Several states are considering a ban on capital punishment for people with mental illnesses or brain injuries.
There is a difference between mental illness - which encompasses a wide range of diagnoses, including serious ones like schizophrenia and paranoia - and insanity, a condition that is much more narrowly defined and more difficult to prove.
Insanity
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Gallows trap door, Tokyo Detention Center, JapanKOBE — A court sentenced a 42-year-old man to death Wednesday for killing five people on Awaji Island in western Japan in 2015.The defendant Tatsuhiko Hirano’s mental condition was “normal” when he carried out the killings, Presiding Judge Hidenori
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Ninety-seven of the 122 people charged pleaded not guilty to wilful murderSYDNEY: A “berserk” crowd used bows and arrows, knives and axes to hack to death seven people including two small children accused of sorcery, a trial in Papua New Guinea has heard.Ninety-seven of the 122 people charged
Karachi: Pakistan’s parliament on Tuesday amended the constitution to reinstate secret military courts that try civilians charged with terrorism offences, something activists have warned will lead to human rights abuses.The government and Pakistan’s powerful military say the country’s civilian
Vietnam has sentenced nine drug traffickers to death for smuggling nearly half a tonne (500 kilograms) of heroin into the country from Laos, a local government report said Wednesday.Nine others were jailed for life over the massive drug bust and "all illegal profits were seized", according to the22
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Between April 17 and 27, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson plans on doing what should be inconceivable: executing 8 prisoners in 10 days.After killing no prisoners in the last 12 years, the state is rushing to execute these 8 men before the controversial execution drug it needs to carry them out
Judge Neil GorsuchWhen Judge Neil Gorsuch arrives on Capitol Hill on Monday morning to begin his confirmation hearings for a seat on the Supreme Court, he will give President Trump his first chance to make a lasting imprint on the federal judiciary — and Republicans a fresh test to
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Execution in Gaza City on October 2, 2013A Hamas military court on Sunday sentenced 2 Palestinians to death for drug smuggling in the Gaza Strip, in the 1st punishment of its kind in the enclave."The Gaza military court announced the death penalty for 2
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Prime Minister Dr Keith RowleyPORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley yesterday said he supports the death penalty and that his Administration is working towards having it implemented as it moves to deal with those citizens bent on committing murder “with impunity” in Leggi18
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A private member bill, ‘The Constitution (Amendment to Article 134) Bill, 2017’, to ensure natural and unrestricted right to appeal in the Supreme Court in all cases of death penalty, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday, by Member of Parliament, Mr. B. Vinod Kumar.“Through this Bill, Leggi17
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Ivan TeleguzA federal appeals court has refused to put a Virginia death row inmate's execution on hold so he can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court has refused to put a Virginia death row inmate's execution on hold so he can appeal to
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Chief prosecutor Aramis D. AyalaMIAMI — In a startling denunciation of capital punishment in a state with one of the nation’s largest death rows, the new chief prosecutor in Orlando, Fla., said Thursday that her office would no longer seek the death penalty.The decision by the prosecutor Leggi23
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Iran is A Leading State in Women’s OppressionAll dictators are known to oppress their opponents, lie to society about their policies, and resort to any crime necessary to remain in power. Hitler believed a lie should be preposterous to make it believable.As the world marks International Women’s
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California's death row, San Quentin prisonA new Florida State Attorney, Aramis Ayala, made a bold move when she recently announced that capital punishment is "not in the best interest of the community or the best interest of justice," and vowed not to seek the death penalty in future cases.In
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"Self-incrimination is used by the prosecution as the main evidence of guilt,whilst the right to an effective legal defence is systematically violated."Paris-Minsk. FIDH and its member organisation in Belarus Human Rights Centre "Viasna" denounce the first death sentence in 2017 and regret the
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Despite a 90 % decline of executions since the height of the death penalty in the 1990s, the death penalty is still a hot topic that is widely debated throughout the U.S. Here are a few of the top death penalty headlines that are currently capturing the nation.ArkansasArkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson20
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Kentucky mentally ill inmate by Jenn AckermanOver the course of our state’s history, people with severe mental illnesses have faced serious consequences in the criminal justice system. All too often, these individuals faced capital punishment, a sentence that frequently extends an already20
