Archive for

May, 2011



Pennsylvania Juries Moving Away from Capital Punishment

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an editorial suggesting that juries in the state are ready to do away with capital punishment. In support of this argument, the editorial’s author points out that over the last four years only 3% of juries in first-degree murder trials handed out death sentences. “Pennsylvania juries clearly are more comfortable with the alternative sentence of life without parole, which assures that first-degree murder convicts will waste away behind bars.” The author lists a number of possible reasons for the shift in Pennsylvania, which houses the country’s fourth largest death row, including concerns about “government-sanctioned” executions, wrongful convictions, and data suggesting the penalty is unfairly applied to poor and minority defendants. The author also calls for an end to the death penalty in Pennsylvania and discusses recent legislation, including a bill to abolish the death penalty in the state.

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Photo courtesy of Don Shall

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be extremely dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Tennessee Tort Reform Bill Raises Questions About Juries

With the new tort reform bill soon to be signed by Governor Haslam, juries in Tennessee will now be limited in their ability to award compensation for “non-economic damages”, such as mental anguish, emotional distress, and loss of companionship for deaths caused by negligence or wrongful action. When discussing the legislation, our elected officials seem to focus primarily on the economic impact of the bill. Will it attract businesses to Tennessee? Will it mean more jobs? No one seems to be asking the more fundamental question, why don’t we trust jurors to give fair and just compensation to victims in wrongful death suits while continuing to ask them to make decisions that no one should ever be asked to make–who lives and who dies?

It seems incongruous that we trust jurors to make decisions about matters of ultimate significance when we appear not to trust them with ones of considerably less weight. The legislature tells us juries should not have the power to make decisions involving victim’s compensation. Perhaps we should take similar precautions with jurors in first-degree murder trials as well.

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile malfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be very much dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile disfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Post-Traumatic Stress in Children

In a recent New York Times op ed, Professor Bessel A. van der Kolk, psychiatrist at Boston University School of Medicine, reflects on the strides we have made in the U.S. since the Vietnam era  in naming and addressing post-traumatic stress disorder in soldiers returning from war.  At the same time, progress has also been made in addressing post-traumatic stress in children.

Professor van der Kolk states that,  “For every soldier returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with symptoms of depression or PTSD, there are around 10 children in the United States who are traumatized by exposure to family violence, sexual abuse, neglect and assault, with consequences comparable to those of adult exposure to war-zone violence.”

However, President Obama’s 2012 budget proposes to reduce financing by 70 percent to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a network created in 2001 in order to evaluate and develop treatments for traumatized children nationwide.  The network’s budget is currently $40 million — about the cost of keeping 40 soldiers fighting in Afghanistan for one year. This network documents and evaluates the most effective treatments for these children in order to help them become functioning members of society. Without treatment, some of these children will instead to0 easily become the next generation of Americans filling up our prisons and death rows.

This short-sighted budgetary action is yet one more example of sacrificing a preventative program to save a few bucks, but at the same time, creating extraordinary costs down the road, both financial and human. And such cuts are not only happening on the federal level, but the state level as well.  Effectively addressing such issues as post-traumatic stress in children will reduce violent crime rates as well as the cost of incarceration and the death penalty.

These children are living among us and are not going anywhere. We can address these issues now or later when more damage is done.  What’s it going to be?

Read the op ed here.

Picture by United Nations Photo

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be extremely dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile malfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Study Shows Jurors and Mental Health Experts Hold Different Understandings of Intellectual Disability

Authors of a recent study in the journal Law & Psychology Review suggest jurors in capital trials may not fully understand the abilities of people diagnosed with mild to severe intellectual disabilities (referred to in the study as mental retardation). The study surveyed 888 adults who reported for jury duty and 87 mental health professionals. Participants were given a list of activities, such as the ability to maintain a romantic relationship or operate a car, and asked if a person with an intellectual disability could perform the task. Researches found a significant difference between the responses of jurors and mental health experts, with jurors “less likely than experienced mental health workers to see severe impairments in functioning as evidence” of an intellectual disability.

This study raises serious questions about the ability of jurors to analyze evidence concerning intellectual disabilities in death penalty trials, as required in Atkins v. Virginia. The Supreme Court, when ruling it unconstitutional to execute someone with an intellectual disability, implied that diagnostic criteria, such the guidelines created by the American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities and American Psychiatric Association, be used in determining whether someone suffers from an intellectual disability. Juror’s clear lack of knowledge about intellectual disabilities makes it extremely likely that we are sentencing people, constitutionally exempt from execution, to their death.

