Post by ozbilby on Jun 12, 2006 5:33:07 GMT -5
Scott Turow on the death Penalty
Scott Turow has struggled to develop his own philosophy about whether the death penalty is justifiable.
The well-known author of legal thrillers and lawyer from the Chicago area has worked as both a prosecutor and an appellate defender of two men on death row.
But not until former Illinois Gov. George Ryan instituted the nations first moratorium on state executions in January 2000 and later appointed Turow to a 14-person commission to study the states capital punishment system did he clarify his views.
The real question is, are we ever going to construct a legal system that reaches the right cases without also reaching the wrong cases? Turow asked. My conclusion was no. We’re never going to construct that system.
The author of Presumed Innocent spoke to about 175 people Thursday evening in Woodruff Auditorium of the Kansas Union as part of the Hall Centers Humanities Lecture Series.
Turow quoted statistics in arguing against what capital punishment proponents often cite, including the death penalty as a deterrent, saving money for the state and stopping a murderer from repeat offenses.
But the most imposing argument for the death penalty, he said, comes from those who demand a death sentence as a moral statement.
The system does not work that way, he said. With 122 people legally exonerated from a death sentence since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Turow argued that most horrible murder cases tend to inspire a sense of anxiety for investigators and others involved, including jurors. He called it a paradox.
A horrible crime turns the burden of proof against the innocent, he said. During his study of the issue, Turow also said he reviewed several first-degree murder cases, and only some ended with death sentences.
See if you can find the guiding sense of reason to see who was sentenced to death and who was not, he said.
No one in Kansas has been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1994, and the Kansas Supreme Court declared that law unconstitutional in December 2004. Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline has appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
I dont know how anybody in Kansas is ever going to get the death penalty if the BTK killer is not going to get it, Turow said. Dennis Rader, the Wichita serial killer who nicknamed himself BTK for bind, torture and kill, was not eligible for the death penalty because of when his murders occurred.
_ * _Scott Turow Web site_ (http://www.scottturow.com/
Scott Turow has struggled to develop his own philosophy about whether the death penalty is justifiable.
The well-known author of legal thrillers and lawyer from the Chicago area has worked as both a prosecutor and an appellate defender of two men on death row.
But not until former Illinois Gov. George Ryan instituted the nations first moratorium on state executions in January 2000 and later appointed Turow to a 14-person commission to study the states capital punishment system did he clarify his views.
The real question is, are we ever going to construct a legal system that reaches the right cases without also reaching the wrong cases? Turow asked. My conclusion was no. We’re never going to construct that system.
The author of Presumed Innocent spoke to about 175 people Thursday evening in Woodruff Auditorium of the Kansas Union as part of the Hall Centers Humanities Lecture Series.
Turow quoted statistics in arguing against what capital punishment proponents often cite, including the death penalty as a deterrent, saving money for the state and stopping a murderer from repeat offenses.
But the most imposing argument for the death penalty, he said, comes from those who demand a death sentence as a moral statement.
The system does not work that way, he said. With 122 people legally exonerated from a death sentence since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Turow argued that most horrible murder cases tend to inspire a sense of anxiety for investigators and others involved, including jurors. He called it a paradox.
A horrible crime turns the burden of proof against the innocent, he said. During his study of the issue, Turow also said he reviewed several first-degree murder cases, and only some ended with death sentences.
See if you can find the guiding sense of reason to see who was sentenced to death and who was not, he said.
No one in Kansas has been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1994, and the Kansas Supreme Court declared that law unconstitutional in December 2004. Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline has appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
I dont know how anybody in Kansas is ever going to get the death penalty if the BTK killer is not going to get it, Turow said. Dennis Rader, the Wichita serial killer who nicknamed himself BTK for bind, torture and kill, was not eligible for the death penalty because of when his murders occurred.
_ * _Scott Turow Web site_ (http://www.scottturow.com/