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President Rodrigo DutertePhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte has berated the European parliament for passing a resolution condemning his plans to revive the death penalty for drug convicts.“I’ll talk in English,” he said, speaking to Filipino expatriates on a two-day state visit to Myanmar. “Do
In a special prayer, Catholic bishops have urged Filipinos to "make a stand" against restoring the death penalty. The bill, pushed by President Duterte, has already passed the lower house of the Philippine parliament.The clerics read out the homily at all masses across the Philippines on19
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Mufti Abdul HannanThe appellate division of the Supreme Court on Sunday upheld the death penalty of three men of banned militant outfit Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJi), including its chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, in a case filed for the grenade attack on the then UK envoy in Bangladesh
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B. Rames Batumalai (left) and Suthar BatumalaiDespite a pending clemency application before the state’s Pardon Board, brothers Suthar Batumalai and B. Rames Batumalai were executed at dawn on 15 March 2017. Contrary to international standards, their family were not provided adequate notice of the17
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Back to the Middle Ages: Watching a public hanging in IranReformists in Iran are under pressure, detainees face torture and abuse, and people are being executed at an “alarming” rate, the Pakistani human rights lawyer and United Nations Special Rapporteur for
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Alabama Senator Hank SandersHank Sanders closed his eyes, pressed his hand to his forehead and tried to recall the first time he petitioned the state of Alabama to abolish the death penalty.Was it 2000? Or maybe 1998, shortly after the American Bar Association called for a moratorium on
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State Senator Ernie ChambersLINCOLN — She spent what would have been her mother’s 52nd birthday asking Nebraska lawmakers not to stand in the way of executing her mother’s killers.Christine Tuttle urged members of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to reject a bill that would pull
A shortage of required citizen witnesses to watch 8 lethal injections over a 10-day period next month prompted the state prison director Tuesday to call on Rotary Club members to volunteer.Citizen witnesses are there to verify that the individual executions are carried out according to law. A
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The Arkansas House of Representatives chamber at the State CapitolLess than a month before the state of Arkansas is to begin executing eight men over an 11-day period, legislators Tuesday rejected bills that would prevent executions of mentally ill defendants and
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Between April 17 and 27, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson plans on doing what should be inconceivable: executing 8 prisoners in 10 days.After killing no prisoners in the last 12 years, the state is rushing to execute these 8 men before the controversial execution drug it needs to carry them out20
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"Farther away than ever from Turkey's accession to the EU."European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has warned Turkey that any return of the death penalty would be a "red line" in the country's stalled EU membership bid."If the death penalty is reintroduced in Turkey, that would lead to the
Sarin attack on Tokyo’s subway, March 20, 2017TOKYO — Japan on Monday marked the 22nd anniversary of a fatal nerve gas attack on Tokyo’s subway.About 20 Tokyo Metro staff at Kasumigaseki subway station on the Hibiya line held a moment of silence at 8
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Andargachew ‘Andy’ Tsege and his familyA father-of-three from London has now spent 1,000 days on Ethiopia’s death row, after the country’s security forces kidnapped and rendered him there in June 2014.Andargachew ‘Andy’ Tsege, a vocal critic of Ethiopia’s ruling party, disappeared while transiting
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan"I believe, God willing, that after the April 16 vote parliament will do the what is needed concerning your demands for capital punishment."Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that he expects parliament to move to allow capital punishment - a change18
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Vernon MadisonThe Alabama Supreme Court on Friday denied the appeal of Alabama Death Row inmate Vernon Madison, just two days after a federal court said he was incompetent and couldn't be executed anyway.Madison, 66, is one of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates. He was convicted in the17
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Executions have been set for (top row, from left) Kenneth Williams,Jack Jones Jr., Marcell Williams, Bruce Earl Ward, and
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Zaw Lin (left) and Win Zaw HtunThe Myanmar government is sending a special legal team to file a second appeal of the verdict against two migrant workers from the country who were sentenced to death in Thailand for the 2014 murder of a British couple
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