Studies

The number of police officers killed by gunfire in 2008 dropped by 40% from 2007, down to its lowest level in more than 50 years, according to a report by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.  The report attributed the decline to a new emphasis on officer safety training and equipment.   In addition to increased training, more officers are wearing body armor and using stun guns to protect themselves. The overall number of officers killed in the line of duty also declined in 2008.

Research on death qualification--the selection of jurors who are qualified to serve on a capital case because they are willing to sentence someone to death--has revealed additional characteristics among such jurors.  Professor Brooke Butler of the University of South Florida in Sarasota has studied such jurors and published her results in the journal of Behavioral Sciences and the Law. Her study, “Death qualification and prejudice: the effect of implicit racism, sexism, and homophobia on capital defendants' right to due process,” surveyed 200 juror candidates from the 12th Circuit in Bradenton, Florida.  In addition to the questions that measured their support for the death penalty and their death-qualification status, she studied their attitudes towards women, gays, and people of other races.  The results indicated that as death penalty support increased, participants exhibited more negative attitudes towards women, homosexuals, and people of other races.

A legislative committee created to study the death penalty in Tennessee has recommended ways to ensure capital cases are handled fairly and effectively.  The committee approved a resolution that asks lawmakers to create a statewide authority whose duties would include identifying lawyers experienced in capital cases, raising the standard pay for such attorneys, and monitoring their caseloads.

Thomas Lee, a Tennessee attorney on the committee, said such an authority would help ensure that "trials are done right the first time."  The committee, created last year after the state legislature decided Tennessee’s death penalty system needed to be examined for fairness and accuracy, will present its findings to the Governor and lawmakers.

A new study published in the Houston Law Review, “Racial Disparities in the Capital of Capital Punishment,” explores the relationship of race to death sentencing in Harris County (Houston), Texas. In the study, Prof. Scott Phillips of the University of Denver explores patterns involving the race of both victims and defendants, while controlling for other variables.