Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: cruel and unusual punishment

cruel and unusual punishment stories: 10 news summaries
SUPREME COURT DOCKET

 Teens Sentenced to Life: 
 Cruel and Unusual? 

High court will address sentences for kid convicts who didn't kill

Nov 8, 09 11:05 AM CST
(AP) - Joe Sullivan was sent away for life for raping an elderly woman and judged incorrigible though he was only 13. Terrance Graham, implicated in armed robberies when he was 16 and 17, was given a life sentence by a judge who told the teenager he had thrown his life away.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
prison • cruel and unusual punishment • US Supreme Court • teenager • life sentence

Court Refuses Davis Case; 'Too Fat' Cooey Executed

Decision opens path to controversial Georgia execution

Oct 14, 08 11:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court refused today to decide whether executing an individual backed by a strong claim to innocence violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The rejection paves the way for the execution of Troy Anthony Davis, accused of murdering a Georgia policeman.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
murder • rape • capital punishment • cruel and unusual punishment • US Supreme Court • Troy Davis

 Justices Deny 11 Capital Appeals 

Court passes on death-row cases following ruling upholding lethal injection

Apr 21, 08 2:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court today dismissed appeals from 11 death-row prisoners in seven states, including three who received last-minute stays of execution last year; the result was no surprise 1 week after the landmark ruling upholding lethal injection in Kentucky, the New York Times reports. The earlier opinion held that the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
death penalty • lethal injection • appeal • cruel and unusual punishment • US Supreme Court

Lethal Injection Ruling Will Spur Executions, Lawsuits

Pro-death states will waste no time; lawsuits likely in others

Apr 17, 08 10:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - Executions will resume in the United States, thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling on lethal injection yesterday, but so will lawsuits, the New York Times reports. By condoning methods “substantially similar” to Kentucky’s, the court has invited more challenges. “We have left the states with... More »

MORE ABOUT:
death penalty • John Roberts • Kentucky • lethal injection • cruel and unusual punishment • Clarence Thomas • Baze v. Rees • US Supreme Court

Supreme Court Upholds
Kentucky Lethal Injection

Ruling clears way for other states to resume capital punishment

Apr 16, 08 10:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - By a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court upheld today the use of lethal injection by a three-drug cocktail. Two death row inmates in Kentucky had charged that the method violated their Eighth Amendment right to be spared cruel and unusual punishment. The mix of drugs has been used in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Kentucky • lethal injection • death row • cruel and unusual punishment • US Supreme Court

Transgender Con Upset
Over Fading Femininity

Killer suing for surgery wants more treatment

Feb 27, 08 3:21 AM CST
(Newser) - A prisoner who has sued for a sex-change operation has complained that treatments to feminize her body have stopped, the AP reports. “My breasts have shrunk, genitals have regained previous size, facial hair is thicker,” Michelle Kosilek, formerly Robert, wrote in a letter to the court considering the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
hormones • transgender • lawsuit • sex change • cruel and unusual punishment • sex reassignment surgery • Robert Kosilek • Michelle Kosilek • Department of Correction • psychotherapy • gender identity disorder

Court Skeptical of Challenge to Lethal Injection

Justices cite low chance of painful death, lack of better option

Jan 7, 08 2:49 PM CST
(Newser) - As the Supreme Court opened its hearing on lethal injection today, justices expressed serious doubts that the method amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, the LA Times reports. Most of the panel, including Chief Justice John Roberts, seemed unconvinced that the three-chemical cocktail results in a painful death, or that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Antonin Scalia • John Roberts • lethal injection • death row • cruel and unusual punishment • US Supreme Court • barbituates • constitutionality

Death Penalty Details Withheld

As high court weighs lethal injection, actual methods are shrouded in secrecy

Jan 7, 08 8:56 AM CST
(Newser) - With a landmark case coming before the Supreme Court today on lethal injection, the Los Angeles Times examines the unusual secrecy that shrouds the execution method. Defense lawyers who argue that it inflicts unnecessary pain are routinely blocked from information about executioners and the drugs injected. States say such information... More »

MORE ABOUT:
death penalty • California • Texas • Kentucky • lethal injection • execution • Alabama • death row • cruel and unusual punishment • US Supreme Court

States Drag Feet on 'Humane' Lethal Injections

Supreme Court ruling may

Jan 3, 08 1:04 PM CST
(Newser) - With the Supreme Court scrutinizing whether lethal injections constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," the New York Times wonders why none of the 38 states who use it have taken a simple step that could solve the problem: trade the three-drug sequence that's said to risk intense pain for... More »

MORE ABOUT:
death penalty • crime • lethal injection • capital punishment • cruel and unusual punishment • US Supreme Court

Supreme Court Returns for a
Big Session

Right-moving bench will rule on lethal injection, Gitmo prisoner rights

Sep 30, 07 4:14 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court enters its second session with Bush appointees John Roberts and Samuel Alito tomorrow, which means it will likely resume last session’s rightward slant, Reuters says. Before the court will be big cases on Guantanamo inmates’ right to habeas corpus, the legality of the lethal injection death... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Samuel Alito • John Roberts • Anthony Kennedy • ACLU • lethal injection • habeas corpus • Guantanamo prisoners • cruel and unusual punishment • US Supreme Court

10 Stories


from our news partners