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Capital punishment

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Book Review: American Jericho: A Book Review Of The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor, Giovanna Shay Jan 2014

Book Review: American Jericho: A Book Review Of The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor, Giovanna Shay

Western New England Law Review

The Author reviews THE HANGING JUDGE, by Michael A. Ponsor, published by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, 2013. Ponsor provides a notable, fictionalized account of the federal criminal system. He uses an imagined death penalty trial to explore themes including issues of race, prosecutorial ambition, and harsh drug sentences. THE HANGING JUDGE’s textured depiction of the legal system makes it particularly appropriate for classroom discussion in courses such as Professional Responsibility and Criminal Procedure.


Public Opinion And The Abolition Or Retention Of The Death Penalty Why Is The United States Different?, Sara Sun Beale Jan 2014

Public Opinion And The Abolition Or Retention Of The Death Penalty Why Is The United States Different?, Sara Sun Beale

Faculty Scholarship

What explains the difference between the United States and the many other countries that have abolished capital punishment? Because the United States and many other nations that have abolished the death penalty are democracies, there seems to be an obvious answer: abolition or retention reflects the preferences of the electorate. According to this view, the U.S. electorate is simply more punitive, and the question becomes explaining the difference in national attitudes. There is some truth to this explanation. As I have argued elsewhere, the U.S. public generally does favor punitive criminal justice policies. But that cannot be the whole story. …


The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor––Capital Punishment: Is The Death Penalty Worth The Price?, Beth D. Cohen, Pat K. Newcombe Jan 2014

The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor––Capital Punishment: Is The Death Penalty Worth The Price?, Beth D. Cohen, Pat K. Newcombe

Cleveland State Law Review

No abstract provided.


Receptivity Of Capital Jurors To Mitigating Factors Of Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability, And Situational Impairments In Death Penalty Decisions : The Capital Trial Analyzed As A Mitigating "Weight And Counterweight" To Premature Decisions And Pro-Death Bias, Leona Deborah Jochnowitz Jan 2014

Receptivity Of Capital Jurors To Mitigating Factors Of Mental Illness, Intellectual Disability, And Situational Impairments In Death Penalty Decisions : The Capital Trial Analyzed As A Mitigating "Weight And Counterweight" To Premature Decisions And Pro-Death Bias, Leona Deborah Jochnowitz

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This research presents aspects of juror receptivity to mitigating factors of mental, cognitive/intellectual and situational impairments in capital sentencing decisions. The study examined types of mental factors, as well as the gender of defendants, the aggravating nature of the crime and victim vulnerability. An exploratory cross-tabulation analysis evaluated the percentages and relationships between juror closed-ended CJP survey responses to mental sentencing factors and mental evidence presented at trial for 38 cases. While the sample size was too small in some cells for significance testing, the percentages demonstrated patterns. A detailed qualitative analysis of 12 cases with strong evidence of mental …


Beccaria's On Crimes And Punishments: A Mirror On The History Of The Foundations Of Modern Criminal Law, Bernard E. Harcourt Jan 2014

Beccaria's On Crimes And Punishments: A Mirror On The History Of The Foundations Of Modern Criminal Law, Bernard E. Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

Beccaria’s treatise On Crimes and Punishments (1764) has become a placeholder for the classical school of thought in criminology, for deterrence-based public policy, for death penalty abolitionism, and for liberal ideals of legality and the rule of law. A source of inspiration for Bentham and Blackstone, an object of praise for Voltaire and the Philosophes, a target of pointed critiques by Kant and Hegel, the subject of a genealogy by Foucault, the object of derision by the Physiocrats, rehabilitated and appropriated by the Chicago School of law and economics — these ricochets and reflections on Beccaria’s treatise reveal multiple dimensions …


Life And Death In Kentucky: Past, Present, And Future, Roberta M. Harding Jan 2014

Life And Death In Kentucky: Past, Present, And Future, Roberta M. Harding

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article provides a historical survey of capital punishment in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, paying particular attention to gender and race. The author concludes that given the lack of recent executions that it is perhaps time to make legislative changes to the Commonwealth’s death penalty practice.


An Arbitrary Death? Capital Punishment And The Supreme Court, Truman Braslaw Jan 2014

An Arbitrary Death? Capital Punishment And The Supreme Court, Truman Braslaw

Honors Papers

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Supreme Court decided three landmark cases on death penalty laws in the United States. While adjudicating these cases, the Court sought to address one of the central questions regarding capital punishment: can it be applied fairly? My paper attempts to understand how the Court found an answer to this question. I employ complementary frameworks of constitutional interpretation, formalism, and realism to suggest that the Court's focus on judicial restraint and its weak understanding of race and discrimination led it to conclude that capital punishment can be applied "fairly enough" for our constitutional system.


