American Bar Association Calls for Unanimous Juries and Greater Transparency in Execution Process
On February 9, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association
unanimously passed two resolutions calling for unanimous juries in
capital sentencing and greater transparency in lethal injection
procedures. Resolution 108A
stated: "Before a court can impose a sentence of death, a jury must
unanimously recommend or vote to impose that sentence," and, "The jury
in such cases must also unanimously agree on the existence of any fact
that is a prerequisite for eligibility for the death penalty and on the
specific aggravating factors that have each been proven beyond a
reasonable doubt." Currently, some states, including Florida, Alabama, and Delaware, allow a jury to recommend a death sentence without unanimity. Resolution 108B
called for all death penalty jurisdictions "to promulgate execution
protocols in an open and transparent manner and require public review
and comment prior to final adoption of any execution protocol, and
require disclosure to the public by all relevant agencies of all
relevant information regarding execution procedures." As lethal
injection drug restrictions have caused states to seek out new sources
of drugs, many states have adopted secrecy policies surrounding their lethal injection process.
Posted: February 11, 2015
On February 9, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association
unanimously passed two resolutions calling for unanimous juries in
capital sentencing and greater transparency in lethal injection
procedures. Resolution 108A
stated: "Before a court can impose a sentence of death, a jury must
unanimously recommend or vote to impose that sentence," and, "The jury
in such cases must also unanimously agree on the existence of any fact
that is a prerequisite for eligibility for the death penalty and on the
specific aggravating factors that have each been proven beyond a
reasonable doubt." Currently, some states, including Florida, Alabama, and Delaware, allow a jury to recommend a death sentence without unanimity. Resolution 108B
called for all death penalty jurisdictions "to promulgate execution
protocols in an open and transparent manner and require public review
and comment prior to final adoption of any execution protocol, and
require disclosure to the public by all relevant agencies of all
relevant information regarding execution procedures." As lethal
injection drug restrictions have caused states to seek out new sources
of drugs, many states have adopted secrecy policies surrounding their lethal injection process.
No comments:
Post a Comment