Topic
New York Death Penalty Law
Plain-language explainers on New York capital punishment law, federal death penalty cases in the state, and what those differences mean for Western New Yorkers.
New York Death Penalty Law
The Case Against the Federal Death Penalty
A flawed system past saving: why the federal death penalty cannot be made fair, safe, or necessary.
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New York Death Penalty Law
Death Penalty Supreme Court Cases: A Guide
The major Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment, from Furman and Gregg to the limits the Court later placed on who can be executed.
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New York Death Penalty Law
Atkins v. Virginia: What the Supreme Court Decided
Atkins v. Virginia barred the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Here is what the ruling decided, what it left to the states, and why it still matters.
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New York Death Penalty Law
Furman v. Georgia: The 1972 Decision Explained
Furman v. Georgia stopped death sentences under the laws then in force because the Court found arbitrary punishment. Here is what the 1972 ruling did and did not decide.
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New York Death Penalty Law
Gregg v. Georgia: What the Case Changed
Gregg v. Georgia allowed new death penalty laws after Furman, but it also required rules meant to limit arbitrary death sentences. Here is what the case did and did not decide.
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New York Death Penalty Law
Can You Get the Death Penalty in New York?
No. New York State does not have a working death penalty. Federal prosecutors can seek death only in limited federal cases.
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New York Death Penalty Law
Payton Gendron Federal Trial: What to Know
A plain-language guide to the federal case in Buffalo, the pretrial decisions shaping it, and why life without parole remains a real alternative to execution.
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New York Death Penalty Law
Buffalo News: No One Is Safer With Execution
A Buffalo News opinion piece by Paul McQuillen on why execution would not make the community safer or ease the harm caused by the racist Tops massacre.
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New York Death Penalty Law
Faith Leaders Protest 50 Years of Executions
A Religion News Service report on faith leaders, murder victims' family members, and activists marking 50 years since Gregg v. Georgia.
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New York Death Penalty Law
This Is Why New York’s Death Row Is Completely Empty
New York’s death penalty law remains on the books, but a 2004 court ruling and the final 2007 resentencing left the state with no working death penalty and no one on death row.
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New York Death Penalty Law
When Did New York Abolish the Death Penalty? 2004 and 2007
New York's state death penalty became unusable in 2004, and the final death sentence was vacated in 2007. Both dates explain the answer.
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New York Death Penalty Law
I Wish the Jury Had Not Sentenced My Family’s Killer to Death
A New York Times guest essay by Rev. Sharon Risher on grief, healing, and why an execution did not bring her family peace.
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New York Death Penalty Law
New York Times Review: Why the Death Penalty Is Dying
A curated reading note on Anand Giridharadas's review of Maurice Chammah's Let the Lord Sort Them and what it adds to the abolition conversation.
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