Our own Nancy Mullane is in London right now. Penal Reform International, an NGO that develops and promotes fair, effective and proportionate responses to criminal justice problems worldwide, has named her the United States winner of its competition for the best journalism investigating the death penalty and life (or long-term) imprisonment.
Nancy was awarded the English language prize for two episodes of Life of the Law, Episode 38: One Reporter on California’s Death Row, and Episode 37: Jailhouse Lawyers, which were edited by Julia Barton and produced by Kaitlin Prest.
The judges were especially impressed, they said, “with the depth, detail and humanity of the pieces and the fact that they covered aspects of capital punishment that are often ignored.”
Other winners were Adaria Gushtyn, from Belarus, who won the Russian language prize for her articles detailing the cases and backgrounds of men facing the death penalty in Belarus, and Omar Maharmeh, from Jordan, who won the Arabic language prize for his article about a prisoner’s experience of waiting for execution.
The competition and prize form part of PRI’s two-year project, “Progressive abolition of the death penalty and implementation of humane alternative sanctions after a moratorium or abolition.” The project is funded by the European Union.
