New Nine Year Study on Death Penalty Finds that on a National Scale, the System is Fraught with Error. In one of the most exhaustive studies of capital punishment ever, Columbia University law professor James S. Liebman found that just 5 percent of the 5,760 inmates sentenced to death nationwide between 1973 and 1995 were executed within the study period. Although executions have reached record numbers, public support is at a 19-year low. Voices from across the political spectrum have begun to question whether those on death row have received fair trials. If you do not have time to view the full report, the executive summary is very concise and informative.
More information is on the way.
Moratorium on Death Penalty in Illinois . All lethal injections will be postponed indefinitely pending an investigation into why more executions have been overturned than carried out since 1977, when Illinois reinstated capital punishment. Florida Follows Southern Trend in Speeding Up Death Penalty Process by Streamlining Appellate Process. Last month, under pressure from Gov. Jeb Bush, legislators in a three-day special session passed the Death Penalty Reform Act of 2000, a law to limit appeals from Death Row inmates. Its aim is to allow the execution of Death Row inmates within five years of sentencing.