Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The death penalty is sought in only a fraction of murder cases, and it is often doled out capriciously. The National Academy of Sciences concludes that its role as a deterrent is ambiguous.
The anti-death penalty movement began to pick up pace in the 1830s and many Americans called for abolition of the death penalty. Anti-death penalty sentiment rose as a result of the Jacksonian era, which condemned gallows and advocated for better treatment of orphans, criminals, poor people, and the mentally ill.
Walter Block went so far as to say, "We have seen that in the libertarian philosophy, the death penalty is justified for those whose crimes rise to a sufficient degree of severity. Surely, there are heads of state whose evil deeds many times eclipse such a level.
Wrongful execution is a miscarriage of justice occurring when an innocent person is put to death by capital punishment. Opponents of capital punishment often cite cases of wrongful execution as arguments, while proponents argue that innocence concerns the credibility of the justice system as a whole and does not solely undermine the use of the death penalty.
The Marshall Project reports on the evolving perception and status of the right for death penalty defendants to present mitigating evidence that could sway a jury.
The Democratic president also faced criticism from some anti-death penalty activists who said he didn't go far enough, including a family member of one victim, who said Biden's commutations should ...
Florida, 458 U.S. 782 (1982) – The death penalty is unconstitutional for a person who is a minor participant in a felony and does not kill, attempt to kill, or intend to kill. Tison v. Arizona , 481 U.S. 137 (1987) – Death penalty may be imposed on a felony-murder defendant who was a major participant in the underlying felony and exhibits ...
The huge costs associated with the death penalty are a very good argument for doing away with it -- as though the possibility of executing an innocent person weren't good enough on its own.