skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, May 2, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump signs order seeking to end federal funding for NPR and PBS; NY immigrant wrongfully sent to El Salvador 'supermax' prison; PA 'Day of Action' planned for higher minimum wage, immigrants' rights; New bill in Congress seeks to overturn CA animal welfare law.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is leaving that job to become UN ambassador, bipartisan Arizona poll finds Latino voters dissatisfied by Trump's first 100 days, and Florida mass deportations frighten community members.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural students who face hurdles going to college are getting noticed, Native Alaskans may want to live off the land but obstacles like climate change loom large, and the Cherokee language is being preserved by kids in North Carolina.

200 people on death row exonerated since 1973

play audio
Play

Monday, July 15, 2024   

It's being called a historic milestone - 200 people have been exonerated after being sentenced to death since 1973, what's known as the modern era of capital punishment.

The exonerees were wrongfully convicted, because of misconduct from government officials or other factors, and then set free after being behind bars - sometimes for decades.

Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said cases like this have been devastating not just for individual families, but for the nation.

"Communities really lose confidence in the integrity of the legal system," said Maher, "and its ability to respond appropriately and keep them safe."

Half of the public now believes the U.S. unfairly applies the death penalty, according to the latest polling. But a majority of Americans still favor death sentences for those convicted of murder.

Capital punishment is illegal in West Virginia, and the state's last execution was more than 60 years ago. But there have been efforts to reinstate it this year.

And a jury recommended federal death sentences for two Mountain State residents in 2007, which were later overturned.

Nationwide, Maher said far more than 200 people have likely been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death, in part because of challenges with the legal appeal process.

"Once someone is convicted and sent to prison, that burden then shifts to them to prove that they're innocent," said Maher. "And that's very difficult to do without a good lawyer. And it's also very difficult to do because of the operation of the law."

The Death Penalty Information Center says two-thirds of those exonerated have been people of color.

President Joe Biden campaigned on abolishing the federal death penalty, but his administration has taken few steps to do so.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
In Florida, Highway Patrol troopers and Border Patrol agents are also traveling together in the same vehicles to enforce immigration laws. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

While Gov. Ron DeSantis touts "Operation Tidal Wave" as a success, advocates for Florida's immigrant families say the crackdown is tearing them apart …


Social Issues

play sound

A new bipartisan poll looks at how Latino voters in Arizona are feeling about President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office - and pollsters descri…

Social Issues

play sound

Montana's wildfire risk is 74% higher than other states, so experts are encouraging Montanans to think ahead Saturday on Wildfire Community …


Pennsylvanians will gather at the Capitol for a policy hearing at 9 a.m. Monday, followed by a rally at 10:15 a.m. Participants will then meet with lawmakers to advocate for a minimum wage increase and immigrants' rights. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Thousands are expected to rally in Harrisburg on Monday for a "Raise the Wage and Immigrant Rights Day of Action." More than 47,000 Pennsylvania work…

Environment

play sound

By Enrique Saenz for Mirror Indy. Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the Mirror Indy-Free Press Indiana-Public …

In 2023, nearly 18% of U.S. households with children faced food insecurity, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

By Lauren Cohen / Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi reporting for the Kent State NewsLab-Ohio News Connection Collaboration. S.B. 109, a bill that …

Social Issues

play sound

An Illinois law professor is weighing in on what she called a "very public and open test of due process" for immigrants being deported from the United…

Health and Wellness

play sound

New data show a 27% increase in rape kit testing across Mississippi since the state implemented a 2023 law requiring all new sexual assault evidence t…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021