The execution of Christa Pike, a Tennessee woman convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for murder, has been halted shortly before it was due to happen. If the execution goes ahead, she will be the first woman put to death in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Pike has a documented history of childhood sexual abuse, abandonment and neglect. Her lawyers believe that if she was found guilty of the same crime today as a teenager she would not receive a death sentence.
Only 18 women have been executed in the US since the 1970s, compared to 1,663 men.
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