Death Penalty Ruled Unconstitutional

[oracle]

Death Penalty Ruled Unconstitutional (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61028-2002Sep24.html)

The Associated Press
Tuesday, September 24, 2002; 3:41 PM


MONTPELIER, Vt. –– A federal judge declared the federal death penalty unconstitutional Tuesday in the second such ruling in less than three months.

U.S. District Judge William Sessions said the law does not adequately protect defendants' rights.

"If the death penalty is to be part of our system of justice, due process of law and the fair trial guarantees of the Sixth Amendment require that standards and safeguards governing the kinds of evidence juries may consider must be rigorous, and constitutional rights and liberties scrupulously protected," he said.

...


Click here to read more (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61028-2002Sep24.html)

[pja]

I tend not to favor the death penalty because of the developments in DNA testing which are showing that people have been convicted and imprisoned wrongly. In a case where the DNA conclusively shows that the person accused of the crime is the same person committing the crime I won’t be so hesitant.

The question that we always end up with is just what to do with the most heinous of criminals. Society has a right of self-defense in the same way as an individual has the right of self defense. Currently, IMHO, our society isn’t doing such a good job of defending itself against repeat criminals of the worst kind. The judicial system is releasing people from prison who have committed very serious crimes and then they end up murdering a child. Just reading the news regularly proves that society has failed in the duty of self defense. So, is it a wise decision for this judge to declare the federal death penalty unconstitutional? Only if the federal government is serious about detaining these criminals…right now they are not.

Pat (aka pja)

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Another dumb decision from one of our TIBs. (Tyrants in black)

[Venus]

What TIU said about the TIBs.

[Venus]

pja, I think we have to look at the evidentiary value of DNA as a completely separate matter from the constitutional validity of the DP.