Entries tagged with “Stephen Breyer”
Upcoming Executions
,May 08, 2025
New Analysis: Capital Cases Overturned At Least Four Times Illustrate How Pervasive Prosecutorial Misconduct Contributes to High Cost of Death Penalty
The single most common outcome for a death sentence in the modern era is for it to be reversed on appeal due to a constitutional violation. Most people whose sentences are reversed get resentenced to life in prison or less, but some prosecutors persist in seeking new death sentences even after multiple reversals. A Death Penalty Information Center analysis of the 14 people sentenced to death four or more times for the same crime finds that prosecutorial misconduct, including racial bias…
Research
Jun 08, 2023
Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer Expresses Continued Frustration with the Fair Administration of the Death Penalty
In a recent interview with The Marshall Project, former United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer discussed his twenty-eight years of experience on the Court and the evolution of his view on the death penalty. He explained that he did not go to the Supreme Court intending to overturn the death penalty, but “[i]t’s so unfairly administered. There’s neither rhyme nor reason. The whole point of this criminal justice system is fairness…. I’m not saying, ‘You’re all innocent.’ But there are…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,Time on Death Row
,Jul 19, 2022
Commentary: Richard Glossip’s Case Exemplifies the Systemic Flaws that Justice Stephen Breyer Warned About
As Richard Glossip faces an execution date for the fourth time, his case is a perfect example of the problems in the death-penalty system that then-Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (pictured) identified in his 2015 landmark dissent in Glossip v. Gross. In an analysis published by Slate, Jeremy Stahl writes, “Whether or not Richard Glossip is ultimately executed for a crime he likely did not commit, his and Breyer’s names will be intertwined in death penalty history. Glossip’s case is…
Research
Jan 31, 2022
Justice Stephen Breyer, Pragmatic Jurist Who Doubted Constitutionality of Capital Punishment, to Retire from Supreme Court
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (pictured), whose growing doubts about capital punishment led him to question its constitutionality, is retiring after 28 years on the Court. The 83-year-old justice formally announced his retirement in a January 27, 2022 letter to President Joe Biden, saying that he will step down “when the Court rises for the summer recess this year … assuming that by then my successor has been nominated and confirmed.” Biden said the same day that he intends to…