Brief Of Public Law Scholars As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, Ernest A. Young, Nita Farahany, Gail Heriot, Ilya Somin Jan 2014

Brief Of Public Law Scholars As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, Ernest A. Young, Nita Farahany, Gail Heriot, Ilya Somin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Book Review: American Jericho: A Book Review Of The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor, Giovanna Shay Jan 2014

Book Review: American Jericho: A Book Review Of The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor, Giovanna Shay

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Racial Discrimination And The Death Penalty: An Analysis Of The United States' Judicial System, Jessica Recarey, Nerses Kopalyan Jan 2014

Racial Discrimination And The Death Penalty: An Analysis Of The United States' Judicial System, Jessica Recarey, Nerses Kopalyan

McNair Poster Presentations

Racial discrimination plays a role in the administration of the death penalty. This research analyzes the history, and past scholarly research, of the death penalty. The purpose of this research is to understand the correlation between racial discrimination and those sentenced to death. This study includes a literature review regarding the different aspects of the death penalty and race. Following the literature review, an analysis is performed of both previous literature and current death penalty statistics that augments the discussion of the death penalty.


The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor -- A Book Review: Capital Punishment -- Is The Death Penalty Worth The Price?, Beth D. Cohen, Pat K. Newcombe Jan 2014

The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor -- A Book Review: Capital Punishment -- Is The Death Penalty Worth The Price?, Beth D. Cohen, Pat K. Newcombe

Faculty Scholarship

In 2000-2001, Judge Ponsor presided over the first death penalty case in Massachusetts in nearly 50 years, United States v. Gilbert. Gilbert’s trial marked only the third time that a federal capital case had gone to trial in a state without the death penalty. According to Ponsor, he felt a particularly heavy responsibility to ensure that both the government and the defense got a fair trial. In fact, in 2001, after the conclusion of the trial, Ponsor did something somewhat unusual for a judge; he wrote a lengthy editorial about the death penalty. He wrote: “[t]he simple question - not …


Murder, Minority Victims, And Mercy, Aya Gruber Jan 2014

Murder, Minority Victims, And Mercy, Aya Gruber

Publications

Should the jury have acquitted George Zimmerman of Trayvon Martin's murder? Should enraged husbands receive a pass for killing their cheating wives? Should the law treat a homosexual advance as adequate provocation for killing? Criminal law scholars generally answer these questions with a resounding "no." Theorists argue that criminal laws should not reflect bigoted perceptions of African Americans, women, and gays by permitting judges and jurors to treat those who kill racial and gender minorities with undue mercy. According to this view, murder defenses like provocation should be restricted to ensure that those who kill minority victims receive the harshest …


Rate Of False Conviction Of Criminal Defendants Who Are Sentenced To Death, Samuel R. Gross, Barbara O'Brien, Chen Hu, Edward H. Kennedy Jan 2014

Rate Of False Conviction Of Criminal Defendants Who Are Sentenced To Death, Samuel R. Gross, Barbara O'Brien, Chen Hu, Edward H. Kennedy

Articles

The rate of erroneous conviction of innocent criminal defendants is often described as not merely unknown but unknowable. There is no systematic method to determine the accuracy of a criminal conviction; if there were, these errors would not occur in the first place. As a result, very few false convictions are ever discovered, and those that are discovered are not representative of the group as a whole. In the United States, however, a high proportion of false convictions that do come to light and produce exonerations are concentrated among the tiny minority of cases in which defendants are sentenced to …


Foreword: The Death Penalty In Decline: From Colonial America To The Present, John Bessler Jan 2014

Foreword: The Death Penalty In Decline: From Colonial America To The Present, John Bessler

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article traces the history of capital punishment in America. It describes the death penalty's curtailment in colonial Pennsylvania by William Penn, and the substantial influence of the Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria -- the first Enlightenment thinker to advocate the abolition of executions -- on the Founding Fathers' views. The Article also describes the transition away from "sanguinary" laws and punishments toward the "penitentiary system" and highlights the U.S. penal system's abandonment of non-lethal corporal punishments.


