Fewer people received a death sentence over the past 12 months than in any year since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. One reason: Some state prosecutors are growing more hesitant to seek a death sentence in cases that might later be upended because of DNA evidence.
Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was one of 875,000 names in a database the US uses to produce at least nine watch lists, but the naming didn't prevent the attack. Some security experts worry that data overload may be hindering US counterterrorism efforts.
Doing Good
What happens when ordinary people decide to pay it forward? Extraordinary change...
Scott Budnick works in the dining room as customers arrive for a free meal at the Mathewson Street Friendship Breakfast in Providence, R.I.
Scott Budnick serves breakfast – with a side order of respect – to the homeless
Sunday breakfast at a Providence, R.I., church is more than a free meal. Half the volunteers are homeless themselves: 'It's their [own] breakfast that they're putting on.'
Become part of the Monitor community