| To evaluate the impact of race on prosecutorial decisions to seek the death penalty | |
| To evaluate the impact of the quality of legal representation on the disposition of a death eligible case. |
Many citizens consider it insensitive and unseemly, if not
immoral, for a country, with our historical record on slavery
and race discrimination, to persist in using a punishment that
is administered and controlled almost exclusively by whites
and serves no demonstrated function, but has a profound ad-
verse impact, physically, psychologically, and symbolically on
its black citizens.—Prof. David C. Baldus, Professor of Law, College of Law,
University of Iowa, and George Woodward, in: “America’s Ex-
periment with Capital Punishment”, J.R. Acker, CAP, 1998.
Defendant Jack House was represented by attorneys who had never read the State’s death penalty statute. The lawyers did not visit the crime scene nor did they interview the state’s witness. Moreover, counsel did not conduct discovery of the State’s evidence and barely spoke with their client. During the testimony of a key prosecution witness, one of the members of the defense team left the court room,
-101-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime: Alternate Perspectives.
Contributors: Dianne Williams - Author.
Publisher: Algora.
Place of publication: New York.
Publication year: 2012.
Page number: 101.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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