This week, the Court will consider when a death-row inmate may file a second habeas application based on “a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously unavailable.”
The Trump administration's plans to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan ran afoul of a deep-rooted aversion to bloody displays of state power going back to the colonial era.
Plus: America's growing deficit, youth protests in France, and Kimberly Guilfoyle's corruption scandal
Plus: Tariffs and Michigan, LGBT teens, Stewart Brand fanfare, and more...
Lethal injection aims to disguise the brutal reality of capital punishment by dressing it in medical garb.
Plus: Tennessee botches the execution of Christa Pike, and Sam Altman says the benefits of AI are worth the risks.
Lethal injection dresses up the death penalty as something clinical and civilized. But the goal is the same: to kill someone.
Trump says he supports the cameras simply because law enforcement does, no matter that they can be misused or abused.
Reformers need to take into account people’s fear of crime and human predators.
Paul Skalnik was a career criminal and jailhouse snitch whose unbelievable testimony secured dozens of convictions—including that of Jim Dailey, who awaits execution.
The Sentencing Project highlights the perverse consequences of the felony murder rule, a vestige of British law that still prevails in federal courts and all but two states.
Recent court rulings in Louisiana and Texas give hope to Devin Bennett.
First-place wins include work on America's gerontocracy, an interview with anti–death penalty activist Helen Prejean, and some Star Wars comedy.
Nominees include stories on America's gerontocracy, the war on chocolate, how Texas beat California on housing, and more.
Most matters enjoy too little moral agreement to make fertile ground for government intervention.
“These men have not been able to touch grass and feel the warmth of the sun for the first time in ten years.”
There are several problems with the president's math, which suggests he has accomplished an impossible feat.
The Singaporean government hanged Pannir Selvam this month, the 10th convict to be executed in 2025 for nonviolent narcotics violations.
Roberson has been saved again from becoming the first person to be executed based on disputed evidence of Abusive Head Trauma, formerly called "shaken baby syndrome."
The president thinks he can transform murder into self-defense by executive fiat.
Utah prosecutors have a strong argument that the assassination created a great risk of death to another individual besides Kirk, allowing capital punishment under Utah law.
From minimum wage hikes to bans on cellphones in public schools, here are some of the most ridiculous ways state governments are interfering with Americans’ lives.
Presidential pardons have become a tool of favoritism and politics.
Justice Thomas observes in his dissent that "the parties collusively excluded" evidence—which I presented to the Court for the victim's family—"in order to reach a predetermined outcome." And the Court majority offers no defense of this deceitful maneuver.
Robert Roberson was sentenced to death based on outdated and largely discredited scientific evidence.
The order directs the attorney general to ensure that states have the drug cocktails to carry out lethal injections.
Billy Binion speaks to Sister Helen Prejean about her activism to end the death penalty, as depicted in her book Dead Man Walking.
"Jesus said, 'Love your enemy.' Jesus didn't say, 'Execute the hell out of the enemy,'" the Catholic nun and anti–death penalty activist tells Reason.
Plus: A listener asks the editors to consider the Second Amendment's key importance for keeping the government in check.
Biden preserved the death sentences of three mass murderers but commuted the sentences of 37 other federal death row inmates to life in prison.
If stopping drugs from entering the country is as straightforward as the president-elect implies, why didn't he do it during his first term?
Civil rights groups, law enforcement officials, and religious leaders say Biden needs to use his pardon power to fulfill his campaign promises, not just help his son.
Roberson was scheduled to become the first person in the country to be executed based on "shaken baby syndrome" evidence, until Texas lawmakers subpoenaed him to testify.
The court found scientific opinion about "shaken baby syndrome" has changed, and a man sentenced to 35 years in prison deserves a new trial.
Robert Roberson is scheduled to become the first person in the country to be executed based on evidence of what used to be called "shaken baby syndrome."
The official Democratic Party platform no longer endorses abolishing the death penalty, decriminalizing marijuana, or repealing mandatory minimums.
Texas has set an October 17 execution date for Robert Roberson, convicted in 2003 of murdering his 2-year-old daughter.
The president's decision to drop out after insisting he never would continued a pattern established by a long career of politically convenient reversals.
The former and possibly future president hopes voters will overlook his incoherence.
Randall Mays, who has an IQ of 63, was resentenced to life without parole.
Instead of searching for gentle execution methods, states should just stop killing prisoners.
Yang Hengjun's punishment will be commuted to life in prison if he passes a probationary period. But the espionage accusations against him are highly spurious.
Following the nitrogen hypoxia execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith last week, Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill to bring the execution method to their state.
Kenneth Eugene Smith was likely the first person in the world to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia.
New from Reason: a look into what Javier Milei has accomplished and what it will take to make the most of Argentina’s window for real change. Out now for subscribers.
