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Criminal Law

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1996

Death Penalty

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Law

"As The Gentle Rain From Heaven": Mercy In Capital Sentencing, Stephen P. Garvey Jul 1996

"As The Gentle Rain From Heaven": Mercy In Capital Sentencing, Stephen P. Garvey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Our constitutional law of capital sentencing does not understand Shakespeare's "gentle rain from heaven." Mercy confuses and befuddles it. The jury that sentenced Albert Brown to death was instructed that "'mere ... sympathy"' should not play on its judgment. Brown claimed this instruction violated his Eighth Amendment rights, but the Supreme Court disagreed. Some five years later, Justice Scalia dissented when the Court reversed Derrick Morgan's death sentence. According to Justice Scalia, the Court had held that no "merciless" juror could sit in judgment of a capital defendant. The Constitution, he thought, demanded no such thing. These dissents, one embracing …

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Cruelty And Original Intent: A Socratic Dialogue, Kent Greenfield Jan 1996

Cruelty And Original Intent: A Socratic Dialogue, Kent Greenfield

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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Toward The Abolition Of The Death Penalty, Shigemitsu Dando Jan 1996

Toward The Abolition Of The Death Penalty, Shigemitsu Dando

Indiana Law Journal

This Article was delivered by Justice Dando as the Jerome Hall Lecture at Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington on April 14, 1996.

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A (Genuinely) Modest Proposal Concerning The Death Penalty, Craig M. Bradley Jan 1996

A (Genuinely) Modest Proposal Concerning The Death Penalty, Craig M. Bradley

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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An Economic Analysis Of The Death Penalty, Martin Kasten Jan 1996

An Economic Analysis Of The Death Penalty, Martin Kasten

University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics

From an economic perspective, society should only use capital punishment if the marginal benefits outweigh the marginal costs. In the course of analyzing the economic efficiency of capital punishment, and before providing any recommendations, both the benefits and costs of the death penalty must be evaluated. Since the death penalty has been implemented for centuries, many people believe its benefits outweigh its costs. The evaluation of benefits in Part II will be compared to the costs assessed in Part III to determine if this long held assertion is correct.

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A Pro-Death, Self-Fulfilling Constitutional Construct: The Supreme Court’S Evolving Standard Of Decency For The Death Penalty, Susan Raeker-Jordan Dec 1995

A Pro-Death, Self-Fulfilling Constitutional Construct: The Supreme Court’S Evolving Standard Of Decency For The Death Penalty, Susan Raeker-Jordan

Susan Raeker-Jordan

In recent Eighth Amendment decisions applying the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause to substantive challenges to the death penalty, a plurality of the United States Supreme Court has favored employing only the "evolving standards of decency" test of constitutionality, purportedly because it is an objective measurement of cruelty and unusualness. The Article will show, however, that contrary to the assertions of some Court members, the indicia for ascertaining the evolving standard of decency are far from objective. Rather, the evidence gleaned from he "objective indicia" of legislative enactments and jury sentencing behavior can be and has been rigged to favor …

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