The Pennsylvania Senate recent­ly passed a res­o­lu­tion that will result in a study of the state’s death penal­ty and look at issues of fair­ness, equal­i­ty and costs of a pun­ish­ment that is rarely car­ried out in the state. The res­o­lu­tion was spon­sored by Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, a Republican, who said, ​“Questions are fre­quent­ly raised regard­ing the costs, deter­rent effect and appro­pri­ate­ness of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. I believe that we need to answer these ques­tions.” Since Pennsylvania rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1978, only three peo­ple have been exe­cut­ed, all of whom waived their rights to appeal their sen­tences. The last exe­cu­tion in the state was held 13 years ago. Over 200 remain on death row. David Rose, a retired cor­rec­tions offi­cer, said he has observed inequal­i­ties with­in the sys­tem that pre­vent defen­dants from receiv­ing fair tri­als. Rose said, ​“When you work in cor­rec­tions, you real­ize the guilti­est peo­ple aren’t the ones on death row.” The study com­mit­tee, which will be com­posed of four sen­a­tors and a team of advis­ers, has not been formed yet. It can take two years to com­plete its work.

(T. Shortell, ​“With Executions Backlogged, Pennsylvania Senate Calls for Review of Death Penalty,” Lehigh Valley Express-Times, January 2, 2012). See Studies.

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