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Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile malfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be very dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Race To Execution

Executions in the United States have once again caused problems for a pharmaceutical company. Early this year, Hospira Inc., the sole U.S. provider of sodium thiopental, a drug used during executions, ceased production after receiving pressure from its European manufacturing plants. Another pharmaceutical company, Lundbeck, finds itself in a similar position after some states, such as Texas and Mississippi, switched from the traditional three drug protocol to a single drug, pentobarbital. The switch occurred after the Drug Enforcement Agency confiscated large amounts of sodium thiopental following questions concerning the “legality of its import.” Lundbeck’s spokesperson, Anders Schroll, responded to recent developments, saying, “This is a misuse of our product. We are in an ethical dilemma where we are opposed to the use of our medication for capital punishment while at the same time we want to make sure that patients who benefit from our medication get access to it.” While Lundbeck has made no plans to cease production of pentobarbital, it has sent letters to 11 states imploring them not to use the drug for executions.

Read more

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be so dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Former San Quentin Warden Becomes New Head of Death Penalty Focus

As warden of San Quentin State Prison, Jeanne Woodford’s job description required her to oversee executions. Her new position, executive director of Death Penalty Focus, will ask her to prevent them. Death Penalty Focus, a non-profit organization that works to abolish the death penalty, announced Woodford’s hiring last week. After working 25 years at San Quentin and then as corrections director for California, Woodford admits she could no longer continue implementing a failed policy that is exorbitantly expensive, discriminatory, and fails to make people safer. “The death penalty serves no one. It doesn’t serve the victims. It doesn’t serve prevention. It’s truly all about retribution.”

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Photo provided by lightenupitsjustfashion

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be very dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

The Danger of Prison Instead of Treatment for Those with Mental Illness

Ben Hall of Channel 5 News in Nashville recently featured the tragic story of William Runnells, the most recent Tennessee inmate suffering with severe mental illness to die in prison in the past few months.  Hall’s investigation shows that though Runnells was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he ended up in prison where correctional staff do not have the training or resources to properly address such needs, ultimately leading to Runnells’ tragic deaths as he was being restrained. Individuals suffering from these illnesses not only end up in prison but on death row as well. 

Hall points out that currently Tennessee has only 660 hospital beds available for such very ill individuals while in 1990, the state had 1,700 available beds.  Severe budget cuts have led to this decline.  A recent national study showed that currently prisons have 3 times the number of those with mental illness in their populations than do hospitals.

The reality is that the state chooses not to spend the money necessary to treat these individuals but will spend the money to incarcerate them, and in some cases, execute them when they go untreated and break the law or become violent. 

If Tennessee ended the death penalty, even if only for those with severe mental illness,  the millions of dollars saved could be spent better ensuring these individuals get the treatment they need before a tragedy occurs.

Watch the video here and then go to Ben Hall’s Facebook page to tell Channel 5 that we want more stories like this.

Picture by Tim Pearce

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile malfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be highly dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Prominent Artist Paints Portrait Of Injustice

Chaz Guest, one of America’s most prominent artists, recently painted a portrait of Troy Davis, a Georgia death row inmate who was convicted in 1991 of the murder of Georgia police officer Mark MacPhail. 

The creation of Guest’s work was documented by film maker David Serota. This two minute film highlights the story of Troy Davis, who was convicted and sentenced to death based, not on physical evidence, but on the testimony of  nine witnesses–seven of whom have recanted all or part of their testimony since 1991.

Watch this moving video, and learn how to act to stop this execution.

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile malfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying heartiness conditions that can be highly dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Tennessee Department of Corrections Officials Deny Wrongdoing in Alabama Drug Swap

In response to recent allegations that the Tennessee Department of Corrections circumvented legal restrictions when providing Alabama with a supply of sodium thiopental, TDOC Spokesperson Dorinda Carter argued Friday that the state has “not acted illegally.” Spokesperson Carter went on to point out that Tennessee has a Drug Enforcement Agency permit to handle such drugs and all the state’s actions were legitimate.

The alleged offenses occurred in the past few weeks when Tennessee provided Alabama with eight grams of sodium thiopental for the execution of an inmate on the condition Alabama would return the courtesy in the future. Following the exchange, federal agents seized the drugs from both states after attorneys raised questions concerning the legality of Tennessee’s initial acquisition of the the drug. One such attorney, Brian Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative, suggests, “Desperate desires to carry out executions blinded them (states) to many of the serious regulatory requirements for using and obtaining these drugs.”

Read more

Photo courtesy of the Death Penalty Information Center

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be very dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile disfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

NAACP Legal Defense Fund Publishes 2010 Death Row Report

A recent publication by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund entitled  “Death Row USA” shows that the number of people on death row in the United States is slowly declining. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund reported an 11% decrease in the nation’s death row population from 3,682 in the year 2000 to 3,260 in 2010. The report also includes statistics on the racial composition of the country’s death row and the death row population in each state. Nationally, the racial composition of those on death row is 44% white, 41% black, and 12% Latino/Latina. California, Florida, and Texas house the largest death row populations, while Tennessee houses the 10th largest death row.

Read more

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile disfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be highly dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile disfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

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