In-Depth Reports

In 1972, when the Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the death penal­ty as then applied was arbi­trary and capri­cious and there­fore uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, a major­i­ty of the Justices expect­ed that the adop­tion of nar­row­ly craft­ed sen­tenc­ing pro­ce­dures would pro­tect against inno­cent per­sons being sen­tenced to death. Yet the promise of Furman has not been ful­filled: inno­cent per­sons are still being sen­tenced to death, and the chances are high that…

– Late Judge Charles Weltner, Georgia Supreme Court…

“Them with­out the cap­i­tal get the pun­ish­ment” is a well-worn phrase among those who have stud­ied the unequal appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty in America. Poor peo­ple fac­ing soci­ety’s ulti­mate penal­ty must rely on pub­lic funds to ensure they are com­pe­tent­ly rep­re­sent­ed, as the Constitution guar­an­tees. Yet, in more and more juris­dic­tions, pub­lic ser­vices of all kinds are being slashed for lack of ade­quate fund­ing. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is one such…

–Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78…

Nearly 20 years after the Supreme Court held the death penal­ty uncon­sti­tu­tion­al – large­ly because of racial dis­crim­i­na­tion – the death penal­ty in America con­tin­ues to reflect the worst aspects of our judi­cial sys­tem: racism, unequal treat­ment of the poor, a shame­ful­ly inad­e­quate legal defense sys­tem and abuse of dis­cre­tion by ambi­tious pros­e­cu­tors and oth­er politicians seeking…