NCJ Number
152337
Journal
Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: (1994) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
J E Deegan
Date Published
1994
Length
419 pages
Annotation
Eight articles and a foreword by retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., discuss various legal issues associated with the use of capital punishment.
Abstract
In the foreword, Justice Brennan discusses the legal basis for his opinion that capital punishment per se "denies the humanity and dignity of the victim and transgresses the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment." The first article reviews the positions on capital punishment of former U.S. Supreme Court Justices Brennan and Marshall, the only justices up through October 1992 who unconditionally held capital punishment to be unconstitutional. The second article critiques The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Payne v. Tennessee (1991), with a focus on its treatment of stare decisis. "Payne" is found wanting in its analysis of the role of harm in the criminal law. In examining the role of mitigating mental disability evidence in death penalty cases, the third article argues that jurors cannot be counted on to apply the law conscientiously, since jurors generally distrust mental disability evidence. Another article assesses Missouri's State Supreme Court's procedures in capital cases. In a discussion of Federal habeas corpus, another article considers the effect of holding State capital collateral proceedings before a judge running for re-election. Three student articles discuss whether mentally retarded offenders should be executed, whether pretrial publicity undermines a fair trial in death penalty cases, and the capital petitioner's right to a "meaningful" postconviction process. Footnotes accompany each article.