Thursday, February 21, 2002

Study: Death Penalty Error Rates Are Higher in Areas That Use It Often
Death sentences are more likely to be reversed in areas that more frequently use that penalty, have higher black populations and where judges are elected, according to a study from a group of Columbia University law professors. The report, which looks at why mistakes occur in capital cases, updates a report issued two years ago that found that 68 percent of all death sentences reviewed from 1973 to 1995 were reversed by courts because of serious errors. In those reversals, 82 percent of the defendants eventually received lesser sentences and 9 percent were freed. James Liebman, a Columbia Law School professor who was the study's lead researcher, said that while race, politics and an overburdened legal system played a strong role, areas that relied heavily on the death penalty as punishment were most likely to impose a flawed capital sentence. "What our study shows is that aggressive death sentencing is a magnet for serious error," Professor Liebman said.
Fact File: Death Penalty
http://www.publicagenda.org/headlines/021102headline.htm

No comments:

Post a Comment

con·cept