編按：2007年9月17日，喬瑟夫．霍夫曼 Joseph L. Hoffmann 教授應政大法學院刑事法學研究中心、政大法學院公法研究中心、成功大學法律系、輔大和平研究中心、廢除死刑推動聯盟之邀發表專題演講。演講的主題為「死刑廢除前，我們能做什麼？」。廢死聯盟並且翻譯「麻州州長死刑諮詢委員會的最終報告」供大家參考。（全文下載請見下方）
North Carolina man exonerated after 17 years Gregory Taylor was convicted in 1993 of killing a prostitute. A state innocence panel unanimously rules that he didn't. It is the first exoneration by the only such agency in the U.S.
Last fall, the American Law Institute, which created the intellectual framework for the modern capital justice system almost 50 years ago, pronounced its project a failure and walked away from it.
There were other important death penalty developments last year: the number of death sentences continued to fall, Ohio switched to a single chemical for lethal injections and New Mexico repealed its death penalty entirely. But not one of them was as significant as the institute’s move, which represents a tectonic shift in legal theory.
The oldest death row inmate in the US has died of natural causes aged 94.
The Arizona Department of Corrections said Viva Leroy Nash died late on Friday at the state prison in Florence.
Nash had a criminal record dating back to the 1930s, and was deaf, mostly blind, mentally ill and had dementia, his lawyer said.
He was sentenced to death in 1983, for shooting a salesman after escaping from jail. But he managed to stave off his execution with a series of appeals.
全國年齡最大的死刑犯12日因自然原因去世，享年94歲。亞利桑納州教化廳（Department of Corrections）發言人馬森14日說，納許（Viva Nash）12日死在該州弗羅倫斯的監獄，但不清楚他是死在牢房，還是在監獄的醫療部門。 納許生於1915年，早在1930年代就有犯罪紀錄。他1947年因槍擊康州警察而被判入獄25年，1977年因在鹽湖城槍殺一名男子而被判終身監禁。他在1982年10月在監獄工作時逃脫，一個月後在鳳凰城打死一家硬幣商店的店員，因此被判死罪。但因上訴纏訟，一直未能定讞。
Kansas will consider abolishing the death penalty next year as death sentences are declining across the United States.
Fewer people were sentenced to death this year than any other year since 1976, according to a report released Friday by the Death Penalty Information Center.
The U.S. state with the busiest death chamber and one of the largest prison populations is Texas, where public opinion polls show the death penalty is supported by more than 70 percent of the population. A new book by students at a Texas university compiles writings and art work done by condemned prisoners. The book, Upon This Chessboard of Nights and Days, Voices from Texas Death Row, was published by Texas Review Press, on the campus of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville - a city that is the location of one of the state's largest prisons and where executions are carried out. The book provides a rare look into the minds of men who await their moment in the death chamber.
全美國最忙碌的死刑室和囚犯人數最多的監獄都在德州。民調顯示，德州70%的人支持死刑。德州的大學生最近出版的一本新書，匯集了死刑犯寫的文章和藝術作 品，書名是《德州死刑犯的心聲─棋盤上的晝夜》（Voice from Texas Death Row--Upon this chessboard of nights and days），這本書讓人們對等候處決死刑犯心中的感受，有第一手的認識。
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