In-Depth Reports

Blind Justice, the most recent report to be released by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), is the first to focus on the prob­lems of the death penal­ty from the per­spec­tive of jurors. While jurors have always occu­pied an esteemed posi­tion in the broad­er crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem in the United States, in cap­i­tal cas­es the respon­si­bil­i­ty of jurors is even more crit­i­cal as they decide whether defen­dants should live or die. Even with this unique author­i­ty in capital…

This report cat­a­logs the emer­gence of inno­cence as the most impor­tant issue in the long-sim­mer­ing death penal­ty debate. The sheer num­ber of cas­es and the per­va­sive aware­ness of this trend in the public’s con­scious­ness have changed the way cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is per­ceived around the coun­try. The steady evo­lu­tion of this issue since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1976 has been accel­er­at­ed in recent years by the devel­op­ment of DNA tech­nol­o­gy, the new gold…

–Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan…

– U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan,…

– U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, 1996…