VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has changed Catholic Church teaching about the death penalty, saying in a new policy published Thursday that it is always “inadmissible” because it “attacks” the inherent dignity of all humans. The Vatican said Francis had approved a change to the Catechism of the Catholic Church — the compilation of […]
death penalty
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Donald Trump's opioid plan includes death penalty for traffickers
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plan to combat opioid drug addiction nationwide calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where appropriate under current law, a top administration official said. It’s a fate for drug dealers that Trump, who aims to be seen as tough on crime, has been highlighting publicly […]
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Posted inNation / World, sj-web
With executions declining, death penalties may be fading away
WASHINGTON — Is the death penalty in America gradually dying? There have been just two executions since May 1 and the total for 2016 probably will hit a 25-year low. Execution drug shortages, sometimes grotesque errors in death chambers and legal challenges to sentences imposed by judges have contributed to a dramatic decline in the […]
Posted inOp-Eds
What do you think now, Justice Scalia?
To the Honorable Antonin G. Scalia, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: Dear Sir: Twenty-one years ago, your then-colleague, the late Justice Harry Blackmun, wrote what became a famous dissent to a Supreme Court decision not to review a Texas death penalty conviction. In it, Blackmun declared that he had become […]
Posted inLetters
K. Collins: Death penalty does not deter crime
This is in response to the Sun Journal story, “Lawmaker urges death penalty” (Jan. 19). Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, seeks to waste his time trying to push through the Maine Legislature a bill restoring the death penalty. It is the seventh attempt. I am sure his constituents would rather have him concentrate on more profitable […]
Posted inLetters
R. Melendy: Opposed to the death penalty
Have I heard it correctly, that the Maine Legislature will be considering a bill to re-instate the death penalty for certain crimes? Maine has had a positive reputation because the judicial system does not kill people. I cannot believe that my old friend, Sen. Bill Diamond, is advocating the death penalty. We all know that […]
Posted inLetters
R. Bechard: Maine needs the death penalty
I understand that state Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, is proposing the death penalty for a person convicted of killing a child featured in a snuff film. The death penalty should be for all who are convicted of murder in Maine. Maine’s superior courts should stop plea deals in murder trials. For years, people with criminal […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Windham senator proposes restoring death penalty in Maine for some crimes
AUGUSTA — A veteran lawmaker who has been on a years-long crusade against the sexual exploitation of children is proposing to bring the death penalty to Maine for people convicted of killing children victimized in pornographic snuff films. Snuff films are illegal movies that end in the subjects’ actual on-camera death. For Democratic Sen. Bill […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
No death penalty for Snowden if convicted, U.S. promises
WASHINGTON (AP) — Striving to get Edward Snowden back to America, U.S., Attorney General Eric Holder has assured the Russian government the U.S. has no plans to seek the death penalty for the former National Security Agency systems analyst. In a letter dated Tuesday, the attorney general said the criminal charges Snowden now faces in […]