The Condemned
Race Looms Ever Larger as Death Sentences Decline
The Supreme Court restarted the death penalty in 1976 after ruling it unconstitutional. Our numbers show that race remains an overwhelming factor.
Liliana Segura
Liliana Segura is an award-winning investigative journalist covering the U.S. criminal justice system, with a longtime focus on harsh sentencing, the death penalty, and wrongful convictions. She was previously an associate editor at the Nation Magazine, where she edited a number of award-winning stories and earned a 2014 Media for a Just Society Award for her writing on prison profiteering. While at The Intercept, Segura has received the Texas Gavel Award in 2016 and the 2017 Innocence Network Journalism Award for her investigations into convictions in Arizona and Ohio. In 2019 she was honored in the Abolitionist category of the Frederick Douglass 200, a recognition given by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University.
Segura has appeared on NPR, MSNBC, CNN International, Democracy Now!, and numerous other outlets. Her speaking engagements have included public interviews with authors such as Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post and Colorlines, and has been reprinted in outlets ranging from prison magazines to the anthologies "The Best American Legal Writing" and "Against Equality: Prisons Will Not Protect You.” She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Segura has appeared on NPR, MSNBC, CNN International, Democracy Now!, and numerous other outlets. Her speaking engagements have included public interviews with authors such as Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post and Colorlines, and has been reprinted in outlets ranging from prison magazines to the anthologies "The Best American Legal Writing" and "Against Equality: Prisons Will Not Protect You.” She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Murderville
Georgia Supreme Court Urges State to Stop Stonewalling In Devonia Inman Case: “Let Justice Be Done”
Justice David Nahmias lamented the court’s previous refusal to review Devonia Inman’s case and expressed grave doubts about Inman’s underlying guilt.
"One By One, They’re Dying”: Activists Protest Tennessee's Fifth Execution in a Year
Stephen West was killed in the electric chair on August 15, and abolitionists are vowing to step up the pressure to stop executions in Tennessee.
Death and Dereliction
Intent on Restoring His Conviction and Death Sentence, Arizona Reinvents Its Case Against Barry Jones
A year after a federal judge overturned the conviction of Barry Jones, Arizona is still fighting to execute him.
With Federal Executions Looming, the Democrats’ Death Penalty Legacy Is Coming Back to Haunt Us
Trump’s opponents have condemned his plan to restart federal executions. But it’s only recently that the Democrats turned away from capital punishment.
Murderville
In Georgia’s “Murderville,” Devonia Inman May Finally Have a Chance to Prove His Innocence
Inman is serving a life sentence for murder. But DNA evidence implicates another man, Hercules Brown, who went on to kill at least two other people.
Georgia Prepares to Carry Out the 1,500th Execution in the U.S. Since 1976
Marion Wilson Jr. is set to die on June 20 in the state that gave rise to the so-called modern death penalty era. But the system is as unfair as ever.
Henry Montgomery Paved the Way for Other Juvenile Lifers to Go Free. Now 72, He May Never Get the Same Chance.
“It obviously didn’t register with him what had happened,” said one attendee at Montgomery’s parole hearing. “He just looked stunned. As we all did.”
One Night, Two Executions, and More Questions About Torture
Tennessee and Alabama both carried out executions using midazolam on May 16. Witnesses described unusual movement. What will the autopsies show?
Ten Years After a Landmark Study Blew the Whistle on Junk Science, the Fight Over Forensics Rages On
Forensic practices used to convict people and send them to prison still lack meaningful scientific underpinning.