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"Judges' Dissents for Death Row Inmates Are Rising"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the headline of this front-page article in today's New York Times. Here is a snippet: In dozens of capital cases in recent years, appeals court judges, some of whom have ruled in favor of the death penalty many times, have complained that Congress and the Supreme Court have raised daunting barriers for death row prisoners to appeal their convictions, and in many cases the judges have taken on their colleagues. ?There is an increasing frustration among federal judges throughout the system,? said Eric M. Freedman, a critic of the death penalty who teaches on the subject at Hofstra Law School.  Mr. Freedman predicted that the level of dissatisfaction would increase.  ?Judges are likely to have less and less patience for being hogtied by legalistic mumbo-jumbo,? he said, ?which prevents them from reaching fair results...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 14, 2009 (boomark / email).