death penalty Archives - The Pitt News

Editorial | The death penalty: Outdated, racist and far too unreliable

By The Pitt News Editorial Board • September 26, 2024

The death penalty and capital punishment has long been debated within and across partisan lines. While many deem it necessary to thoroughly punish the worst criminals in this country, the reality is that it actively targets people of color — particularly Black men — and serves as yet another systemic barrier to racial equity.

Editorial | Pennsylvania governor made the right decision to oppose death penalty

By The Pitt News Editorial Board • February 20, 2023

But after hundreds of years and more than a thousand people killed, Pennsylvania’s governor is paving the way to change history.

Opinion | Time to execute the death penalty

By Leah Mensch, Opinions Editor • June 4, 2019

The United States is one of the few developed countries in which the death penalty is still legal in certain places, despite it being an inhumane and outdated form of punishment. The practice is also expensive, irreversible and ineffective when it comes to curbing criminal offenses.

DA to seek death penalty in Pitt student’s homicide

By Janine Faust / Assistant News Editor • February 15, 2018

The Allegheny County district attorney's office will seek the death penalty for Matthew Darby, a 21-year-old man accused of killing Pitt student Alina Sheykhet. Sheykhet was found dead in her home in...

Editorial: PA moratorium doesn’t solve costly death penalty problem

By The Pitt News Editorial Board • May 31, 2017

Execution proceedings happen in the state of Pennsylvania five times each year — yet the state hasn’t executed an inmate since 1999. Mock executions are routinely performed to ensure that in the...