Our Free Society Is Worthy Of Better': Caryl Chessman, Capital Punishment, And Cold War Culture, David Ruth Jan 2014

Our Free Society Is Worthy Of Better': Caryl Chessman, Capital Punishment, And Cold War Culture, David Ruth

SOLON Law, Crime and History (previously SOLON Crimes and Misdemeanours: Deviance and the Law in Historical Perspective)

Convict author Caryl Chessman was the focus of international attention from 1954 until his 1960 execution at San Quentin. Americans used Chessman to articulate understandings about themselves, their society, and their place in the world. Many used the case to comment on new understandings of behaviour and its modifiability, the apparent post-war rise in juvenile delinquency, and the prospects for individual autonomy in an increasingly conformist society. Cold War concerns profoundly shaped the discourse about Chessman. For some activists, global save-Chessman sentiment pointed to the possibility of transcending bitter international divisions. Execution opponents believed commutation would highlight the progressive social …


Grave Injustice: Unearthing Wrongful Executions, Mary Kelly Tate Aug 2013

Grave Injustice: Unearthing Wrongful Executions, Mary Kelly Tate

Law Faculty Publications

This book review discusses Richard A. Stack's book, Grave Injustice, which illustrates the flaws in America's use of capital punishment. "Simply put, the death penalty is shown to be a massive policy failure diminishing the legitimacy of the criminal justice system in the world's leading democracy. Stack uses his reportorial skills to distill the complex subject of the American death penalty into a digestible form, yet he never cuts corners with the human dimension. This dimension is always at the center of crime and punishment and, most hauntingly, at the center of the American death penalty and its tragic …


Criminal Procedure Decisions From The October 2007 Term, Susan N. Herman Feb 2013

Criminal Procedure Decisions From The October 2007 Term, Susan N. Herman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Marshall Hypothesis And The Rise Of Anti-Death Penalty Judges, Dwight Aarons Jan 2013

The Marshall Hypothesis And The Rise Of Anti-Death Penalty Judges, Dwight Aarons

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.


Courts Of Appeal And Colonialism In The British Caribbean: A Case For The Caribbean Court Of Justice, Ezekiel Rediker Jan 2013

Courts Of Appeal And Colonialism In The British Caribbean: A Case For The Caribbean Court Of Justice, Ezekiel Rediker

Michigan Journal of International Law

In recent years, a public debate on law and the colonial legacy has engaged people of all walks of life in the English Speaking Caribbean (ESC), from judges and politicians to young people in the streets. Throughout the ESC, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC)—based in London and composed of British jurists—has been the highest court of appeal since the colonial era. In the past decade, however, Caribbean governments have sought greater control over their legal systems. In 2005, they created the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to supplant the British Privy Council as the Supreme Court for …


Death Eligibility In Colorado: Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen, Justin Marceau, Sam Kamin, Wanda Foglia Jan 2013

Death Eligibility In Colorado: Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen, Justin Marceau, Sam Kamin, Wanda Foglia

University of Colorado Law Review

This Article reports the conclusions of an empirical study of every murder conviction in Colorado between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2010. Our goal was to determine: (1) what percentage of first-degree murderers in Colorado were eligible for the death penalty; and (2) how often the death penalty was sought against these killers. More importantly, our broader purpose was to determine whether Colorado's statutory aggravating factors meaningfully narrow the class of death-eligible offenders as required by the Constitution. We discovered that while the death penalty was an option in over 90% of all first-degree murders, it was sought by …


Capital Punishment In The Lone Star State : A County-Level Analysis Of Contextual Effects On Sentencing, Jennifer Lynn Owens Jan 2013

Capital Punishment In The Lone Star State : A County-Level Analysis Of Contextual Effects On Sentencing, Jennifer Lynn Owens

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In its landmark decision, Furman v. Georgia (1972), the Supreme Court held all existing death penalty statutes unconstitutional, largely due to the arbitrary nature of the capital sentencing processes that resulted from them. In response to the Furman decision, several states revised their death penalty statutes to address the Court's concerns. Although the Court upheld the newly-drafted statutes in Gregg v. Georgia (1976) and its companion cases, subsequently reinstating the death penalty, intrastate variation in death sentencing suggests that the death penalty may continue to be applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner inconsistent with the Eighth Amendment. This dissertation …


Foreign Affairs Federalism: A Revisionist Approach, Daniel Abebe, Aziz Z. Huq Jan 2013

Foreign Affairs Federalism: A Revisionist Approach, Daniel Abebe, Aziz Z. Huq

Faculty Scholarship

In April 2010, the Arizona legislature enacted the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. Commonly known as SB 1070, the law created a slate of new criminal offenses and arrest powers covering aliens within Arizona's borders. SB 1070 proved divisive. It inspired copycat legislation in several states, provoked sharp criticism from the legal academy, and – most relevant here – catalyzed a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking a preliminary injunction against the state law on the ground that it was preempted by federal law. Initially, the federal government's litigation prospects seemed dim. One term before …


The American Death Penalty: Constitutional Regulation As The Distinctive Feature Of American Exceptionalism, Jordan M. Steiker Jan 2013

The American Death Penalty: Constitutional Regulation As The Distinctive Feature Of American Exceptionalism, Jordan M. Steiker

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.


