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The Death Penalty In The Nineties: An Examination Of The Modern System Of Capital Punishment, Thomas L. Shaevsky

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Death Penalty in the Nineties: An Examination of the Modern System of Capital Punishment by Welsh S. White

Opposing Peremptory Challenges Under Batson, Marcus E. Garcia, James W. Miller Jr.

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Capital Punishment And Equal Protection: Constitutional Problems, Race And The Death Penalty, Stan Robin Gregory

St. Thomas Law Review

This comment will (i) demonstrate that black defendants as well as black victims in death penalty cases, are not equally protected under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution and (ii) propose a solution to provide blacks equal protection, as contemplated by the framers of the United States Constitution, when they face execution. This comment is not intended to present the argument that a death row inmate should share the same equal protection with that of law abiding citizens. Rather, this comment stands for the proposition that as a group, all death row inmates should be equally protected regardless of race.

Televising Executions: The First Amendment Issues, William Bennett Turner, Beth S. Brinkmann

Santa Clara Law Review

No abstract provided.

Capital Punishment: A Critique Of The Political And Philosophical Thought Supporting The Justices' Positions., Samuel J.M. Donnelly

St. Mary's Law Journal

Since Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court has developed what could be described as a subparadigm for capital punishment. This subparadigm is now at a point of crisis for two enduring and mutually supporting reasons. The dissents by Justice Brennan and Justice Marshall represent the convergence of the better modern thought in regard to capital punishment. Even with the retirement of both Justices, the criticism found in their dissenting opinions presents a continuing challenge to the plurality’s position. Those using the plurality’s rhetoric are now split into two groups. Justices Blackmun and Stevens regularly vote against capital punishment, while focusing …

"Death Is Different" And Other Twists Of Fate, Deborah W. Denno

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Welsh White's book, The Death Penalty in the Nineties, reviews those United States Supreme Court decisions and developments that have occurred in the four years since the publication of his earlier book, The Death Penalty in the Eighties. In The Nineties, White claims that these recent developments, which have significantly limited capital defendants' habeas corpus appeals, are likely to increase both the rate and the geographical reach of executions which, in the past, have occurred mostly in the South. After discussing some of the analytical and methodological shortcomings of The Nineties, this review will focus on The Nineties' most …

The Individualized-Consideration Principle And The Death Penalty As Cruel And Unusual Punishment, Ronald J. Mann

Faculty Scholarship

The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits infliction of "cruel and unusual punishments." The Supreme Court established the basic principles applying this amendment to the death penalty during a six-year period in the 1970's. First, in 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the Court invalidated all then-existing death penalty statutes. Second, in 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia and its companions, the Court upheld some of the statutes promulgated in response to Furman but invalidated others. Finally, in 1978, in Lockett v. Ohio, the Court invalidated an Ohio statute because it failed to give the sentencer a sufficient …

The Breath Of The Unfee'd Lawyer: Statutory Fee Limitations And Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel In Capital Litigation, Albert L. Vreeland Ii

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that fee limitations deprive indigent defendants of their right to effective assistance of counsel. Part I of this Note reviews state court decisions that address Sixth Amendment challenges to fee limitations, yet fail to address the broader concerns about the appointed counsel system. Part II considers the inherent disincentives and burdens fee limitations impose on attorneys and suggests that the limits threaten the indigent accused's right to effective assistance of counsel. A comparison of the fee limitations and the time required to prepare and try a capital case reveals the gross inadequacy of statutory fee provisions. In …

Retroactivity, Habeas Corpus, And The Death Penalty: An Unholy Alliance, Karl N. Metzner

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Wake Up And Die Right: The Rationale, Standard, And Jurisprudential Significance Of The Competency To Face Execution Requirement, Robert F. Schopp

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Current State Of Dna Evidence, Christopher J. Lonsbury

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Colloquy: Black Box Decisions On Life Or Death--If They're Arbitrary, Don't Blame The Jury: A Reply To Judge Patrick Higginbotham, Vivian Berger

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sawyer V. Smith 110 S. Ct. 2822, 111 L.Ed.2d 193 (1990)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Death By Lottery--Procedural Bar Of Constitutional Claims In Capital Cases Due To Inadequate Representation Of Indigent Defendants, Stephen B. Bright

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Habeas Corpus And The Penalty Of Death, Michael E. Tigar

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Expediting Death: Repressive Tolerance And Post-Conviction Due Process Jurisprudence In Capital Cases, Nancy Levit

Faculty Works

The legitimacy of capital punishment has long been intertwined with the integrity of the procedures for its imposition including opportunities for review on appeal and in collateral hearings. Proposed legislation would dramatically abbreviate the habeas process in capital cases. The proposed bills which would accelerate the imposition of death sentences are matched by an increased willingness by courts to employ summary proceedings to expedite habeas procedures. This acceleration in the imposition of death sentences is part of the larger picture in which capital cases receive different and less favorable constitutional treatment than other criminal or civil cases.

