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Opinion Roundup

By Steve Hall

Delaware's Wilmington News Journal carries the OpEd, "Death penalty cases impose singular burden," written by Judy Ritter and Ross Kleinstuber.  Ritter is a Widener University Law prof; Kleinstuber a graduate student in Sociology.  The Oped is for Constitution Day, celebrated on September 17, which marks the signing of the United States Constitution in 1787, in Philadelphia.Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning:Fairness, justice, equal protection -- there is no context for which these ideals are more important than death penalty trials.Our Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. A death sentence that is arbitrarily imposed or handed down without proper consideration of mitigating evidence -- evidence about the crime or the defendant that suggests the death penalty is inappropriate -- is cruel and unusual and unconstitutional...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on September 15, 2010 (boomark / email).