. The argument against the three-drug protocol was that if the initial drug failed to sufficiently sedate the inmate, the administration of the other two drugs could result in excruciating pain which the inmate could not express due to paralysis.This method of execution is employed by approximately three dozen states. Executions have been on hold since September 2007 when the high court agreed to hear the Kentucky case.

New Jersey Abolishes Capital Punishment

CC Pro — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:47:00 GMT

The State of New Jersey has become the first state in over 40 years to abolish the death penalty. The eight men currently on death row will have their sentences commuted to life without parole. Executions have been on hold in the U.S. pending a decision by the Supreme Court on whether the use of lethal injections violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Executions by Lethal Injection May Be Halted Until Supreme Court Rules

CC Pro — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 15:39:00 GMT

The Supreme Court will decide, before its scheduled July recess, the question of whether the mixture of "three drugs used to sedate and kill prisoners has the potential to cause pain severe enough to violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment." The high court agreed last month to accept a case challenging the lethal injection procedures of the State of Kentucky. Similar procedures are currently in place in three dozen other states. The effect may be that most, if not all executions will be halted until this ruling. Full article.

Supreme Court to Examine Sentencing Disparities Between Crack & Powder Cocaine

CC Pro — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:15:00 GMT

The Supreme Court has decided "to review whether judges are required to impose dramatically longer sentences for crack cocaine than for cocaine powder, stepping into a long-running dispute with racial overtones." Article here.

California's Sentencing Law Struck Down

Eileen Conway — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:53:00 GMT

In a ruling that could affect current state inmate sentences, the United States Supreme Court today found that California's determinant sentencing law violates a defendant's right to trial by jury. In Cunningham v. California, the Supreme Court repeated its prior finding that juries, not judges, must be the source of lengthened sentences.