This article draws …

Children, The Death Penalty And The Eighth Amendment: An Analysis Of Stanford V. Kentucky, Tanya M. Perfecky

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Note, The Death Penalty In Late Imperial, Modern, And Post-Tiananmen China, Alan W. Lepp

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper seeks to explore the crucial determinants that shape the Chinese legal system's use of the death penalty. Why have the Chinese relied so heavily on execution as a form of sentencing? What factors and conditions account for the major changes in the frequency of China's use of the death penalty? What indigenous traditions are reflected in China's implementation of the death penalty? In order to inquire into the role and function of the legal system in affecting the severity of criminal punishment in China, this study will focus on only those death sentences carried out by the state …

Use Of The "Zola Plea" In New Jersey Capital Prosecutions, J Thomas Sullivan

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Lucas Court And Capital Punishment: The Orginial Understanding Of The Special Circumstances, John W. Paulos

Santa Clara Law Review

No abstract provided.

Innocence, Federalism, And The Capital Jury: Two Legislative Proposals For Evaluating Post-Trial Evidence Of Innocence In Death Penalty Cases, Eric M. Freedman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

No one favors the execution of an innocent person. That event represents the ultimate failure of the justice system, both in the view of those who consider the risk of such a failure to be so intolerable as to constitute a reason for abolishing capital punishment altogether and in the view of those who consider it to be an acceptable cost of an otherwise desirable institution.

Yet the danger of wrongful execution is chillingly real. Whether one gains insight from scholarly studies current judicial proceedings or by experiencing the intensity of community pressures to convict someone – anyone - of …

Challenging The Death Penalty Under State Constitutions, James R. Acker, Elizabeth R. Walsh

Vanderbilt Law Review

Death penalty litigation that reaches the Supreme Court now causes at least as much consternation as hope among opponents of capital punishment. Simply not losing rights that once were considered secure can be tantamount to victory in capital cases decided by the Court,and few defendants and opponents of capital punishment expect much more. It was not always so. Hopes were once high that the Supreme Court, and the federal courts generally, would effectively bring an end to capital punishment in America.

That prospect is now remote, at best. Death row populations are sky rocketing and executions are on the rise. …

Restrictions On The State's Use Of Mental Health Experts In Capital Trials, W. Lawrence Fitch

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Stanford V. Kentucky: Upholding Juvenile Capital Punishment--A Confirmation Of Society's Evolving Standards Of Decency, Jeffery L. Robinette

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel In Voir Dire And The Admissibility Of Testimony Of Witherspoon Excluded Veniremen In Post-Conviction Evidentiary Hearings, Steven C. Bennett

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

Capital Punishment: A Moral Dilemma, Eileen Weber

St. Thomas Law Review

Punishment by death has stirred controversy over the millennia of human existence. Recently, this country has debated whether a society in which the dignity of the individual is the supreme value can, without fundamental inconsistency, put the lives of some of its members to an untimely violent end. Only between 1967 and 1977 was there a moratorium on executions in the United States.1 Since death sentences were carried out again, a combined total of 101 persons have been executed, and, as of May 1, 1988, there were 2,048 convicted murderers on death row. Currently, only 14 states are without the …

Redefining A Culpable Mental State For Non-Triggermen Facing The Death Penalty, James J. Holman

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Unpleasant Facts: The Supreme Court's Response To Empirical Research On Capital Punishment, Phoebe C. Ellsworth

Book Chapters

Slowly at first, and then with accelerating frequency, the courts have begun to examine, consider, and sometimes even require empirical data. From 1960 to 1981, for example, use of the terms "statistics" and "statistical" in Federal District and Circuit Court opinions increased by almost 15 times.1 Of course, citation rates indicate only that a topic is considered worthy of mention, not that it is taken seriously, or even understood. Nonetheless, in a number of areas, such as jury composition and employment discrimination, the courts have come to rely on empirical data as a matter of course.

In the last 25 …

Sentencing The Mentally Retarded To Death: An Eighth Amendment Analysis, John H. Blume, David Bruck

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Today, on death rows across the United States, sit a number of men with the minds of children. These people are mentally retarded. Typical of these individuals is Limmie Arthur, who currently is imprisoned at Central Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina. Although Arthur is twenty-eight years old, all the mental health professionals who have evaluated him, including employees of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, agree he has the mental capacity of approximately a 10-year-old child. Arthur was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a neighbor. At his first trial, his court appointed attorneys did not …

Death Penalty Appeals In California, Robert Weisberg

Santa Clara Law Review

No abstract provided.