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In a reversal, Justice Stevens calls the death penalty 'anachronistic'

In a reversal, Justice Stevens calls the death penalty 'anachronistic' Part of the Supreme Court majority that reinstated capital punishment in the U.S. in 1976, he says it no longer serves any purpose. By James Oliphant, Chicago TribuneApril 17, 2008 WASHINGTON -- The nation's longest-serving Supreme Court justice, John Paul Stevens, on Wednesday declared his formal opposition to capital punishment.Stevens, 87, was part of the court majority that reinstated the death penalty in America in 1976. But in a concurring opinion to Wednesday's ruling that Kentucky's use of lethal injection is constitutional, Stevens wrote that the death penalty no longer served a legitimate social function. He is the first justice to openly oppose capital punishment since Harry Blackmun in 1994...continue to full post

Full post as published by Lethal Injection on April 19, 2008 (boomark / email).