Sentencing Class @ OSU Moritz College of Law
A new home for an old class blog
recent posts
- Anyone have any distinct views on who Joe Biden should pick as US Attorney General?
- What data in the federal system would indicate the Biden Administration is drawing down the federal drug war?
- A final (too brief) foray into what metrics and data matter for assessing a sentencing system
- Reactions to our look behind the robes with federal sentencing judges?
- Are there any “offender characteristics” that you think must be considered at sentencing? If so, how?
about
Category: Pro/Con arguments surrounding the death penalty
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I mentioned in class that I think conclusive evidence that executions saved (or cost) innocent lives would be a game-changer in capital punishment debates. Some years ago, Professors Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule authored a provocative article suggesting that deterrence evidence might make the death penalty morally required for state actors seriously concerned with the…
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The title of this post is the final senitment expressed by Gus L. in conjunction with the terrific comment discussion that is now energized in response to this post noting Washington Governor Jay Inslee's remarkable decision to take his state's death penalty into his own hands by declaring a moratorium on executions while he serves as Governor.…
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I am intrigued to have learned right after class that Washington Governor Jay Inslee decided to take his state's death penalty into his own hands today by declaring a moratorium on executions while he serves as Governor. I have blogged about this notable decision here at my main blog; and these comments from Governor Inslee’s remarks announcing his…
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I suggested in class some time ago that you should read (and re-read) Furman thinking about which of the nine Justices' opinions you would have been most likely to join (assuming you had been a hypothetical additional Justice in 1972 and could only join an opinion rather than write your own). Because I suspect we will not…
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I mentioned in class my belief that if we had truly conclusive and indisputable empirical evidence that using the death penalty to sentence/execute guilty murderers indisputably saves innocent lives, then there would be very little political and social debate concerning using the modern death penalty to sentence/execute guilty murderers. Does anyone want to take issue with this…
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Though we did not have time for me to finish connecting my themes of scientific discovery and deterrence theory in the context of the death penalty, I do have space on this blog to link to lots of (totally optional) reading on the topic of whether the application of the death penalty in the United…
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A quick weekend post to say sorry for hogging up all the air-space in last week's class as I provided a (too lengthy) "who sentences" overview of some of the ideas and themes in Chapter 2. This coming week, I promise that our class on Jan. 27 will be much more dialogue than lecture, especially…
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Inspired by a comment by Shawn to another post, I thought it might be valuable to again review all the recent discussion of the economic costs of the death penalty. It has long been clear that the administration of capital punishment is a costly affair, though only now in tough budget times do we see…
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As stressed at the end of Wednesday’s class, I want to conclude the Berman-driven unit of this course by having a collective discussion about how the modern administration of the death penalty might be improved. As I suggested in class, I am often troubled that many who lament administrative problems with the modern death penalty…
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Over at my home blog, I ask here whether execution headaches impact where capital debates are headed. I would be interested in student input on this question. I also note here that today marks a notable death penalty anniversary: the first "modern" US execution took place exactly 30 years ago today. This factoid, in turn,…
Sentencing Class @ OSU Moritz College of Law 