Updated September 03, 2005
Death Penalty Moratorium
The study demonstrates "...grave constitutional error in nearly two thirds of all cases."
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Defense lawyers were so incompetent that they did not look for- and demonstrably missed--important evidence that the defendant was innocent or did not deserve to die (37%). |
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The judge gave faulty instructions to the jury (20%). |
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Police or prosecutors discovered evidence that could have helped the defendant but withheld it from the defense and the jury (19%). |
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Bias by the judge or jury,
such as a judge telling the news media what |
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Coerced
confessions and testimony from jailhouse informants, prosecutors deliberately excluding black jurors from trials of black defendants, or police planting informants in jails to eavesdrop on confidential discussions between defendants and their attorneys (primary reasons in remaining 19%). |
The Green Party does not believe that those who commit
horrific crimes
should go unpunished, but we do believe that there other
non-violent
methods to deal with capital crimes. Life imprisonment without
the
possibility of parole is the method that is used by the majority
of
nations in the world today.