News and Developments 2003: Studies

PAReportReview

The following excerpts are from the death penalty chapter of the Final Report of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System. The blue-ribbon Committee, appointed in 1999, used a wide variety of sources to draw its conclusions and formulate the recommendations found in its report.
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSIONS OTHER ITEMS

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

The Committee made a series of 23 recommendations to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, to the Legislature, to the state's Attorney General and District Attorneys, and to Governor Ed Rendell. Among the key recommendations were a call for a moratorium on executions until the state can further analyze the impact of race on the death penalty, passage of a Racial Justice Act, statewide standards for prosecutorial discretion, and statewide standards for both trial and appellate lawyers in capital cases. (The complete list of recommendations may be found on Pages 219-221 of the report.)

By Professor James S. Liebman

There is growing evidence that more people are being sentenced to death than deserve to die under existing laws. The judicial system is, in other words, "overproducing" death.

Race and the Death Penalty in North Carolina
An Empirical Analysis: 1993-1997

Principal Investigator
Dr. Isaac Unah

A State of Denial: Texas Justice and the Death Penalty Texas Defender Service*

A STATE OF DENIAL:
TEXAS JUSTICE AND THE DEATH PENALTY

Executive Summary

The nation is embroiled in a debate over the death penalty. Each day brings fresh accounts of racial bias, incompetent counsel, and misconduct committed by police officers or prosecutors in capital cases. The public increasingly questions whether the ultimate penalty can be administered fairly - free from the taint of racism; free from the disgrace of counsel sleeping through a client's trial; free from the risk of executing an innocent person. Support for the death penalty is falling, and across the country, momentum gathers for a moratorium. Even death penalty supporters - such as Illinois Governor George Ryan - have acknowledged the need for fundamental reform.