Criminal justice systems and practices

¶ … Court Appeal Process of the Sentenced to Death Penalty

It is a well-known fact among all practicing attorneys as well as among all members of the legal community that a death penalty appeals case will be time-consuming and lengthy in fact the appeals process lasts approximately seven to twelve and even upward to twenty years time. Different arguments exist both against and for the long process that characterizes court appeal of a sentence of the death penalty.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS of DEATH PENALTY APPEALS PROCESS

The appeals process as related to the appeal of being sentenced to death is a long procedure which takes many years to transverse through. The inherent problem exists in that the government is responsible for feeding, housing, clothing and providing medical care for the individual who is on death row waiting out the appeals process however, that problem is much easier overcome than other problems associated with the death penalty itself. One of these problems is illustrated in the failure of courts to focus attention upon evidence at the time it presented itself but have instead taken the lives of innocent individuals not guilty of the crimes for which they were sentenced to die and then finally put to death. Amnesty International in the work entitled: "Clemency Granted in 1,000th Planned Execution: Mortal Debates Widespread" in November 2005 which related the fact that: 'One hundred and twenty two individuals have been exonerated from death row since 1973, meaning that one wrongfully convicted person has been released for every eight that have been executed,' said Dr. William F. Schulz, executive director, AIUSA. 'Where else has the government been allowed to make this many serious mistakes before the public demanded change? Public officials should take note of both the gruesome nature of this milestone and the failures of a system that is allowed to function with such a high error rate. If they do, they will clearly see that the time to abolish the death penalty is long overdue.'" (Amnesty International, 2005) the work of Richard C. Dieter, Esquire, and Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center entitled: "Innocence and the Death Penalty: The Increasing Danger of Executing the Innocent" cites the words of Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. who said: "Perhaps the bleakest fact of all is that the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent." (Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., 1994)

It is clear from a study conducted at Ohio University that the majority of Americans believe that the death penalty should be used very carefully and that it should involve a process that is slow, yet is better than rushing to execute. Further, these individuals are able to work and contribute to their own keep as well as pay child support. The timeliness of the process of the Death Penalty Appeal is one of the measures that have attempted to be built into the justice system to bar rash action on the part of justice that often too late becomes informed of errors of great magnitude. The Ohio State University report states that the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences' Center for Survey Research conducted a study in determining the general consensus of the American perspective on the use of the death penalty. When asked whether they favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of murder, 74% of Ohioans report being in favor with 11% of those indicating that their being in favor was contingent upon the presence of certain circumstances. 23% reported opposition to the use of the death penalty, while 3% expressed ambivalence." (Ohio State University, 1999) Stated as well is that: "When questioned as to the likelihood of an innocent person being wrongly convicted and executed, 68% of Ohioans reported such an occurrence to be either somewhat or very likely. 32% of Ohioans believe that it is somewhat unlikely, very unlikely or not at all possible." (Ibid) the research which was conducted in 1997 and the findings here are not consistent with earlier findings in which 51% of Ohioan's believed it to be unlikely or impossible that someone might be wrongly convicted. (Ohio State University, 1999) in a September 2005 new report by Amnesty International related is that: "Robin Lovitt, who made international news when he was scheduled to be the 1,000 execution, was granted clemency yesterday." (2005) According to the AIUSA website: "One hundred and twenty two individuals have been exonerated from death row since 1973, meaning that one wrongfully convicted person has been released for every eight that have been executed." (Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director: AIUSA, 2005)