Law Commons^™

The Hallmark Of A Champion—Or Not, Robert Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

Two decisions that just came down, one from the United States Supreme Court and the other from the California Supreme Court. The former is Hall v. Florida and the latter is In re Champion on Habeas Corpus. The Hall and Champion cases, although they do not cite each other, both discuss significant issues with regard to who is eligible for execution under the Atkins decision.

Hall and Champion perpetuate the myth that capital punishment can be imposed accurately and consistently. Additionally, both cases contain serious errors in interpreting science while suggesting that life and death decisions can be based on …

Symbol And Substance In The Massachusetts Commission Report, Franklin E. Zimring

Franklin E. Zimring

Symposium: Toward A Model Death Penalty Code: The Massachusetts Governor's Council Report.

Defending The Death Penalty Case: What Makes Death Different?, Andrea Lyon

Andrea D. Lyon

No abstract provided.

To Furman Or Not To Furman, Robert M. Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

In capital litigation, the United States Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia and following cases required capital punishment systems to have a form of "narrowing" so that the death penalty was imposed only on the worst of the worst. The death penalty states have failed to successfully implement this concept. As a result, "narrowing" is currently raised in all capital cases by competent defense counsel both at trial and in post conviction litigation. It is raised in addition to all other issues, including issues related to the questions of whether exclusion from the death penalty should be expanded and whether …

Blind Justice, Andrea Lyon

Andrea D. Lyon

No abstract provided.

Undue Burden, Andrea Lyon

Andrea D. Lyon

No abstract provided.

Dying To Win, Andrea Lyon

Andrea D. Lyon

No abstract provided.

Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient Test Scores And The Impropriety Of “Ethnic (Or Socio-Economic) Adjustment” In Atkins Cases, Robert Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

After attending this presentation, attendees will gain new information regarding developments in epigenetics which relate to the validity of Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ) scores in determining intellectual disability for the purpose of eligibility of a criminal defendant to be executed if otherwise subject to the death penalty. (Complete Abstract at page 727 of the proceedings: http://www.aafs.org/sites/default/files/2015/2015Proceedings.pdf )

Iq, Intelligence Testing, Ethnic Adjustments And Atkins, Robert M. Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

Death Penalty In America -- Recent Pew Study, Robert Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

The Pew Research Center published the results of its 2013 survey in a release dated February 12, 2014. That study has implications for the continuation of the death penalty in America and California, in particular. It also contains some striking results with regard to the position taken by the game theory strategists who argue against discussing the moral issues.

Capital Punishment In Recent Literature -- Jaques Derrida, Robert Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

The University of Chicago Press has just published The Death Penalty, Volume One (The Seminars of Jacques Derrida) translated by Peggy Kamuf. They are the lectures of the late continental philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) on capital punishment. Derrida is the author of deconstruction (if deconstruction were allowed to have an author) and has a reputation for being, let us say, opaque in his writings.

In his later years, he took up certain legal and political issues in a fashion that seems more intelligible. Particularly, Derrida’s lectures on moral subjects were popular in the United States as well as Europe. The …

The Dilemmas Of Excessive Sentencing: Death May Be Different But How Different?, Michael Meltsner

Michael Meltsner

No abstract provided.

Maryland Repeals The Death Penalty, But Leaves Five On Death Row: Should The State That Condemned An Innocent Man To Die Commute All Five Death Sentences?, Meredith Pendergrass

Meredith Pendergrass

No abstract provided.

Death Watch: Change, Redemption Do Exist, David Bruck

David I. Bruck

No abstract provided.

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

David I. Bruck

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 …

Forgetting Furman: Arbitrary Death Penalty Schemes Across The Nation, Sarah A. Mourer

Sarah Mourer

The legislature has forgotten the lessons taught by Furman v. Georgia and today, the “untrammeled discretion” once held by juries is now held by the judiciary. Many death penalty sentencing procedures are unconstitutional, in violation of both the Sixth and Eighth Amendments, because the judge alone is authorized to sentence the defendant to life or death despite being uninformed of the jury’s factual findings. Pursuant to the Sixth Amendment as articulated in Ring v. Arizona, the factual findings upon which a death sentence rests must be found by the jury, and only the jury. Nevertheless, many jurisdictions permit the judge …

Close Test Scores And Epigenetics In Atkins Cases, Robert M. Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

In the Atkins case, the United States Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional to execute a person who was intellectually disabled (mentally retarded). An IQ score is evidence that can be considered in making the determination of whether a particular individual is intellectually disabled. Certain prosecution experts seek to add points to the scores of African Americans as a form of "ethnic adjustment" making those individuals more susceptible to being put to death. This article examines the molecular biology issues that may have an effect on whether such points should properly be added.

Repudiating The Narrowing Rule In Capital Sentencing, Scott W. Howe

Scott W. Howe

This Article proposes a modest reform of Eighth Amendment law governing capital sentencing to spur major reform in the understanding of the function of the doctrine. The article urges that the Supreme Court should renounce a largely empty mandate known as the “narrowing” rule and the rhetoric of equality that has accompanied it. By doing so, the Court could speak more truthfully about the important but more limited function that its capital-sentencing doctrine actually pursues, which is to ensure that no person receives the death penalty who does not deserve it. The Court could also speak more candidly than it …

Does New York's Death Penalty Statute Violate The New York Constitution? (Symposium: New York State Constitutional Law: Trends And Developments), Richard Klein, Hon. Stewart F. Hancock, Jr., Christopher Quinn

Richard Daniel Klein

No abstract provided.

Promulgating Proportionality, William W. Berry Iii

William W Berry III

Two lines of cases have dominated the Supreme Court’s Eighth Amendment death penalty jurisprudence: the Furman-Gregg line of cases emphasizes the need to adopt rules to eliminate the arbitrariness inherent in unguided capital sentencing by juries, while the Woodson-Lockett line of cases emphasizes the opposite concern - the need for juries to make individualized sentencing determinations - highlighting the inadequacy of rules. At first glance, these competing aims create some internal tension, if not outright conflict. In his concurrence in Walton v. Arizona, Justice Scalia argued that this conflict was irreconcilable: “[t]he latter requirement [individualized factual determinations] quite obviously destroys …

Evolving Away From Evolving Standards Of Decency, John F. Stinneford

John F. Stinneford

No abstract provided.

Impeachment Calls And Death Threats: Assessing Criticisms Of The Death Penalty Jurisprudence Of Justices Kennedy And O’Connor, Susan Raeker-Jordan

Susan Raeker-Jordan

No abstract provided.

Parsing Personal Predilections: A Fresh Look At The Supreme Court’S Cruel And Unusual Death Penalty Jurisprudence, Susan Raeker-Jordan

Susan Raeker-Jordan

No abstract provided.

A Rarefied Kind Of Dread, David Bruck

David I. Bruck

No abstract provided.

Capital Punishment In The Age Of Terrorism, David Bruck

David I. Bruck

No abstract provided.

Keynote Address: Political And Social Misconception Fueling The Death Penalty, David Bruck

David I. Bruck

No abstract provided.

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

Habeas Corpse: The Right Appeal Under Fire, David Bruck

David I. Bruck

No abstract provided.

Can You Stop Client Interrogation Behind Your Back?, David Bruck

David I. Bruck

No abstract provided.

Does The Death Penalty Matter? Reflections Of A Death Row Lawyer, David Bruck

David I. Bruck

No abstract provided.