Death Penalty Opponents Vow More Lawsuits in Wake of Baze: While the Baze decision provides a fairly clear affirmation of the procedures used by Kentucky and 34 other states, Deborah Hastings of the Associated Press argues that death penalty opponents will initiate a string of lawsuits to differentiate their state's method of lethal injection from that approved by the Court.

Relationship Between Gun Laws and Crime Rates Unclear, At Best: Adam Liptak examines the debate over the efficacy of gun laws for the New York Times. While research findings have shown mixed results, an important point is that criminals are of course the least likely to obey gun laws.

FL Prepares to Test New Lethal Injection Protocol: Following an outcry after a botched execution in December 2006, Florida has instituted an additional step to its lethal injection procedure. According to Ron Ward's story for the Associated Press, the new procedure will require an official to verify that the inmate is unconscious prior to the injection of the second chemical. Mark Dean Schwab is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, exactly 16 years after he was sentenced to death for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of an 11-year-old boy.