Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) At a recent public debate of California’s competing ballot initiatives on the death penalty, Paul Pfingst, a former district attorney for San Diego County and a supporter of Prop 66, spoke about the role race plays in the death penalty. He said that race plays a role in every facet of the criminal justice system,...

Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) At a recent public debate of California’s competing ballot initiatives on the death penalty, Paul Pfingst, a former district attorney for San Diego County and a supporter of Prop 66, spoke about the role race plays in the death penalty. He said that race plays a role in every facet of the criminal justice system,...

  Troy Davis was executed in Georgia in 2011 despite serious doubts of his guilt. Five years ago today, Georgia put Troy Davis to death. With a mountain of doubt about his conviction and allegations that witnesses were coerced, the entire world was watching Georgia the night of September 21, 2011 –Amnesty International had mobilized its entire global...

By Savannah Fox, Field Organizer Five years ago today, on September 21st, I became an activist. I didn’t sign my first petition or attended my first rally. I found my passion, my anger and my hope as an activist, all things which keep me in the fight for justice every day. It was a late summer evening and I was standing under the outstretched arm...

As death sentences and executions dwindle around the country and most states are abandoning the death penalty, a few states are determined to keep executions rolling. Top of the list is Texas, the state that’s now gearing up to execute a man who never killed anyone. Jeffrey Wood is scheduled for execution on August 24th, but he didn’t commit murder....

Mohammad Reza Haddadi’s execution has been postponed six times. © Private To mark 1 June – International Children’s Day – Raha Bahreini from our Iran team describes how Amnesty has managed to raise awareness about the death penalty and save juvenile offenders from the gallows in Iran. It starts with a panicked phone call. Our contact tells us that...