It is aimed particularly at those on death row who were sentenced before the advent of DNA testing, allowing their cases to be reopened when this evidence could be pertinent to their case. It does not in any way impede the court's ability to sentence a convicted killer to death. Even pro-death penalty Republicans acknowledge the bill is a good way to make sure authorities prosecute and punish the right criminal. With the political advantage of not having to preside over executions, Gore is keeping a low profile on the issue. But he could demonstrate a capacity for moral leadership by standing with those on both sides of the death penalty debate who favor anything to reduce the odds that an innocent person could be put to death by the state.
Racism is alive and festering in the court system.
Racism is alive and festering within the court system, and the levying of the death penalty continues to rely too heavily upon emotion and too little on a uniform standard. Well, so are men. Using Texas's logic, with such over-representation, the very fact of being male should be a very strong argument for the death penalty. Indeed, of 46 people executed in Florida since 1977, just 1 was a woman. That any prosecutor would present and a judge would accept this psychologist's testimony in 1996 is shocking.