Supreme Court's Stevens criticizes death penalty use

[dotcoma]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...-stevens_x.htm

CHICAGO (AP) — Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens issued an unusually stinging criticism of capital punishment Saturday evening, telling lawyers that he was disturbed by "serious flaws." Stevens stopped short of calling for an end to the death penalty, but he said there are many problems in the way it is used. Recent exonerations of death row inmates through scientific evidence are significant, he told the American Bar Association, "not only because of its relevance to the debate about the wisdom of continuing to administer capital punishment, but also because it indicates that there must be serious flaws in our administration of criminal justice." Other Supreme Court justices, including Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, have also spoken out about concerns that defendants in murder cases are not adequately represented at trial. But Stevens, 85, made a much harsher and sweeping condemnation. He said the jury selection process and the fact that many trial judges are elected also work against accused murderers. He also said that jurors might be improperly swayed by victim-impact statements. Stevens, named to the high court by President Ford in 1975, is one of the most liberal justices. In recent years he has been influential in votes that

What do you think? I think this recent emphasis on DNA has really got me worried out about prison system. How many people are killed for crimes they did not commit?

[bishop]

i've always had that concern.. heh, i remember all the flame i'd get when i used to post at this conservative forum where nobody could listen to reason.


imo, if you can't tie the defendant to the murder with real physical evidence, like dna, fingerprints, video footage, etc. - you should not be able to give the person the death penalty. they already have strict criteria for applying the death penalty, but many states (and the federal government if i'm not mistaken) have actually lowered the criteria for death penalty application. you would think that they should say that strong (ex. dna) evidence should be a requirement, but nope - the exact opposite has happened.

the notion of putting innocent people to death is very disturbing. in order to prevent that from happening, i'd prefer increasing the requirements for the death penalty. i'm willing to accept the consequence that more inmates will be given life sentences rather than death. that's fine with me - it's not as if being in prison is something anyone would actually enjoy. and doing that would enable innocent people to appeal their cases.

[Mr.Vicchio]

He missed the boat on this, not surprisingly. The cases where people are cleared off of Death Row show the system of appeals works.

He has no solution for Crimes that deserve the DP, just intellectual disdain. What a putz.

[bishop]

talking about missing the boat. if there were better standards to begin with, these acquitted people would never have ended up on death row in the first place. you must like playing russian roulette, eh?

[belverron]

Quote by: Mr.Vicchio He missed the boat on this, not surprisingly. The cases where people are cleared off of Death Row show the system of appeals works. He has no solution for Crimes that deserve the DP, just intellectual disdain. What a putz.

How can we be sure it works every time? I'm not opposed to the death penalty, but I think that stricter criteria are a must. Life without parole is a good alternative when you just lack that little bit of evidence that would remove that shadow of a doubt that's not supposed to be there in the first place.

[Mr.Vicchio]

Quote by: bishop talking about missing the boat. if there were better standards to begin with, these acquitted people would never have ended up on death row in the first place. you must like playing russian roulette, eh?

You are utopianistic when it comes to law enforcement then.

People are not perfect, the Cops and DA do thier best, sometimes.. they make mistakes.

If you want a perfect system or no system.... you have problems

[Compugasm]

Quote by: bishop ... you must like playing russian roulette, eh?

Isn't this what keeps our whole system running? Don't make it too efficient or there will be mass unemployment.

[bishop]

actually, making it inefficient would create mass unemployment..

but for the prison system, they always have an ample supply of non-violent drug offenders to imprison.

[norman]

Quote by: dotcoma http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...-stevens_x.htm What do you think? I think this recent emphasis on DNA has really got me worried out about prison system. How many people are killed for crimes they did not commit?

It sounds like a liberal judge to me. norman

[norman]

sounds like a liberal judge to me

[bishop]

big deal if he's "liberal", "conservative", whatever.. how about the point that he made?

[monty of ll]

Has there ever been an instance of DNA clearing someone that has already been executed? If not then why not? Wouldn't the law want to admit mistakes that have been made and try to make amends to the families at least? Maybe even open up the posibilities of some huge lawsuits on behalf of the families of the wrongly executed persons. Of course the other value in doing so would be to continue to attempt to bring the real criminal to justice. Or would that not be all that important?

Yeah I know, that's pretty liberal thinking to want to do such a thing. But then I'm personally against the death penalty and that is sooooo bleeding heart liberal!