Yup, its a roundup

yup, its a roundup

News roundup from around the web:

• NPR has this story about the executions on hold in California & Florida.

• As previously noted here, executions & new death sentences are down. The trend line is down despite “a surge in violent crime that began last year accelerated in the first half of 2006, providing the clearest signal yet that the historic drop in the U.S. crime rate is being reversed, reports the Washington Post. Reports of homicides, assaults, and other violent offenses rose nearly 4 percent in the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2005, says the FBI Uniform Crime Report. The numbers included an increase of nearly 10 percent for robberies, considered a leading indicator of trends.” [more here] This of course flies in the face of the demagoguery by the “executioner’s lobby” that lower numbers are teh rate of lower murder rights and not a sea-change in public opinion.

• A transcript of yesterday’s NewsHour program on PBS is available here. It features Jeff Middendorf of Kentucky’s Justice & Public Safety Cabinet and Richard Dieter of DPIC.

• The CrimProf Blog, which we don’t mention & cite nearly enough here, has been on a tare of late on the latest developments on the death penalty.

• Javier Arellano Felix, the alleged leader of Mexico’s most infamous drug cartel pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to U.S. federal charges of murder, racketeering, drug trafficking and money laundering across the U.S.-Mexican border. The New York Times notes a decision on whether or not to seek death has not been made.

• Prosecutors are now turning rap lyrics written by Ronell Wilson & found stuffed in his pockets against him in their federal capital prosecution in the Eastern District of New York. This article details the use of rap lyrics in capital prosecutions.

• ODPI has a look at “lethal injection alternatives” that are being thown around, as well as additional coverage on the Maryland LI rulings.