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Articles 1 - 18 of 18
Full-Text Articles in Law
Judges Do It Better: Why Judges Can (And Should) Decide Life Or Death, Andrew R. Ford
Judges Do It Better: Why Judges Can (And Should) Decide Life Or Death, Andrew R. Ford
Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)
Following its decision in Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court of the United States has attempted to standardize procedures that states use to subject offenders to the ultimate penalty. In practice, this attempt at standardization has divided capital sentencing into two distinct parts: the death eligibility decision and the death selection decision. The eligibility decision addresses whether the sentencer may impose the death penalty, while the selection decision determines who among that limited subset of eligible offenders is sentenced to death. In Ring v. Arizona, the Court held for the first time that the Sixth Amendment right to …
Deterrence, David Crump
The Firing Squad As "A Known And Available Alternative Method Of Execution" Post-Glossip, Deborah W. Denno
The Firing Squad As "A Known And Available Alternative Method Of Execution" Post-Glossip, Deborah W. Denno
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article does not address the medical debate surrounding the role of midazolam in executions; the problems associated with using the drug have been persuasively argued elsewhere. Nor does it question the soundness of the Glossip Court’s “alternative method of execution” requirement. Rather, this Article’s proposed reform is a constitutionally acceptable alternative that meets the Glossip Court’s standard, rendering moot—at least for the purposes of the following discussion—very real concerns regarding the validity of that dictate. Part I of this Article pinpoints several areas where the Glossip Court goes wrong in glaringly inaccurate or misleading ways, given the vast history …
The Challenge And Dilemma Of Charting A Course To Constitutionally Protect The Severely Mentally Ill Capital Defendant From The Death Penalty, Lyn Entzeroth
Akron Law Review
This article examines these issues in the context of an important and emerging constitutional challenge to the death penalty: whether the death penalty can be imposed on capital defendants who suffer from severe mental illness at the time of the commission of their crimes. The American Bar Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill all endorse a death penalty exemption for the severely mentally ill. Recent law review articles suggest that such an exemption may even be compelled by the Supreme Court’s decisions in Roper v. Simmons and Atkins v. …
Constitutional Concerns About Capital Punishment: The Death Penalty Statute In New York State, Richard Klein
Constitutional Concerns About Capital Punishment: The Death Penalty Statute In New York State, Richard Klein
Richard Daniel Klein
No abstract provided.
Casting New Light On An Old Subject: Death Penalty Abolitionism For A New Millennium, Wayne A. Logan
Casting New Light On An Old Subject: Death Penalty Abolitionism For A New Millennium, Wayne A. Logan
Michigan Law Review
For opponents of capital punishment, these would appear promising times. Not since 1972, when the Supreme Court invalidated the death penalty as then administered, has there been such palpable concern over its use, reflected in the lowest levels of public opinion support evidenced in some time. This concern is mirrored in the American Bar Association's recently recommended moratorium on use of the death penalty, the consideration of or actual imposition of moratoria in several states, and even increasing doubts voiced by high-profile political conservatives. An array of troubling empirical realities has accompanied this shift: persistent evidence of racial bias in …
Death In The Federal Courts: Expectations And Realities Of The Federal Death Penalty Act Of 1994, John P. Cunningham
Death In The Federal Courts: Expectations And Realities Of The Federal Death Penalty Act Of 1994, John P. Cunningham
University of Richmond Law Review
"Thou shalt not kill." These four words have echoed throughout the churches, judicial courts, and political meeting places of men and women for time immemorial. Along with their deep religious and political significance, they carry with them a haunting contrast to the current state of mankind: men and women can kill other men and women-legally. In the United States, this "legal" killing, commonly referred to as the "death penalty," traditionally takes place within the confines of the individual state judicial systems, and generally involves the execution of felons tried and convicted of some form of intentional murder.
Constitutional Concerns About Capital Punishment: The Death Penalty Statute In New York State, Richard Klein
Constitutional Concerns About Capital Punishment: The Death Penalty Statute In New York State, Richard Klein
Scholarly Works
No abstract provided.
