Leid Stories - 05/21/13

Death Throes in Florida/Extreme Labor Pains in Several States: Gov. Rick Scott of Florida has on his desk a piece of legislation, the Timely Justice Act, that prisoner-rights advocates are hoping he won’t sign, but instead will veto. The act speeds up executions, requiring the governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days after a review by the state Supreme Court, and scheduling executions within 180 days. Marc Mauer, director of The Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C., discusses the enormous impact the legislation would have for 404 death-row inmates in Florida, and the domino effect in other states. Recent labor statistics are cause for alarm at the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute. Doug Hall, director of EPI’s Economic Analysis and Research Network, details the devastating effect of unemployment in several key states and the persistence of race as a major factor in the growing numbers of people without jobs.