When New Jersey enact­ed its death penal­ty law in 1982, it estab­lished a spe­cial unit of lawyers and experts for defen­dants fac­ing cap­i­tal charges. After two decades, the state has 14 indi­vid­u­als on death row. In con­trast, when Pennsylvania enact­ed its death penal­ty law, the state failed to estab­lish a sim­i­lar sys­tem for assis­tance. For Pennsylvania, a state of com­pa­ra­ble pop­u­la­tion to New Jersey, the result of this deci­sion has been a death row pop­u­la­tion of 237 and a cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem that is plagued by evi­dence of inad­e­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion. The sys­temic flaws and sen­tence rever­sals led the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to appoint a com­mit­tee to exam­ine the prob­lem. (Philadelphia Inquirer, October 6, 2003). See DPIC’s report With Justice for Few: The Growing Crisis in Death Penalty Representation.

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