Author: Illinois. Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Capital punishment
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Author: George H. Ryan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538134551
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
In January 2000, Illinois Governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions—the first such action by any governor in the history of the United States. Despite a long history as a death penalty proponent, Ryan was emotionally moved after allowing an execution in 1999. He was also profoundly disturbed by the state’s history—12 men had been executed and 13 had been exonerated since the return of the death penalty in Illinois in 1977. More had been proven innocent than had been executed. Three years later, in 2003, Ryan pardoned four death row inmates based on their actual innocence and then commuted the death sentences of 167 men and women. This was the largest death row commutation in U.S. history. At that time, 12 states and the District of Columbia barred the death penalty. His actions breathed new life into the movement to abolish the death penalty in the United States. Over the next 15 years, Illinois and seven other states would abolish the death penalty—New Jersey, Maryland, New Mexico, Connecticut, Delaware, New York and Washington. Today, the push to reform the criminal justice system has never been stronger in America, a nation that incarcerates more men and women than any other country in the world and also wrongfully convicts hundreds of men and women. Although the number of executions carried out every year continues to drop in the U.S., the death penalty still exists in 31 states. Moreover, in some non-death penalty states, factions seek to reinstate it. Until I Could Be Sure: How I Stopped the Death Penalty in Illinois is, in his own words, the story of George Ryan’s journey from death penalty proponent to death penalty opponent. His story continues to resonate today. He defied the political winds and endured the fury and agony of the families of the victims and the condemned as well as politicians, prosecutors and law enforcement. It is a story of courage and faith. It is a timely reminder of the heroic acts of a Republican Governor who was moved by conscience, his faith and a disturbing factual record of death row exonerations.

Author: Illinois. Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Capital punishment
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Highlights the full text of "The Report of the Governor's Commission on the Death Penalty: An Analysis of Capital Punishment in Maryland: 1978-1993," which was originally published on April 27, 1994 and is presented by Sailor, Maryland's online public information network. Discusses the history of Maryland's 1978 death penalty statute, capital prosecution in Maryland, the administration of the death penalty from 1978 to 1993 in Maryland, the problems of cost and delay, and the experiences of other states with capital punishment.

Author: C. Cliff
Publisher: Nova Publishers
ISBN: 9781590335314
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
The issue of capital punishment is a continually-debated issue because it calls into question the values and direction of society. How is a civilisation supposed to handle lawbreakers? Are some crimes so heinous and some people so dangerous that the death penalty is the only appropriate response? The United States Constitution prohibits 'cruel and unusual punishment', but opinions on whether that includes capital punishment are vehement on both sides. Many states have some form of death penalty, and public opinion seems to indicate support of it in principle. However, many firestorms have erupted recently over the application of the penalty, including the topics of its use on minors and those with mental disabilities. There are also questions raised about how much of a factor race plays in a capital sentence. Internationally, several countries have foresworn the death penalty, with certain countries in Europe and the Americas refusing to extradite criminal suspects (including suspected terrorists) to the US if capital punishment is a possible sentence. With such politically flammable and ethically challenging issues hanging over it, capital punishment is a vitally important issue to understand. To help facilitate that study, this book assembles a carefully selected and substantial listing of literature focussing on the death penalty. Anyone researching this area of criminal justice will find this book an important tool as it offers easy access to the most relevant works about capital punishment. Following the bibliography, further access is provided with author, title, and subject indexes.

Author: Peter Hodgkinson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139449591
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
What are the critical factors that determine whether a country replaces, retains or restores the death penalty? Why do some countries maintain the death penalty in theory but in reality rarely invoke it? By asking these questions, the editors hope to isolate the core issues that influence the formulation of legislation so that they can be incorporated into strategies for advising governments considering changes to their policy on capital punishment. They also seek to redress the imbalance in research, which tends to focus almost exclusively on the experience of the USA, by covering a range of countries such as South Korea, Lithuania, Japan and the British Caribbean Commonwealth. This valuable contribution to the debates around capital punishment contains contributions from leading academics, campaigners and legal practitioners and will be an important resource for students, academics, NGOs, policy makers, lawyers and jurists.

Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on the Constitution
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Author: James R. Acker
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317689321
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
The death penalty has inspired controversy for centuries. Raising questions regarding capital punishment rather than answering them, Questioning Capital Punishment offers the footing needed to allow for more informed consideration and analysis of these controversies. Acker edits judicial decisions that have addressed constitutional challenges to capital punishment and its administration in the United States and uses complementary materials to offer historical, empirical, and normative perspectives about death penalty policies and practices. This book is ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate classes in criminal justice.

Author: United States. Congress. Senate
Publisher: Government Printing Office
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1530

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Author: Robert M. Bohm
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1420070126
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
More than 30 years after the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, it is still plagued with egregious problems. Issues of wrongful conviction, inhumane practices, and its efficacy as a deterrent are hotly debated topics. As of August 2007, two-thirds of the worlds countries have abolished the death penalty. Today, the US falls alongside I