Stephen Cooper

Stephen Cooper is a former D.C. public defender who worked as an assistant federal public defender in Alabama between 2012 and 2015. He has contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers in the United States and overseas. He writes full-time and lives in Woodland Hills, California.

10 Minutes with Superstar Drummer Sly Dunbar

Why Twitter Brings Out My Worst Self (and perhaps yours)

Keith Tharpe and the Death Penalty’s Racist Roots  

Supreme Court Screw-Up Sullies U.S. Constitution 

Scientist vs. Cooper: The Interview, Round 2 

Alabama Executions: Strictly a Christian Affair

Scientist v. Cooper: the Interview (Round 1) 

When Will Journalism Grapple With the Ethics of Interviewing Mentally Ill Arrestees?

The Prospective Gassing of Human Beings in Alabama is an Abomination 

Raising Consciousness with Reggae and Rastafari: an Interview with Raging Fyah

“Reggae Is the Heartbeat of the Festival:” an Interview with Cali Roots’ Dan Sheehan

Vengeful Alabama to Kill 83-Year-Old Man

Reggae Star Etana Emphasizes Equality

Battling the Death Penalty With James Baldwin

Alabama Has Been Torturing Poor People for a Long Time

Rebel Talk with Nattali Rize: the Interview

Majestic Meditations with Jesse Royal: the Interview

Concerning Our Endless Quest for Self-Improvement 

Call Lethal Injection the Vile Torture It Is

A Revealing Conversation With Rocksteady Rulers Keith And Tex

Wiping the Stain of Capital Punishment Clean

“I Just Wanted to be the Conga Player:” an Interview With Larry McDonald

Scratch in LA: an Interview With Lee “Scratch” Perry

Alabama’s “Baghdad Bob” of Death Row

When Racism Lurks in the Heart of a Death Penalty Juror

Celebrating Oktoberfest in Alabama with Executions

Gov. Greitens: Pull Down Missouri’s Racist Death Penalty Statutes!

Forensic Science Evidence Trending Towards Less Reliable

Safeguarding Bob Marley With “So Much Things to Say”

King Yellowman Defends Gay Rights at Reggae on the Mountain

Gov. Kasich: “Amazing Grace” Starts With You! 

Big Lizards & Baked Cookies in Cars

Hey, Gov. McAuliffe: a Democratic Standard-Bearer Would Grant Morva Mercy

Civilized, Constitution-Loving Californians Will Continue Capital Punishment Fight

How John Steinbeck’s “In Dubious Battle” Helps Us Navigate Social Discord

Is Alabama Hiding Evidence It Tortured Two of Its Citizens?

Conscientious Justice-Loving Alabamians, Speak Up!

Nothing is Fair About Alabama’s “Fair Justice Act”

Ghoulishness Envelops Arkansas’ Mass Execution Schedule

Trump’s Pusillanimous Immigration Policy Imperils the Public and the Police

Steinbeck’s Road Map For Resisting Donald Trump

Is Reading Steinbeck an Antidote to Donald Trump?

Truth or Twitter? Why Donald Trump Is No John Steinbeck

Benny King and the Criminalization of Addiction in America

Stiff Necked Fools: What Bob Marley Can Teach Us About Donald Trump

Upholding Death Row Inmates’ “Suicide Burden,” Federal Judge Attacks Medical Profession

Alabama’s Human Guinea Pigs: Burning People Alive on Death Row

Alabama’s Last Execution was an Atrocity

Hell on Earth in Alabama: Inside Holman Prison

Please, Posthumously Pardon Marcus Garvey