Speeding up executions in U.S.?
Sometimes when everything looks dim and grim ... something like this comes along!
Whatcha think?
US seeks to end decades spent by prisoners on death row
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Wednesday August 15, 2007
The Guardian
The US justice department is reviewing legal procedures to speed up executions to prevent prisoners spending decades on death row.
Some Republicans have been complaining for years that prisoners can delay execution by 20 or more years through appeals. They say that the original intention of the law was that the gap between sentencing and execution should be short.
The justice department, which has shifted radically to the right under the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, is making the final details to the changes. The public have until September 23 to lodge an opinion after which the new rules can be implemented.
There are about 3,350 people on death row in the US and there were 53 executions last year.
The move to speed up the process has alarmed opponents of the death penalty but conservatives, as well as being dissatisfied with the lengthy process at present, have expressed concern about costs: prisoners on death row cost about $90,000 (?45,000) more a year to house than other inmates.
Some state legal officials also regard reform as long overdue. Kent Cattani, a lawyer in the Arizona attorney general's office, told the Los Angeles Times: "If you are going to have the death penalty at all, it shouldn't take 20 to 25 years."
But Elisabeth Semel, director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the UC Berkeley law school, said: "The inevitable result of speeding them up is to miss profound legal errors that are made. Lawyers will not see them. Courts will not address them."
Kathryn Kase, co-chair of the death-penalty committee for the National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers, said: "This is the Bush administration throwing down the gauntlet and saying, 'We are going to speed up executions'."
Although DNA testing has helped establish the innocence of more than a dozen death row inmates, conservative Republicans have yet to be persuaded about the case for delay. They believe some liberal judges opposed to the death penalty deliberately string out the legal process.
Opponents of the death penalty argue that the new powers would be taken by Mr Gonzales, who was legal adviser to President George Bush when he was governor of Texas. During his six years in office, Mr Bush presided over 152 executions, the largest number of any US governor in recent years.
Among the proposed changes, those on death row would have the time available to file appeals to federal courts cut from a year to six months. Deadlines of 450 days would be set for federal district judges to decide and 120 days for appeal courts.
Two Republican congressmen, Dan Lungren and Jon Kyl, both of whom support the death penalty, opened the way for the changes by putting a provision in the Patriot Act last year that switched power from states to Mr Gonzales to decide on death row prisoners' legal representation.
[:D]
Whatcha think?
US seeks to end decades spent by prisoners on death row
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Wednesday August 15, 2007
The Guardian
The US justice department is reviewing legal procedures to speed up executions to prevent prisoners spending decades on death row.
Some Republicans have been complaining for years that prisoners can delay execution by 20 or more years through appeals. They say that the original intention of the law was that the gap between sentencing and execution should be short.
The justice department, which has shifted radically to the right under the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, is making the final details to the changes. The public have until September 23 to lodge an opinion after which the new rules can be implemented.
There are about 3,350 people on death row in the US and there were 53 executions last year.
The move to speed up the process has alarmed opponents of the death penalty but conservatives, as well as being dissatisfied with the lengthy process at present, have expressed concern about costs: prisoners on death row cost about $90,000 (?45,000) more a year to house than other inmates.
Some state legal officials also regard reform as long overdue. Kent Cattani, a lawyer in the Arizona attorney general's office, told the Los Angeles Times: "If you are going to have the death penalty at all, it shouldn't take 20 to 25 years."
But Elisabeth Semel, director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the UC Berkeley law school, said: "The inevitable result of speeding them up is to miss profound legal errors that are made. Lawyers will not see them. Courts will not address them."
Kathryn Kase, co-chair of the death-penalty committee for the National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers, said: "This is the Bush administration throwing down the gauntlet and saying, 'We are going to speed up executions'."
Although DNA testing has helped establish the innocence of more than a dozen death row inmates, conservative Republicans have yet to be persuaded about the case for delay. They believe some liberal judges opposed to the death penalty deliberately string out the legal process.
Opponents of the death penalty argue that the new powers would be taken by Mr Gonzales, who was legal adviser to President George Bush when he was governor of Texas. During his six years in office, Mr Bush presided over 152 executions, the largest number of any US governor in recent years.
Among the proposed changes, those on death row would have the time available to file appeals to federal courts cut from a year to six months. Deadlines of 450 days would be set for federal district judges to decide and 120 days for appeal courts.
Two Republican congressmen, Dan Lungren and Jon Kyl, both of whom support the death penalty, opened the way for the changes by putting a provision in the Patriot Act last year that switched power from states to Mr Gonzales to decide on death row prisoners' legal representation.
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quote:Originally posted by zipperzap
But Elisabeth Semel, director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the UC Berkeley law school, said: "The inevitable result of speeding them up is to miss profound legal errors that are made. Lawyers will not see them. Courts will not address them."If "profound" mistakes were indeed made in a death penalty case, you better believe the opponents know about them, probably as soon as they were made. However, I believe they use them strategically to cause that 20-25 year wait rather than immediately address any errors.0 -
NEXT[}:)][:D][:(!] 0 -
save some money and just send them over seas
or
instead of a gas chamber to kill one do many at once don't waste the gas lol
or
in some case just let the victims take care of things0 -
Once an appeal is denied, the sentence should be carried out immediately. And none of this pansy lethal injection crap. Make them dig their own grave, then shoot them so they fall in it and bulldoze the hole over. If the family wants the body back, that's fine, let them pick it up though. Don't want to burden men with shooting a criminal? Fine, rig a gun up to some sort of mechanism that loads and fires it remotely. But executions can be carried out far cheaper, not just faster, than they are.
Also more things need to be punishable by death, not just some murders. Rape, violent assault, anything that hurts children, etc., should all merit the death penalty. If you don't behave as a human then you aren't one and no more thought should be accorded you than a rabid dog.0 -
Too easy just put them in the same cell with the dude that killed Jeffrey Dahmer and star a rumor that everyone of them is trying to get the Custodial job!!! Done, did, and Done!! 0 -
A Kentucky man ralph baze has just run out of appeals for the 1992 murders of a powell county sheriff and his deputy. He ambushed them shooting each three times and one while he was trying to crawl away. This is a ridiculous amount of time to wait. He was tried and convicted and should have been dead many years ago. The governor has been asked to set an execution date. One can only guess how much longer it will be. Now the families of these men will have to go thru the whole thing again. Fifteen years is way too long..... 0 -
if there is enough proof to convict them , dispose of them HOW EVER [xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(][xx(] 0 -
Good idea..long overdue.
Now..to help prevent innocent people from being executed...when such is found..the judge and prosecuting attorney ought to take the place of the condemned on the gallows.
The real reason for the push now, I expect, is to make damn sure anybody railroaded has no chance to fight it.0 -
I have always believed that we should either abolish the death penalty OR make it so you get 2 years of appeals and BAM !!!! 0
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