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Articles 1 - 30 of 162
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Gross Injustices Of Capital Punishment: A Torturous Practice And Justice Thurgood Marshall’S Astute Appraisal Of The Death Penalty’S Cruelty, Discriminatory Use, And Unconstitutionality, John D. Bessler
Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice
Through the centuries, capital punishment and torture have been used by monarchs, authoritarian regimes, and judicial systems around the world. Although torture is now expressly outlawed by international law, capital punishment—questioned by Quakers in the seventeenth century and by the Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria and many others in the following century—has been authorized over time by various legislative bodies, including in the United States. It was Beccaria’s book, Dei delitti e delle pene (1764), translated into French and then into English as An Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1767), that fueled the still-ongoing international movement to outlaw the death penalty. …
The Court And Capital Punishment On Different Paths: Abolition In Waiting, Carol S. Steiker, Jordan M. Steiker
The Court And Capital Punishment On Different Paths: Abolition In Waiting, Carol S. Steiker, Jordan M. Steiker
Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice
The American death penalty finds itself in an unusual position. On the ground, the practice is weaker than at any other time in our history. Eleven jurisdictions have abandoned the death penalty over the past fifteen years, almost doubling the number of states without the punishment (twenty-three). Executions have declined substantially, totaling twenty-five or fewer a year nationwide for the past six years, compared to an average of seventy-seven a year during the six-year span around the millennium (1997-2002). Most tellingly, death sentences have fallen off a cliff, with fewer the fifty death sentences a year nationwide over the past …
Severe Mental Illness And The Death Penalty: A Menu Of Legislative Options, Richard J. Bonnie
Severe Mental Illness And The Death Penalty: A Menu Of Legislative Options, Richard J. Bonnie
Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice
In 2003, the American Bar Association established a Task Force on Mental Disability and the Death Penalty to further specify and implement the Supreme Court’s ruling banning execution of persons with intellectual disability and to consider an analogous ban against imposing the death penalty on defendants with severe mental disorders. The Task Force established formal links with the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the final report was approved by the ABA and the participating organizations in 2005 and 2006. This brief article focuses primarily on diminished responsibility at the time …
Does The Death Penalty Still Matter: Reflections Of A Death Row Lawyer, David I. Bruck
Does The Death Penalty Still Matter: Reflections Of A Death Row Lawyer, David I. Bruck
Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice
This talk was given by Professor David Bruck for the Frances Lewis Law Center at Washington and Lee University School of Law, April, 2002. It is a follow-up to “Does the Death Penalty Matter?,” given by Professor Bruck as the 1990 Ralph E. Shikes Lecture at Harvard Law School.
The 2022 Alabama Executions And The Crisis Of American Capital Punishment, Alexandra L. Klein
The 2022 Alabama Executions And The Crisis Of American Capital Punishment, Alexandra L. Klein
Scholarly Articles
The Death Penalty Information Center described 2022 as “the year of the botched execution” in its 2022 Annual Report. Alabama’s execution errors were especially serious: it attempted to execute four people, botched three of its four executions, and ultimately called off two executions. Alabama’s 2022 executions and its errors are the culmination of common problems in capital punishment across the United States. A full understanding of capital punishment requires an analysis of individual cases, including executions, and analysis of how that case fits within the system of capital punishment. Evaluating a single case may reveal unfairness and arbitrariness, but tracking …
Certain Prosecutors: Geographical Arbitrariness, Unusualness, & The Abolition Of Virginia’S Death Penalty, Bernadette M. Donovan
Certain Prosecutors: Geographical Arbitrariness, Unusualness, & The Abolition Of Virginia’S Death Penalty, Bernadette M. Donovan
Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice
Virginia’s abolition of the death penalty in 2021 was a historic development. As both a southern state and one of the country’s most active death penalty jurisdictions, Virginia’s transition away from capital punishment represented an important shift in the national landscape. This article considers whether that shift has any constitutional significance, focusing on the effect of Virginia’s abolition on the geographical arbitrariness of the country’s death penalty.
