Thursday, July 07, 2005

Speeding Up Executions

Congressional Republicans want to speed up executions by limiting appeals. The Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005 would restrict access to the federal courts for people sentenced to death in state courts.

Roughly 68% of all death sentences are reversed on appeal to federal courts. The Journal of Empirical Legal Studies found that the most common reasons are ''egregiously incompetent lawyering, prosecutorial misconduct or suppression of evidence, misinstruction of jurors, or biased judges or jurors." (Boston Globe)

No comments: