« Sentencing developments in New Jersey | Main | Another way to be punished without conviction »

December 29, 2004

The capital story of clemency

Professor Austin Sarat, who has written extensively about the law and sociology of capital punishment, has this potent Findlaw article about clemeny decision-making in capital cases.  The  piece examines clemency and the concept of mercy in death penalty cases while lamenting that "In capital cases throughout the country ... clemency — and mercy — have all but disappeared."

Though Sarat's focus is just on clemency in capital cases, the themes he develops in his article dovetail with all the recent discussion of executive use of the pardon power.  In addition, with AG nominee Alberto Gonzales's Senate confirmation hearing now scheduled for next week, all of these issues could soon take center stage in the public dialogue about our justice system. 

Here are some of my more recent posts on these topics:

PARDONS:

GONZALES AND CAPITAL CLEMENCY:

December 29, 2004 at 04:32 PM | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451574769e200d8350c63b753ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The capital story of clemency:

Comments

Post a comment

In the body of your email, please indicate if you are a professor, student, prosecutor, defense attorney, etc. so I can gain a sense of who is reading my blog. Thank you, DAB