Entries tagged with “Academics”

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Race

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New Voices

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Oct 24, 2018

Following Washington Death Penalty Abolition, Op-eds Encourage Other States to Follow Suit

Following the Washington Supreme Court’s October 11, 2018 deci­sion declar­ing the state’s death penal­ty uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, news out­lets have ques­tioned what comes next. Op-ed writ­ers in North Carolina, Texas, and California have respond­ed, urg­ing their states to recon­sid­er their cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment laws. The Washington court cit­ed racial bias, ​“arbi­trary deci­sion-mak­ing, ran­dom impo­si­tion of the death penal­ty, unre­li­a­bil­i­ty, geo­graph­ic rar­i­ty, and exces­sive delays” as reasons…

Policy Issues

Costs

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New Voices

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Aug 03, 2017

Political Analysis: Is Conservative Support the Future of Death-Penalty Abolition?

In a forth­com­ing arti­cle in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, released online in July, Ben Jones argues that, despite the pop­u­lar con­cep­tion of death-penal­ty abo­li­tion as a polit­i­cal­ly pro­gres­sive cause, its future suc­cess may well depend upon build­ing sup­port among Republicans and polit­i­cal con­ser­v­a­tives. In The Republican Party, Conservatives, and the Future of Capital Punishment, Jones — the Assistant Director of Rock Ethics Institute at Pennsylvania…

Policy Issues

Sentencing Alternatives

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New Voices

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Apr 25, 2008

NEW VOICES: Author of Arizona’s Death Penalty Law Says Time is Ripe for a Re-Examination

Rudolph J. Gerber served as a pros­e­cu­tor and as a judge on Arizona​’s Court of Appeals for 13 years. Earlier in his career, then-state sen­a­tor Sandra Day O’Connor asked Mr. Gerber to draft the statute that even­tu­al­ly became Arizona’s death penal­ty law. In a recent op-ed in the Sacramento Bee, he expressed his con­cerns about the prac­tice of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and said that states should use the present peri­od in which no exe­cu­tions are occur­ring as an…

Facts & Research

New Voices

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Nov 21, 2007

RESOURCES: Leading Criminologist Recommends Halt to Executions as Public Policy Priority

The jour­nal of Criminology & Public Policy recent­ly asked lead­ing experts to rec­om­mend impor­tant pol­i­cy changes need­ed in the area of crim­i­nal jus­tice and to pro­vide the evi­dence to sup­port such change. Although most of the arti­cles addressed var­i­ous prison and treat­ment issues, the first arti­cle by Prof. James Acker of the University at Albany called for an imme­di­ate mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions. Prof. Acker exam­ines the United States’ long his­to­ry of grap­pling with the death penal­ty. He…

Facts & Research

United States Supreme Court

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New Voices

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Executions Overview

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Nov 14, 2007

Supreme Court Review of Lethal Injections Attracts Advocates from Many Disciplines

In addi­tion to the main brief sub­mit­ted by the Petitioner in Baze v. Rees, sev­er­al ami­cus curi­ae briefs have been filed in sup­port of the inmates from Kentucky who are chal­leng­ing the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of lethal injec­tions as prac­ticed in their state before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is like­ly to be heard in January 2008 and decid­ed by June. It appears that exe­cu­tions around the coun­try have been put on hold pend­ing the Court’s deci­sion. The ami­cus (“friend of the court”) briefs…

May 12, 2004

NEW VOICES: Scientific Experts Say DNA Evidence Not ​“Infallible”

Scientists who are skep­ti­cal of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s claim that DNA is ​“infal­li­ble” evi­dence in a death penal­ty case have voiced con­cern about the assump­tion, not­ing that there is no way to avoid all pos­si­ble instances of human error and that the evi­dence does not always prove a person’s guilt or inno­cence. Theodore D. Kessis is the founder of Applied DNA Resources, based in Columbus, Ohio, and a fac­ul­ty mem­ber at the John Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore. He…

Jun 26, 2003

NEW VOICES: Opposing Viewpoints Find Common Ground

Although New York Law School Professor Robert Blecker and Columbia Law School Professor James Liebman fre­quent­ly take oppos­ing sides in pub­lic debates on the death penal­ty, the two men recent­ly revealed their ​“com­mon ground” through a co-authored opin­ion col­umn in the Houston Chronicle. Calling on leg­is­la­tors in Texas and else­where to enact a series of death penal­ty reforms to ensure accu­ra­cy and improve fair­ness, Blecker and Liebman…