Death And Rehabilitation, Meghan J. Ryan Jan 2013

Death And Rehabilitation, Meghan J. Ryan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

While rehabilitation is reemerging as an important penological goal, the Supreme Court is eroding the long-revered divide between capital and non-capital sentences. This raises the question of whether and how rehabilitation applies in the capital context. Courts and scholars have long concluded that it does not — that death is completely irrelevant to rehabilitation. Yet, historically, the death penalty in this country has been imposed in large part to induce the rehabilitation of offenders’ characters. Additionally, there are tales of the worst offenders transforming their characters when they are facing death, and several legal doctrines are based on the idea …


Plea Bargaining And The Right To The Effective Assistance Of Counsel: Where The Rubber Hits The Road In Capital Cases, John H. Blume Dec 2012

Plea Bargaining And The Right To The Effective Assistance Of Counsel: Where The Rubber Hits The Road In Capital Cases, John H. Blume

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Irreconcilable Differences: Yet More Attitudinal Discrepancies Between Death Penalty Opponents And Proponents: A California Sample, Robert J. Robinson Nov 2012

Irreconcilable Differences: Yet More Attitudinal Discrepancies Between Death Penalty Opponents And Proponents: A California Sample, Robert J. Robinson

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Jurisprudence That Necessarily Embodies Moral Judgment: The Eighth Amendment, Catholic Teaching, And Death Penalty Discourse, Kurt M. Denk Nov 2012

Jurisprudence That Necessarily Embodies Moral Judgment: The Eighth Amendment, Catholic Teaching, And Death Penalty Discourse, Kurt M. Denk

Notre Dame Law Review

The article compares the U.S. Jurisprudence with the death penalty teaching of the Catholic Church through a court case of Patrick Kennedy v. Louisiana Supreme Court. It focuses on the Eighth Amendment Jurisprudence and argues on the translated approach of Catholic Church to advance the death penalty discourse. The article also discusses moral judgment embodied by the Eighth Amendment Jurisprudence.


The Christian Executioner: Reconciling “An Eye For An Eye” With “Turn The Other Cheek”, Jill Jones Oct 2012

The Christian Executioner: Reconciling “An Eye For An Eye” With “Turn The Other Cheek”, Jill Jones

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Tinkering Around The Edges: The Supreme Court's Death Penalty Jurisprudence, John Bessler Oct 2012

Tinkering Around The Edges: The Supreme Court's Death Penalty Jurisprudence, John Bessler

All Faculty Scholarship

This Essay examines America's death penalty forty years after Furman and provides a critique of the Supreme Court's existing Eighth Amendment case law. Part I briefly summarizes how the Court, to date, has approached death sentences, while Part II highlights the incongruous manner in which the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause has been read. For instance, Justice Antonin Scalia-one of the Court's most vocal proponents of "originalism" conceded that corporal punishments such as handbranding and public flogging are no longer constitutionally permissible; yet, he (and the Court itself) continues to allow death sentences to be imposed. The American Bar Association …


The Delaware Death Penalty: An Empirical Study, Sheri Johnson, John H. Blume, Theodore Eisenberg, Valerie P. Hans, Martin T. Wells Oct 2012

The Delaware Death Penalty: An Empirical Study, Sheri Johnson, John H. Blume, Theodore Eisenberg, Valerie P. Hans, Martin T. Wells

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

For the last five years, we have conducted an empirical study of the “modern era” of capital punishment in Delaware. By “modern era,” we refer to the time period after the Supreme Court’s 1972 decision in Furman v.Georgia, which invalidated all then-existing state death penalty regimes. Some readers might ask, “Why Delaware?” They might observe that it is a small state and is not a significant national player in terms of death sentences imposed or death row inmates executed. While both are true, several features of Delaware’s capital punishment system intrigue us. First, Delaware has a high death sentencing rate. …