Fascinating. Taiwan is opening its prisons to the public. And, planning on ending the death penalty.

On May 2, 2001, Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) vowed to replace the death penalty with life sentences during a press conference. Since his promise was made, the total number of death row inmates has fallen....The latest statistics show there have been no new death row inmates since this January, a new record.

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng endorsed Chen's proposal, but said that the death penalty should continue until a well-organized amendment to the law is established and passed. "We are moving to abolish executions and I agree it is the right thing to do," Wang said. "But at this moment, we should be more sensitive and careful; it does not mean we can give [the death penalty] up immediately."

Taiwan wants the public to see the state of its prisons:

Huang said that most people think prisons are dark and dirty places where inmates are not treated as human beings. "This is incorrect. Come visit us and you will realize that what you see in the movies should remain in the movies," Huang said.

Death Row will not be open. But the article details the statistics and provides a graphic portrayal of the procedures:

Here's the background. Just how ill was 74 year old James Barney Hubbard who was executed yesterday in Alabama?

B. Hubbard's failing body kept him lying in bed -- a bunk on Alabama's death row -- most of the last days of his life. Other inmates say they walked his wobbly frame to the showers and listened to him complain about the pain: the cancer in his colon and prostate, the hypertension, the aching back. They combed his hair because he couldn't. They washed him. When spasms of dementia made him forget who he was -- what he was -- they told him: a 74-year-old, small-town Alabama man gone bad, a twice- convicted murderer, the oldest inmate on "the row."

He left them behind, these most unlikely of caretakers, one month ago and was transported south to a drab, gray prison set back in the cotton fields of lower Alabama. As the sun was tipping toward the horizon, Hubbard was put to death there Thursday, becoming the oldest inmate executed in the United States in more than six decades.

Shame on Alabama.

When will Attorney General John Ashcroft truly become a "Respect Lifer"? When will he stop micro-managing and killing in his bid to end crime?

A New York federal jury deliberated two hours before rejecting the death penalty for two drug dealers who tortured and murdered a police informant. The pair will serve life in prison without parole.

The government's argument for death was undercut by the fact that two other defendants who might have faced death sentences pleaded guilty to avoid them and became witnesses for the prosecution. One of them, Hector Vega, revealed with chilling indifference, under questioning by Lee Ginsberg, a defense lawyer, that he had committed a long series of violent crimes apart from his role in the murder. In addition, Mr. Rodriguez had a lesser role in the murder, which was driven mainly by Mr. Quiñones's desire for revenge against the informant.

The judge, Jed S. Rakoff, made no secret of his "personal, albeit heartfelt, disagreement'' with the Justice Department's decision to push for the death penalty [out of the presence of the jury.]....Judge Rakoff said he had no doubt "that the defendants committed a vicious murder." But he added, "There is also no doubt in the court's mind that a reasonable exercise of discretion by the powers that be would not have favored seeking the death penalty in this case."

The local prosecutors didn't want to make the case a death one. Ashcroft insisted. After the disagreement between prosecution camps became known, the Department of Justice changed its rules, so the public couldn't find out about such splits in the future.

James Barney Hubbard, 74 years old, suffering from colon and prostate cancer and other diseases, was executed tonight by the state of Alabama. He was Alabama's oldest death row inmate:

Hubbard had asked the Supreme Court to stop his execution because he is too old and sick to be put to death. The Supreme Court denied his motion on a 5-to-4 vote. Moments later, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley announced he would not intervene in the execution.

Hubbard’s lawyers argued that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment for their client who had developed cancer, emphysema, hepatitis and dementia during his 27 years in prison. Groups that track and oppose the death penalty said Hubbard would be the oldest inmate executed in the United States since 1941 if the lethal injection was carried out.

James Hubbard is 74 years old. He has colon cancer and prostate cancer. He's on Alabama's death row and scheduled for execution on Thursday. If executed, he would be the oldest person ever executed in the state of Alabama and the oldest person executed in the United States in more than 60 years.

The NCADP is calling for clemency.

"Even if one supported the death penalty, it is difficult to understand what purpose James Hubbard's execution would serve," said David Elliot, NCADP communications director. "Executive clemency exists to prevent miscarriages of justice when the courts cannot or will not act. This is a clear case for mercy."

Please take a minute to visit this action alert page and e-mail your thoughts to the Governor. From the pre-recorded letter, which you can change to insert your own words if you wish:

Julie Baxter, writing for the Fort Collins Coloradan, provides some excellent reasons to end the juvenile death penalty. The Supreme Court will decide the issue in the case of Christopher Simmons.

There are 72 juvenile offenders facing execution in 19 states. There should be zero.

Update: Columnist Ed Lazarus at Findlaw provides this analysis of the constitutionality of the juvenile death penalty.