As a starting point, the death penalty in America is primarily regulated by the Eighth Amendment, which bars “cruel and unusual punishments.” The United States Supreme Court has held that the death penalty …
Atkins V. Virginia At Twenty: Still Adaptive Deficits, Still In The Developmental Period, Sheri Lynn Johnson, John H. Blume, Brendan Van Winkle
Atkins V. Virginia At Twenty: Still Adaptive Deficits, Still In The Developmental Period, Sheri Lynn Johnson, John H. Blume, Brendan Van Winkle
Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice
Twenty years ago, in Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Eighth Amendment prohibited states from executing persons with intellectual disability. While the Court’s decision is laudable and has saved many of the most vulnerable persons from the executioner, its effect has been undermined by recalcitrant states attempting to exploit language in the opinion permitting states to create procedures to implement the (then) new categorical prohibition. In this article, we examine how some states have adopted procedures which are fundamentally inconsistent with the clinical consensus understanding of the disability and how one state, …
Revisiting The Ox-Bow Incident: The Almost Forgotten Western Classic About The Lynching Of Three Innocent Men Is As Relevant As Ever, Marc Bookman
Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice
The concept of lynching, several hundred years old and unclear in its origins, has never really left the lexicon. The word itself, however, has taken on different meanings over the years, from a mob’s taking the law into its own hands, to an organized utilization of racial violence as a means of societal control and intimidation; and finally to the more casual and defensive use of the word (“high tech lynching”) by current Supreme Court justices Thomas and Kavanaugh and others after being questioned about their past behaviors. Many academics have opined that the modern system of capital punishment is …
When Police Volunteer To Kill, Alexandra L. Klein
When Police Volunteer To Kill, Alexandra L. Klein
Scholarly Articles
The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection, yet states continue to struggle with drug shortages and botched executions. Some states have authorized alternative methods of execution, including the firing squad. Utah, which has consistently carried out firing squad executions throughout its history, relies on police officers from the jurisdiction where the crime took place to volunteer to carry out these executions. This represents a plausible--and probable--method for other states in conducting firing squad executions.
Public and academic discussion of the firing squad has centered on questions of pain and suffering. It has not engaged with the consequences …
"Only To Have A Say In The Way He Dies": Bodily Autonomy And Methods Of Execution, Alexandra L. Klein
"Only To Have A Say In The Way He Dies": Bodily Autonomy And Methods Of Execution, Alexandra L. Klein
Scholarly Articles
Capital punishment is one of the most significant intrusions into a person's bodily autonomy; the state takes a person's life. Even though the state has stripped a person on death row of much of their autonomy and intends to kill them, removing all autonomy, a person sentenced to death may, in some circumstances, choose how they will die. While most states rely on a single method of execution, some states permit a condemned person to choose among two or more methods of execution. Constitutional challenges to methods of execution requires the challenger to demonstrate a substantial risk of severe pain …
Three Observations About The Worst Of The Worst, Virginia-Style, Corinna Barrett Lain
Three Observations About The Worst Of The Worst, Virginia-Style, Corinna Barrett Lain
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
Much could be said about Virginia’s historic decision to repeal the death penalty, and Professor Klein’s essay provides a wonderful starting point for any number of important discussions. We could talk about how the decision came to be. Or why the move is so momentous. Or what considerations were particularly important in the decision‑making process. Or where we should go from here. But in this brief comment, I’ll be focusing not on the how, or the why, or the what, or the where, but rather on the who. Who are condemned inmates, both generally and Virginia‑style?
The Beginning Of The End: Abolishing Capital Punishment In Virginia, Alexandra L. Klein
The Beginning Of The End: Abolishing Capital Punishment In Virginia, Alexandra L. Klein
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
When thinking about the history of capital punishment in the United States, I suspect that the average person is likely to identify Texas as the state that has played the most significant role in the death penalty. The state of Texas has killed more than five hundred people in executions since the Supreme Court approved of states’ modified capital punishment schemes in 1976. By contrast, Virginia has executed 113 people since 1976.
But Virginia has played a significant role in the history of capital punishment. After all, the first recorded execution in Colonial America took place in 1608 at Jamestown, …
Nondelegating Death, Alexandra L. Klein
Nondelegating Death, Alexandra L. Klein
Scholarly Articles
Most states’ method of execution statutes afford broad discretion to executive agencies to create execution protocols. Inmates have challenged this discretion, arguing that these statutes unconstitutionally delegate legislative power to executive agencies, violating the state’s nondelegation and separation of powers doctrines. State courts routinely use the nondelegation doctrine, in contrast to the doctrine’s historic disfavor in federal courts. Despite its uncertain status, the nondelegation doctrine is a useful analytical tool to examine decision-making in capital punishment.
