John Paul Stevens On the Death Sentence: The New York Review Of Books

The New York Review of Books:

As is typical of many Supreme Court opinions rejecting legal arguments advanced by defendants in capital cases, Garland's prologue begins with a detailed description of a horrible crime that will persuade many readers that the defendant not only deserves the death penalty but also should be subjected to the kind of torture that was common in sixteenth-century England. Garland also describes such torture in detail. This "emotional appeal" of the death penalty, Garland declares, is an important topic in his study.

Read the whole story: The New York Review of Books

Comments

[ACADP]

07:41 PM on 11/30/2010

It doesn't take a genius to comprehend that most death penalty cases are politically motivated. Politicians call this barbaric, brutal, cruel, degrading, inhuman and uncivilized revengful act of punishment, 'justice'. Some people have many university degrees, yet completely lack all ethics, morals and values for Human Rights (the death penalty is a violation of universal Human Rights laws and standards). Some articulate educated people believe the death penalty law in the USA is flawlessly the best in the world, and, their obsession with 'revenge' has resulted in 139 people being released from death row in the last three decades alone, after evidence emerged of their wrongful conviction. Some people love the death penalty to death and don't really care how many wrongly convicted poor souls end up on death row to be exterminated like a dog. The death penalty is broken beyond repair - it is a piece of rotten law. Every articulate educated person can fully understand and accept this fact.

As for the execution-team who are just 'doing their job' - only crazed sadists are able to perform this abhorrent, disgusting and vile animalistic job, and, still sleep peacefully at night.

Why is it that every person on U.S. death row is either penniless, disadvantaged, mentally incompetent, brain damaged, or has lousy lawyers ???

[GlennWatson]

07:59 AM on 12/01/2010

They might have been wrongfully convicted. That does not mean they were innocent of the crime.

[dudleysharp]

09:49 AM on 12/01/2010

So true.

The 130 (now 139) death row "innocents" scam
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/03/04/fact-checking-issues-on-innocence-and-the-death-penalty.aspx

[dudleysharp]

09:55 AM on 12/01/2010

ACADP:

Overwhelmingly, the reason that folks are on death row have nothing to do with your descriptions of them.

About 99.9% of folks who are "either penniless, disadvanta­ged, mentally incompeten­t, brain damaged, or has lousy lawyers" do not commit capital murder.

About 99.7% of those sent to death row committed capital murder. The other 0.3% appear to have solid cases for actual innocence and all of them have been released from death row.

Of course the death penalty is not a human rights violation.

"The Death Penalty: Not a Human Rights Violation"
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2006/03/20/the-death-penalty-not-a-human-rights-violation.aspx

Overwhelmingly, the world's populations support the death penalty, based upon it being a just and appropriate sanction for the crime committed, the same fpoundation for all sanctions.

"Death Penalty Support Remains Very High: USA & The World"
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-penalty-polls-support-remains.html

[ACADP]

07:26 PM on 12/01/2010

Dudleysharp says: ... 'The other 0.3% appear to have solid cases for actual innocence and all of them have been released from death row.'

And, another 139 released from death row are due to legal errors, correct?

These are human beings with families who have suffered due to the rotten death penalty system. Any minor percentage of innocents or legal errors is absolutely unacceptab­le in a decent civilized society. The death penalty system in the USA is well-docum­ented by hundreds of Human Rights experts, to be rotten to the core and cannot be fixed. It is disgusting to simply dismiss the 0.3% and the 139 as merely collateral damage.

About 99.9% of wealthy or famous people who committ murder (eg. O.J. Simpson) can afford to pay the best-of-the-best lawyers, hence, why these wealthy or famous murderers never ever get the death penalty. This is called blatant DISCRIMINATION.

[Aldyth]

12:02 PM on 11/30/2010

It is time to abolish the death penalty. Until our system of justice is error-free, we have no business applying the death penalty to anyone.

[dudleysharp]

09:48 AM on 12/01/2010

1) "The Death Penalty: More Protection for Innocents"
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/07/05/the-death-penalty-more-protection-for-innocents.aspx


The false innocence claims by anti death penalty activists are legendary. Some examples:


2) "The Innocent Executed: Deception & Death Penalty Opponents"
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/10/08/the-innocent-executed-deception--death-penalty-opponents--draft.aspx



3) The 130 (now 139) death row "innocents" scam
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/03/04/fact-checking-issues-on-innocence-and-the-death-penalty.aspx


4) Sister Helen Prejean & the death penalty: A Critical Review"
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/05/04/sister-helen-prejean--the-death-penalty-a-critical-review.aspx



5) "At the Death House Door" Can Rev. Carroll Pickett be trusted?"
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/01/30/fact-checking-is-very-welcome.aspx


6) "Cameron Todd Willingham: Another Media Meltdown", A Collection of Articles
http://homicidesurvivors.com/categories/Cameron%20Todd%20Willingham.aspx



7) "A Death Penalty Red Herring: The Inanity and Hypocrisy of Perfection", Lester Jackson Ph.D.,
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=102909A