Stevenson said economics plays a vital part in whether a citizen is responsible or chooses a life of drugs and crime. Alabama has struggled with regard to creating economic opportunities for all of its citizens. But Attorney General Bill Pryor said the reason for Alabama's high concentration of death row inmates is that it has the slowest death penalty appeals process in the country. Alabama is the only state with automatic appeals in death penalty cases to both the state Court of Criminal Appeals and the state Supreme Court. Because a state Supreme Court review of death cases is mandatory, all other states skip the intermediate appellate court.
Many prisoners wind up on death row longer than their victims lived.
Pryor has been an outspoken advocate for eliminating some steps in the appellate court reviews. We need to demonstrate that the state is serious about this kind of punishment by streamlining the process, he said. Criminal justice needs to be swift and just. Stevenson said streamlining court reviews would result in some innocent prisoners being put to death. We have a better judgment about how real that problem is.