Just three people have been executed in the past 56 years in Pennsylvania, yet more than 466 death warrants have been signed since 1985.Currently there are 150 inmates on death row. In 2012, the Joint State Government Commission was asked to study the practice and process of capital p
In August 1975, a jury found Ronnie Bridgeman (who has since changed his name to Kwame Kamau Ajamu) guilty of murder and a judge sentenced him to death. “I was marked for death.” He lived nearly 40 years of his life as Number 150. Almost four decades later, a witness who was 12 years
From Vatican Radio: Pope Francis has said that “all Christians and people of good will are called today to work not only for the abolition of the death penalty,” but also to improve conditions in prisons, out of respect for the human dignity of prisoners. In particular, the Holy Fathe
Last week, Gov. Tom Wolf made a bold decision to grant a temporary reprieve to inmate Terrance Williams, who was scheduled to be executed on March 4. The governor vowed to grant other reprieves, in effect declaring a moratorium on executions in Pennsylvania. Williams would have been t
The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference welcomes Governor Tom Wolf’s announcement of a “reprieve to inmate Terrance Williams, who was scheduled to be executed on March 4, 2015. Governor Wolf will grant a reprieve – not a commutation – in each future instance in which an execution for a d
WASHINGTON—The chairs of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and Committee on Pro-life Activities welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s January 23 announcement that it would review the drug protocols of lethal injection executions in the state of Oklahoma. The court wi
Mr. Michael Ballard had been scheduled for execution on December 2, but a judge has granted him a stay. While Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano declared Michael Ballard competent to make the decision to stop appealing his death sentence, Judge Giordano also granted Mr. Ballard’s
Governor Corbett has signed an execution warrant for Hubert L. Michael, Jr., who is now scheduled to be executed on September 22, 2014. The Board of Pardons is able to reduce the sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and Governor Tom Corbett is able to grant
Commenting on the April 29 bungled execution of a death row inmate at the state penitentiary, Oklahoma City’s archbishop has called for a reconsideration of capital punishment. “We certainly need to administer justice with due consideration for the victims of crime, but we must find a
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