The Death Penalty Dialogue Between Law And Social Science (Symposium Keynote Address), David C. Baldus
The Death Penalty Dialogue Between Law And Social Science (Symposium Keynote Address), David C. Baldus
Indiana Law Journal
Symposium: The Capital Jury Project
The Capital Jury Project: Rationale, Design, And Preview Of Early Findings, William J. Bowers
The Capital Jury Project: Rationale, Design, And Preview Of Early Findings, William J. Bowers
Indiana Law Journal
Symposium: The Capital Jury Project
Taking Capital Jurors Seriously, Craig Haney
Taking Capital Jurors Seriously, Craig Haney
Indiana Law Journal
Symposium: The Capital Jury Project
Cross-Overs-Capital Jurors Who Change Their Minds About The Punishment: A Litmus Test For Sentencing Guidelines, Marla Sandys
Cross-Overs-Capital Jurors Who Change Their Minds About The Punishment: A Litmus Test For Sentencing Guidelines, Marla Sandys
Indiana Law Journal
Symposium: The Capital Jury Project
The Romance Of Revenge: Capital Punishment In America, Samuel R. Gross
The Romance Of Revenge: Capital Punishment In America, Samuel R. Gross
Articles
On February 17, 1992, Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive terms of life imprisonment for killing and dismembering 15 young men and boys (Associated Press 1992a). Dahmer had been arrested six months earlier, on July 22, 1991. On January 13 he pled guilty to the fifteen murder counts against him, leaving open only the issue of his sanity. Jury selection began two weeks later, and the trial proper started on January 30. The jury heard two weeks of testimony about murder, mutilation and necrophilia; they deliberated for 5 hours before finding that Dahmer was sane when he committed these …
The Role Of Executive Clemency In Modern Death Penalty Cases, Bruce Ledewitz, Scott Staples
The Role Of Executive Clemency In Modern Death Penalty Cases, Bruce Ledewitz, Scott Staples
University of Richmond Law Review
When a governor commutes a sentence of death, typically to one of life imprisonment either with an extended mandatory term or without possibility of parole, how is this action to be understood? As former Governor Pat Brown's book about his commutation decisions illustrates, in a period of widespread support for the death penalty, each commutation contains an appeal for popular support and understanding as to why the decision was made. Where the case for commutation cannot be made to the public's satisfaction, a governor is not likely to act.
The Eighth Amendment And Capital Punishment Of Juveniles, Victor L. Streib
The Eighth Amendment And Capital Punishment Of Juveniles, Victor L. Streib
Cleveland State Law Review
The practice of imposing the death penalty for crimes committed while under the age of eighteen has occurred sporadically but persistently throughout American history. It gives every indication of continuing in this mode under current law and practice. Greatly differing approaches are followed by the various states as to the authorization and imposition of capital punishment for juveniles. This article explores the existence of a constitutionally-mandated minimum age below which the states may not venture in carrying out this practice. If such a nationwide minimum age exists or should exist, its justification can be found in current interpretations of the …
Virginia's Capital Murder Sentencing Proceeding: A Defense Perspective, Alan W. Clarke
Virginia's Capital Murder Sentencing Proceeding: A Defense Perspective, Alan W. Clarke
University of Richmond Law Review
Capital murder trials present a unique challenge to defense counsel. Many capital defendants are demonstrably guilty of heinous crimes, and a single-minded defense concentrating solely on acquittal in the face of overwhelming evidence of guilt will often alienate the jury. The lawyer who focuses entirely on the guilt stage without attending to the sentencing stage may be consigning his client to the electric chair. This article deals with the sentencing phase of a capital murder trial, where life imprisonment, the jury's only alternative to the death penalty, represents a victory for the defense.
Questions Surrounding Virginia's Death Penalty, James T. Lloyd Jr.
Questions Surrounding Virginia's Death Penalty, James T. Lloyd Jr.
University of Richmond Law Review
On August 10, 1982, Frank J. Coppola died in Virginia's electric chair. His was the fifth execution since the 1976 Supreme Court decision holding that a punishment of death was not unconstitutional per se. In the Commonwealth of Virginia, Coppola's was the first execution in over a decade.
Capital Punishment: Constitutional Parameters For The Ultimate Penalty, James F. Stutts
Capital Punishment: Constitutional Parameters For The Ultimate Penalty, James F. Stutts
University of Richmond Law Review
Four years after Furmanv. Georgia, the Supreme Court has resolved the major question left unanswered by that decision - does capital punishment per se constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the eighth amendment? The Court also announced the statutory standards which satisfy Furman's requirement that the death penalty not be imposed arbitrarily or capriciously. By a 7-2 vote, the Court held that the imposition of the death penalty for murder did not per se constitute cruel and unusual punishment. By the same vote, the Court upheld the capital sentencing statutes of Georgia, Florida and Texas, noting that arbitrary …