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Full-Text Articles in Law
Islam And The Death Penalty, William A. Schabas
Islam And The Death Penalty, William A. Schabas
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
Capital punishment is not practiced by a majority of the world's states. Anti-capital punishment domestic policies have led to an international law of human rights that emphatically prohibits cruel and inhuman punishment. International concern for the abolition of capital punishment has prompted Islamic states that still endorse and practice the death penalty to respond with equally compelling concerns based on the tenets of Islamic law. Professor William A. Schabas suggests that Islamic states view capital punishment according to the principles embodied in the Koran. Islamic law functions on the belief that all people have a right to life unless the …
Don't Take His Eye, Don't Take His Tooth, And Don't Cast The First Stone: Limiting Religious Arguments In Capital Cases, John H. Blume, Sheri Lynn Johnson
Don't Take His Eye, Don't Take His Tooth, And Don't Cast The First Stone: Limiting Religious Arguments In Capital Cases, John H. Blume, Sheri Lynn Johnson
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
Professors John H. Blume and Sheri Lynn Johnson explore the occurrences of religious imagery and argument invoked by both prosecutors and defense attorneys in capital cases. Such invocation of religious imagery and argument by attorneys is not surprising, considering that the jurors who hear such arguments are making life and death decisions, and advocates, absent regulation, will resort to such emotionally compelling arguments. Also surveying judicial responses to such arguments in courts, Professors Blume and Johnson gauge the level of tolerance for such arguments in specific jurisdictions. Presenting proposed rules for prosecutors and defense counsel who wish to employ religious …
God And The Executioner: The Influence Of Western Religion On The Use Of The Death Penalty, Davison M. Douglas
God And The Executioner: The Influence Of Western Religion On The Use Of The Death Penalty, Davison M. Douglas
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
In this Essay, Professor Douglas conducts an historical review of religious attitudes toward capital punishment and the influence of those attitudes on the state's use of the death penalty. He surveys the Christian Church's strong support for capital punishment throughout most of its history, along with recent expressions of opposition from many Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish groups. Despite this recent abolitionist sentiment from an array of religious institutions, Professor Douglas notes a divergence of opinion between the "pulpit and the pew" as the laity continues to support the death penalty in large numbers. Professor Douglas accounts for this divergence by …
Religious Conservatives And The Death Penalty, Thomas C. Berg
Religious Conservatives And The Death Penalty, Thomas C. Berg
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
With the increased fervor surrounding the death penalty, many religious sects have re-examined their position on this issue. New statistics concerning possible discrimination in the application of the death penalty prompted several religious groups to call for a moratorium on the death penalty. In this Essay, Professor Thomas C. Berg examines how religious conservatives, especially Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants, have dealt with the recent concerns over the death penalty. Part I of the Essay documents how Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants traditionally approach the death penalty. In this section, Professor Berg concludes that critics of the death penalty can …
Transcript Of Speech On Religions's Role In The Administration Of The Death Penalty, Pat Robertson
Transcript Of Speech On Religions's Role In The Administration Of The Death Penalty, Pat Robertson
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
Introduction To The Symposium: Religion's Role In The Administration Of The Death Penalty, Stephen P. Garvey
Introduction To The Symposium: Religion's Role In The Administration Of The Death Penalty, Stephen P. Garvey
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
No abstract provided.
Religious Organizations And The Death Penalty, Robert F. Drinan
Religious Organizations And The Death Penalty, Robert F. Drinan
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
Over the past several years, many questions have been raised concerning the application and effectiveness of the death penalty. Ironically, the Catholic Church, a long-time supporter of the death penalty, has become one of the most vocal critics of the death penalty. In this Essay, Father Robert F. Drinan documents the Church's new-found opposition to the death penalty, and discusses the influence the Church will have on the future of the death penalty.
Capital Punishments And Religious Arguments: An Intermediate Approach, Samuel J. Levine
Capital Punishments And Religious Arguments: An Intermediate Approach, Samuel J. Levine
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
Determining the place and use of capital punishment in the American legal system is a challenging affair and one that is closely associated with and determined by religion's role in American legal decision-making. Both capital punishment and religion are controversial issues, and tend to challenge legal scholars and practitioners about whether they should function together or alone as valid parts of the legal system in the United States. Professor Levine argues that religious arguments should be employed to interpret and explain American legal thought when the need or proper situation arises. He uses capital punishment as an example of how …
Religious Neutrality And The Death Penalty, Arnold H. Loewy
Religious Neutrality And The Death Penalty, Arnold H. Loewy
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
Cases involving the Establishment of Religion Clause predominantly emphasize religious neutrality. Believing this to be normatively correct, Professor Loewy argues for religious neutrality in capital punishment cases. In accordance therewith, he would uphold religious peremptory challenges where a juror's religious belief is related to her death penalty perspective. Professor Loewy agrees with the courts'general willingness to disallow religion as an aggravating factor while allowing it as a mitigating factor. This dichotomy comports with the neutrality principle because aggravating factors, in general, are limited whereas mitigating factors are unlimited.
The Role Of Organized Religions In Changing Death Penalty Debates, Michael L. Radelet
The Role Of Organized Religions In Changing Death Penalty Debates, Michael L. Radelet
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
In his Article, Professor Michael L. Radelet describes a global decline in the use of the death penalty, the United Nation's progressively stronger stance against executions, and a growing opposition to capital punishment in the United States. This decrease is attributed to both empirical studies casting doubt on the death penalty's efficacy in promoting its stated underlying goals, and to the increasingly vocal stance of religious leaders morally opposed to capital punishment. Nevertheless, the decline in other justifications for capital punishment has been met with increasing reliance on retribution as the primary argument in its support. Professor Radelet argues that …
Punishment At All Costs: On Religion, Convicting The Innocent, And Supporting The Death Penalty, Robert L. Young
Punishment At All Costs: On Religion, Convicting The Innocent, And Supporting The Death Penalty, Robert L. Young
William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal
This Paper explores the impact of the belief structure among white fundamentalist denominations on the support for the death penalty. Professor Robert L. Young observes that the tenets of fundamentalism, as well as the great extent that fundamentalists conform to the positions of their clergy, support this link between fundamentalism and a punitive orientation toward wrongdoers. Professor Young explains that members in white fundamentalist churches, to a greater extent than others, are inclined toward a negative view of human nature, which in turn leads to the belief that letting the guilty go free is a more serious mistake than convicting …
Capital Punishment As Human Sacrifice: A Societal Ritual As Depicted In George Eliot's Adam Bede, Roberta M. Harding
Capital Punishment As Human Sacrifice: A Societal Ritual As Depicted In George Eliot's Adam Bede, Roberta M. Harding
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
The purpose of this article is to identify, describe, and analyze the historic and contemporary connection between the practices of capital punishment and human sacrifice. After describing how human sacrifice constitutes an integral component of capital punishment, it will be argued that the institutionalization of this antiquated barbaric ritual, vis-a-vis the use of capital punishment, renders the present use of the death penalty in the United States incompatible with "the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society"; and that consequently, this facet of capital punishment renders the penalty at odds with the Eighth Amendment's prohibition …
Correcting Deadly Confusion: Responding To Jury Inquiries In Capital Cases, Stephen P. Garvey, Sheri Lynn Johnson, Paul Marcus
Correcting Deadly Confusion: Responding To Jury Inquiries In Capital Cases, Stephen P. Garvey, Sheri Lynn Johnson, Paul Marcus
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.