The United States is one of a small smattering of countries around the world that still allows the execution of juvenile offenders. It is one of our nation's greatest shames. Here's the company we keep:

In the past four years, only five nations have executed juveniles, the diplomats said: Congo, China, Iran, Pakistan and the United States.

Today, Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, the American Medical Association and 48 countries urged the Supreme Court to end the practice when it considers one such case, Roper v. Simmons, 03-633, in the fall.

"By continuing to execute child offenders in violation of international norms, the United States is not just leaving itself open to charges of hypocrisy, but is also endangering the rights of many around the world," said a friend of the court filing Monday on behalf of Nobel Peace Prize winners, including former President Carter and former Soviet President Gorbachev. "Countries whose human rights records are criticized by the United States have no incentive to improve their records when the United States fails to meet the most fundamental, baseline standards," it said. The 25-nation European Union, plus Mexico, Canada and other nations argued that execution of juvenile killers "violates widely accepted human rights norms and the minimum standards of human rights set forth by the United Nations."

The Houston Chronicle reported in January that the decision could affect 26 on death row in Texas. (available in online archives.) Can you imagine? Texas has 26 persons on death row who were under 18 at the time of their crimes?

Here are some statistics on juvenile executions.

by TChris

The 2nd World Congress Against the Death Penalty will be held in Montreal on October 6-9 at the Palais des Congrès. Further information is available here.

From an emailed announcement:

A number of meetings during the Congress will include the role of lawyers in the universal abolition of the death penalty. In addition, the World Assembly of Lawyers -- scheduled to take place on Friday, October 8 -- will provide an extraordinary opportunity for lawyers from all over the world to share experiences in defense of death row inmates. The meeting will strengthen the lawyers' commitment and efforts towards the universal abolition of the death penalty.

Another four years of Bush and Ashcroft, and this will be America, not Jakaarta.

Seven more convicted drug traffickers on death row are facing imminent execution after President Megawati Soekarnoputri turned down their requests for clemency on Thursday. Last month, she also refused to grant clemency for four other convicted drug traffickers on death row...

Megawati admitted she took no pleasure in rejecting the appeals for clemency, but it was her obligation to protect the nation's youth from illicit drugs. "I have to stress here that it is my obligation to protect our children and youth from the threat of drug abuse and trafficking," she said. Megawati asked for understanding from foreign countries over the decision, as most of those convicted were foreigners.

Sorry, President Megawati, you will get no pass here with your lame excuse. May the guilt you feel from your complicity in these traffickers' executions be with you forever.

John Kerry supports the death penalty only for terrorists, and has said he supports a moratorium on the death penalty (pdf) at the federal level due to the number of persons on death row who have been found to be factually innocent of their crimes. In his own words:

“I support a moratorium on the death penalty, because I believe that there are serious systemic flaws in the death penalty system, which have resulted in the conviction of people who are innocent.”

by TChris

Just four hours before he was scheduled to die, the Supreme Court stayed the execution of Texas prisoner Mauro Barraza. Next term, the Court is expected to decide whether the government can execute persons who were minors when their crimes were committed. Barraza had just turned 17 when he committed the murder that resulted in his death sentence.

The Supreme Court refused to retroactively apply its Ring vs. Arizona decision which held that juries, not judges, must decide facts used to determine the death penalty, to more than 100 similar cases pending around the country:

The 5-4 decision spares at least four states from having to decide whether to spend millions of dollars for new sentencing hearings or consent to prison sentences for the convicted killers. It was issued on the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling that the constitutional right to a trial by jury means that jurors should weigh factors that determine whether a particular killing merits death or life in prison. Justices said in the follow-up decision that the 2002 ruling does not apply retroactively.

....The ultimate question for the Supreme Court, which does not automatically make its rulings retroactive, was whether this one involved "watershed" rules. It did not, said Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court. "The right to jury trial is fundamental to our system of criminal procedure, and states are bound to enforce the Sixth Amendment's guarantees as we interpret them," Scalia wrote.

It does not follow, however, that when a defendant has had a full trial and has lost the appeal of his conviction "he may nonetheless continue to litigate his claims indefinitely on hopes that we will one day have a change of heart," Scalia wrote.

The dissenters: John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Ginsburg authored the 2002 Ring decision. The opinion (html) is here. (Schriro v. Summerlin).

Update: The decision could spell trouble for Mumia. We received this by email from Karl at Capital Defense Weekly:

by TChris

If you're going to be in Manhattan on June 28, you might want to check this out:

Come discuss plans to protest at the Republican National Convention around the issue of the criminal justice system. The Campaign to End the Death Penalty-NYC invites you to an initial discussion and strategy session on these plans: PROTEST THE TEXECUTIONER and the Criminal Injustice System at the Republican National Convention!