So far, 11 states have carried out 45 executions this year, nearly double the number in 2024, even as public opinion continues to turn against the death penalty.
Death Penalty
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Sister Helen Prejean on Joe Biden’s act of Advent mercy
“President Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of 37 prisoners condemned to death was a reminder that even the most heinous of our sins does not mar our human dignity.”
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Biden commutes 37 death row sentences before Trump can resume executions
President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment.
Posted inFaith, News
Pope Francis calls for end to foreign debt, death penalty ahead of Jubilee Year
Pope Francis has called on all nations to eliminate the death penalty, to divert a fixed percentage of arms spending to a global fund to fight hunger and climate change, and to cancel the international debt of developing nations.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
How Catholics can urge Joe Biden to commute death row sentences before leaving office
We are at a critical juncture in the U.S. death penalty abolition movement. And we as Catholics—including President Biden—can heed the words of Pope Francis and light the way.
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
A busy weekend for Pope Francis: The Immaculate Conception, a consistory and prayers for death row inmates in the United States
Pope Francis offered a heartfelt appeal for death row prisoners in the United States, which significantly comes as Joe Biden, the second Catholic president in the country’s history, nears the end of his term.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Missouri to execute Marcellus Williams despite doubts about guilt
Missouri plans to proceed with the lethal injection of Marcellus Williams on Sept. 24, despite doubts about his guilt and widespread backlash.
Posted inFaith, News
Pope Francis says death penalty fuels ‘poison’ of revenge in preface to new book on prison chaplaincy
Drawing on work of lay Catholic prison chaplain Dale Recinella, Pope Francis paints death penalty as toxic and ineffective.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
We’re all Cafeteria Catholics
Statistician Ryan Burge set out to learn how many Catholics agree with church teachings on three key pro-life issues: abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty. The answer? Fewer than 1 percent.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
President Biden’s broken promise on the death penalty
The people who can abolish the death penalty are our policymakers. And it appears Mr. Biden is comfortable leaving it in place.