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Sixth Circuit concurrence talks about capital punishment's economic costs

By Douglas A. Berman

As detailed in links below, lots of legislators, advocates and media folk have been talking about the economic costs of the death penalty lately.  But today in Wiles v. Bagley, No. 05-3719 (6th Cir. April 14, 2009) (available here), Judge Martin writes a concurrence in the affirmance of an Ohio death penalty that explores this issue from a judicial perspective. Here is how this part of the concurrence starts: Now in my thirtieth year as a judge on this Court, I have had an inside view of our system of capital punishment almost since the death penalty was reintroduced in the wake of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972).  During that time, judges, lawyers, and elected officials have expended great time and resources attempting to ensure the fairness, proportionality, and accuracy that the Constitution demands of our system...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 14, 2009 (boomark / email).