#deathpenalty

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Today in Labor History December 2, 1859: The authorities hanged abolitionist John Brown in Charleston, Virginia for his leadership of a plot to incite a slave rebellion. Victor Hugo, who was living in exile on Guernsey, tried to obtain a pardon for him. His open letter was published by the press on both sides of the Atlantic. His plea failed, of course. On the day of his execution, John Brown rode in a furniture wagon, on top of his own coffin, through a crowd of 2,000 soldiers, to the gallows. The soldiers included future Confederate general Stonewall Jackson and John Wilkes Booth. Walt Whitman described the execution in his poem “Year of Meteors.”

Mural: Tragic Prelude, north wall. John Brown in front of and between fighting Union and Confederate soldiers. By John Steuart Curry - United Missouri Bank of Kansas City, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48498757

Today in Labor History November 16, 1849: Russian authorities gave a death sentence to author Fyodor Dostoevsky for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group called the Petrashevsky Circle. He and his colleagues were lined up before the firing squad when, at the last minute, a cart arrived with a letter from the Tsar, commuting their sentence. He still had to serve 4 years hard labor in Siberia. Dostoevsky alludes to his experience before the firing squad in his 1868-1869 novel, “The Idiot.”

@bookstadon

A sketch of the Petrashevsky Circle before the firing squad in what turned out to be a mock execution.

"There is no sugarcoating this; a majority of 39 Israeli Knesset members approved in a first reading a bill that effectively mandates courts to impose the death penalty exclusively against Palestinians. While the text of the bill does not specifically single out Palestinians, the mental element required for the offence concerned signals its primary victims are going to be Palestinians"

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/11/israel-must-immediately-halt-legislation-of-discriminatory-death-penalty-bill/

In a three-day trial in 1995, Anthony Boyd was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, based solely on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment. No physical evidence connected him to the murder of Gregory "New York" Huguley. Boyd has been on death row ever since, and is due to be executed by the state of Alabama on Oct. 23. @bolts examines the reasons to doubt the conviction: Inadequate legal representation, conflicting witness reports, and a system that disproportionately sends Black people to death row.

https://flip.it/SknOyl

“We can prove that Robert is innocent, and no reasonable jury would find otherwise if presented with all relevant medical evidence.”

New from Michelle Pitcher: Despite the evidence, and overwhelming support, Roberson's execution date is set for October 16. https://www.texasobserver.org/robert-roberson-stares-down-death-again/

President Trump signed two memoranda Thursday—one directing federal agencies to intensify investigations into liberal groups under a new “domestic terrorism” strategy, and another ordering strict enforcement of federal death penalty laws in Washington, D.C. The directives potentially broaden federal punitive power in ways that could affect minority or politically unpopular groups if prosecutions become politicized.

https://wildhunt.org/2025/09/trump-issues-dual-memoranda-targeting-liberal-groups-and-expanding-death-penalty-in-d-c.html