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Does the death penalty process aggravate victim suffering?

By Douglas A. Berman

This new AP article, headlined "Death-penalty cases harder on survivors than life sentences," prompts the question in this title of this post. Here are snippets from the piece: As lawmakers weigh the future of the death penalty in some states, officials are giving greater weight to the effect of prolonged death-penalty cases on victims? families. Commissions in New Jersey and Maryland in recent years found that death-penalty cases are more harmful to the families of victims than cases that end with life sentences. ?The commission finds that regardless of whether or not a survivor supports an execution, years of court dates, reversals, appeals and exposure to the killer is harmful to the family members of murder victims,? the Maryland commission wrote in its report last year...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 02, 2009 (boomark / email).