Article Abstract:
There are likely to have been 500 executions since 1976 by Christmas 1998, and 75 people have been given the death sentence only to be found innocent. Minorities with little income are more likely to be sentenced to death, especially when there is pressure to find someone on whom to blame a crime. Public defenders may be incompetent, or simply overworked and underpaid. Appeals relate to procedure, not guilt. Opponents of capital punishment argue that more resources should be available for defense, and that appeals should be allowed to relate to the possibility of innocence.
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Article Abstract:
The US prison population is increasing despite a drop in reported crime rates, and the proportion of the population in prison is higher in the US than anywhere else except Russia. The causes of crime are too complex to attribute the drop in crime rates simply to imprisonment, and crime has dropped most sharply in areas where incarceration rates are not especially high. Imprisonment appears to have little impact on drug abuse. There are financial and social costs involved in imprisonment, and African Americans are especially badly affected.
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Article Abstract:
The debate on execution of mentally retarded prisoners in the US, including a case in Texas, are examined in detail.
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