An ABA assessment team of Pennsylvania attorneys has issued its report on the administration of capital punishment in that state. The Executive Summary is here. The full report is here. All the documents are available here.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has, "Study: Pa. death penalty system greatly flawed."
Flaws in Pennsylvania's death penalty system are so pervasive that the state risks executing an innocent person, according to a study released today by the American Bar Association.
The 324-page report urged the state to preserve biological evidence for post-trial DNA tests, videotape homicide investigations and implement modern witness-lineup techniques - three procedures the ABA said would add accuracy, integrity and efficiency to a process long maligned both by proponents and opponents of the death penalty.
The ABA study, crafted by five veteran Philadelphia-area lawyers, including a judge and a prosecutor, also criticized the state for failing to provide adequate lawyers and investigators for poor defendants at trial.
The study also said that the state has failed to address long-alleged racial and geographic disparities between defendants sentenced for similar crimes. In 2003, a committee appointed by the state Supreme Court to study racial and gender bias found "strong indications" that Pennsylvania does not "operate in an even-handed manner."
ABA president William H. Neukom said it is "critical to correct" the problems because "it is important to have a fair and accurate process, not just for the accused but also for the victims and for the public."
The ABA report, presented at the State Capitol this morning, is similar to recent ABA assessments that found fundamental flaws in seven other states -- Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee.
The ABA, the nation's largest lawyers' association, does not have an official position on capital punishment. However, since 1997 it has called for a moratorium on executions "until fairness and accuracy - that is, due process - are assured in death penalty cases."
The Pennsylvania ABA report was produced by Villanova law professor Anne Bowen Poulin; Delaware County Common Pleas Judge Frank T. Hazel, a former district attorney; Montgomery County Deputy District Attorney Mary MacNeil Killinger; Penn law professor David Rudovsky, a noted local civil rights lawyer, and former federal prosecutor Gregory P. Miller, now a lawyer in private practice in Philadelphia.
"It is important to understand that the shortcomings we identified operate with a cumulative effect," Poulin said. "Fixing one or some of the problems will not make the system right, and it is absolutely vital to do the additional study of the system that our report calls for, so that reforms can be implemented that will provide us with real justice."
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has, "Study finds major flaws in Pa. death penalty cases."
The authors of the report made several recommendations specifically for Pennsylvania, which include:
Requiring the preservation of all biological evidence in capital cases throughout an inmate's incarceration on death row, something the state does not do.
Members of the assessment team that completed the report had "varying perspectives" on capital punishment and were not required to "support or oppose the death penalty or a moratorium on executions," the report noted.
The Bar Association said it would like Pennsylvania to complete its own comprehensive study assessing the death penalty system.
Coverage of other state assessments can be found in the ABA index.
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