Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
If you are a member of the press, please reach out to [email protected]
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Responds to Passage of Nebraska Death Penalty Repeal Bill
Today the Nebraska legislature passed a measure repealing the death penalty, leaving that state poised to become the 19th U.S. state to abolish capital punishment. The measure passed with enough votes to override a promised veto from Governor Ricketts.
May 20, 2015
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Responds to Death Penalty in Boston Bombing Case
In response to the announcement that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death after being convicted in the Boston Marathon bombings, Steven W. Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International USA issued the following statement:
May 13, 2015
Press Release
Texas Set to Execute Mentally Impaired Man
The state of Texas is scheduled to execute a man with a history of severe mental illness tonight. Derrick Dewayne Charles has been suffering symptoms of mental impairments nearly his entire life and was hospitalized for mental illness as early as 10 years old.
May 12, 2015
Press Release
Missouri Executes Andre Cole
The state of Missouri executed Andre Cole tonight at 10:24 p.m. CT. The execution took place despite multiple factors raising questions about the appropriateness of the sentence, including Cole’s mental health; potential racial bias by the jury that sentenced him; and the fact that the victim’s family opposed the execution.
April 15, 2015
Report
Death Sentences and Executions 2014
An alarming number of countries used the death penalty to tackle real or perceived threats to state security linked to terrorism, crime or internal instability in 2014, Amnesty International found in its annual review of the death penalty worldwide.
March 31, 2015
Press Release
Georgia Scheduled to Execute Kelly Gissendaner
Despite pleas from human rights organizations and a petition to the governor signed by 40,000 supporters, the state of Georgia is scheduled to execute Kelly Gissendaner tonight at 7 p.m. ET.
March 2, 2015
Press Release
Iran: Juvenile offender set to be hanged on Thursday brutally beaten to confess
On 15 February, Saman Naseem, a young Iranian man set to be executed on Thursday, was once again brutally beaten up by men believed to be intelligence officials in a bid to make him “confess” again in front of a camera, which he refused to do, Amnesty International said.
February 17, 2015
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Responds to Pennsylvania Death Penalty Moratorium
Amnesty International USA executive director Steven W. Hawkins issued the following response after Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced today that he is issuing a moratorium on the death penalty in his state.
February 13, 2015
Press Release
Killing of Jordanian pilot ‘Abhorrent’ but ‘Revenge Executions’ Not the Answer
The vicious summary killing of a Jordanian pilot who was burned alive by the armed group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS) is an atrocious attack against humanity, said Amnesty International, but responding with executions is not the answer.
February 4, 2015
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Welcomes Supreme Court Decision to Halt Oklahoma Executions
Today, the United States Supreme Court stayed the executions of three Oklahoma death-row inmates: Richard Glossip, Benjamin Cole and John Grant.
January 28, 2015
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Welcomes Governor O’Malley’s Commutation of Death Penalty Sentences
(WASHINGTON, DC) In response to Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s decision to commute the sentences of the state’s remaining death penalty prisoners to life without parole Amnesty International USA executive director, Steven W. Hawkins, issued the following statement.
December 31, 2014
Press Release
Amnesty International and John Legend Launch Write for Rights Campaign
Amnesty International today released a new video from award winning artist John Legend as part of its Write for Rights campaign. The campaign is the world’s largest letter-writing event in which Amnesty International asks the public to write – or email, text, tweet or fax – in support of specific cases that are emblematic of its broader work on human rights both within the U.S. and around the world.
November 18, 2014