In a small town in Texas, two young men knock on the door of a woman’s house as she's making cookies. They ask to use her phone. But as her back is turned, they kill her and then two other innocent bystanders all so they can enjoy a brief joyride in her car. In the end, one murderer is sentenced to life in prison. The other is given the death penalty.

The Illinois General Assembly has approved a measure that would abolish the death penalty in the state. Governor Pat Quinn seems ready to sign it. But what will the change of law mean for the 13 people on Death Row right now? We're joined by Ray Long, Statehouse reporter for the Chicago Tribune, and Rob Elder, author of "Last Words of the Executed," for a report from Illinois.

Yesterday a jury handed down a death penalty sentence for Steven Hayes, who was convicted in a brutal triple murder case and a violent home invasion at the home of Dr. William Petit and his wife, Jennifer, in 2007. All of the victims were tied up, Dr. Petit was severely beaten and his wife Jennifer, along with their two daughters Hayley and Michaela were murdered. Two of the three were sexually assaulted. The assailants then attempted to burn the Petit house down as they fled. These murders were so violent that even some ardent anti-death penalty advocates have been asking whether there are times when the death penalty is appropriate 

Cameron Todd Willingham was executed by the state of Texas in 2004. He was tried, convicted, and executed by lethal injection for setting fire to his home and killing his three young daughters, on December 23, 1991.

But forensic investigators have called the facts of the case into question – most notably whether the fire was arson, or an accident. (Willingham maintained his innocence to the very end, passing up a chance to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence.)

A major shortage of a drug called sodium thiopental is hampering the ability of states to put inmates to death. The first execution in California in four years was postponed this week, and it's likely not to be the last. Though nine states across the nation have 17 lethal injections scheduled between now and the end of January, it is uncertain whether they will be able to perform the executions due to the shortage.

State prison systems are scrambling to find supplies of sodium thiopental, but they have competition in their search. Over the last few years, the drug has become popular with hospitals, where it is used as an anesthetic for surgery and to induce medial comas. Hospitals had previously used a drug called propofol, though that too has become scarce.

For years, people have claimed a racial bias in our country’s death penalty system, based on the statistics of who winds up on death row. But, now, a law in North Carolina aims to do something to address such bias when it comes to capital prosecution.

On Sept. 15, Ohio death row inmate Kevin Keith is scheduled to be executed, unless his defense team can get clemency granted to their client before then. Keith was convicted of murdering three people in February of 1994. He maintains he is innocent, has alibis who confirm his story, and some question the testimony delivered by the key eyewitness. His execution, plus another scheduled to take place today in Ohio, would put that state on track for having the second most executions this year, after Texas. 

But cases like Keith's have prompted several high-level officials to call for a comprehensive review of Ohio's death row cases.

From telling a joke to talking to their families to denying their crimes, the last words of death row inmates tend to center on similar themes throughout history. Why are these words so compelling? And what do they say about humanity?

A case brought to the Georgia Supreme Court this Tuesday might decide whether Georgia can afford to levy the death penalty any more. Jamie Weis has been sitting in jail for four years waiting for a trial because the state can’t afford to give him adequate representation or his Sixth Amendment-guaranteed right to a "speedy and public trial." Yesterday, Jamie presented a pre-trial appeal — drop his charges, or at least the possibility of the death penalty. 

To find out more we spoke with Emily Green, a reporter covering the justice system for Georgia Public Broadcasting, and Robert McGlasson, an attorney at law who represented a previous death-penalty defendant in one of the most expensive cases in Georgia history. (You can read other stories in our "Deep Cuts" series on states' budget shortfalls.)

John Allen Muhammad, the "D.C. Sniper," is scheduled to die by lethal injection tonight in Virginia. In October 2002, Muhammad and a then-teenaged accomplice terrorized the Washington D.C. area with a series of shootings. Cheryll Witz's father, Jerry Taylor, was killed by the snipers in March 2002. She will attend the execution tonight, and says a confession by one of the killers helped her get closure. We'll put the search for closure to Dr. Sindey Weissman, a psychiatrist and professor of psychology at Northwestern University.