This Article critically evaluates responsibility for administering capital punishment through the lens of nondelegation. It analyzes state court decisions upholding broad legislative delegations to …
Discretionary Life Sentences For Juveniles: Resolving The Split Between The Virginia Supreme Court And The Fourth Circuit, Daniel M. Coble
Discretionary Life Sentences For Juveniles: Resolving The Split Between The Virginia Supreme Court And The Fourth Circuit, Daniel M. Coble
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
At the age of 17, Donte Lamar Jones shot and killed a store clerk as she laid down on the floor during a robbery. He was spared the death penalty by agreeing instead to die in prison at the end of his life. Two years later in Virginia, 12 individuals were murdered for doing nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those individuals were killed by Lee Malvo and John Muhammad, better known as the “D.C. Snipers.” While John Muhammad was given the death penalty for his heinous crimes, Lee Malvo, who was 17 during …
The Death Penalty's Darkside: A Response To Phyllis Goldfarb's Matters Of Strata: Race, Gender, And Class Structures In Capital Cases, Kevin Barry, Bharat Malkani
The Death Penalty's Darkside: A Response To Phyllis Goldfarb's Matters Of Strata: Race, Gender, And Class Structures In Capital Cases, Kevin Barry, Bharat Malkani
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
In Matters of Strata: Race, Gender, and Class Structures in Capital Cases, Professor Phyllis Goldfarb examines the ways in which race, class, and gender affect the American criminal justice system generally, and its death penalty system in particular. This Response focuses on one of Goldfarb’s observations: The relationship between slavery and the death penalty. This relationship helps to explain why, over the past four decades, the thirteen states that comprised the former Confederacy have been responsible for nearly all of this nation’s executions. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly failed to address the death penalty’s roots in slavery, …
An Indigent Criminal Defendant Is Entitled To “An Expert Of His Own”, Fredrick E. Vars
An Indigent Criminal Defendant Is Entitled To “An Expert Of His Own”, Fredrick E. Vars
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
The Supreme Court recently heard the case of an Alabama death row inmate, James McWilliams. A thus far overlooked argument could save his life and help level the playing field in other capital cases. The Court in 1985 promised independent expertise. Now is its chance to make good on that promise.
The Quality Of Mercy, Paul Rosenzweig
The Quality Of Mercy, Paul Rosenzweig
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
No abstract provided.
The Inequality Of America‘S Death Penalty: A Crossroads For Capital Punishment At The Intersection Of The Eighth And Fourteenth Amendments, John D. Bessler
The Inequality Of America‘S Death Penalty: A Crossroads For Capital Punishment At The Intersection Of The Eighth And Fourteenth Amendments, John D. Bessler
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
No abstract provided.
Rectifying Wrongful Convictions: May A Lawyer Reveal Her Client's Confidences To Rectify The Wrongful Conviction Of Another? (A Roundtable Discussion Of The Aba's Standards For Criminal Litigation), James E. Moliterno
Scholarly Articles
None available.
Swilling Hemlock: The Legal Ethics Of Defending A Client Who Wishes To Volunteer For Execution, J. C. Oleson
Swilling Hemlock: The Legal Ethics Of Defending A Client Who Wishes To Volunteer For Execution, J. C. Oleson
Washington and Lee Law Review
No abstract provided.
Prescription For Death?: Psychotic Capital Defendants And The Need For Medication, Joseph R. Dunn
Prescription For Death?: Psychotic Capital Defendants And The Need For Medication, Joseph R. Dunn
Capital Defense Journal
No abstract provided.
Johnson V. Reid No. 04a-87, 2004 Wl 1784349, At *1 (U.S. Aug. 11, 2004)
Johnson V. Reid No. 04a-87, 2004 Wl 1784349, At *1 (U.S. Aug. 11, 2004)
Capital Defense Journal
No abstract provided.
Nelson V. Campbell 124 S. Ct. 2117 (2004)
Nelson V. Campbell 124 S. Ct. 2117 (2004)
Capital Defense Journal
No abstract provided.
Standby Me: Self-Representation And Standby Counsel In A Capital Case, Meghan H. Morgan
Standby Me: Self-Representation And Standby Counsel In A Capital Case, Meghan H. Morgan
Capital Defense Journal
No abstract provided.
Defense-Based Victim Outreach: Restorative Justice In Capital Cases, Kristen F. Grunewald, Priya Nath
Defense-Based Victim Outreach: Restorative Justice In Capital Cases, Kristen F. Grunewald, Priya Nath
Capital Defense Journal
No abstract provided.
United States V. Quinones 313 F.3d 49 (2d Cir. 2002) United States V. Quinones 317 F.3d 86 (2d Cir. 2002)
Capital Defense Journal
No abstract provided.
Mickens V. Taylor 122 S. Ct. 1237 (2002)
Mickens V. Taylor 122 S. Ct. 1237 (2002)
Capital Defense Journal
No abstract provided.