Due to the rights guaranteed by the constitution, the legally guaranteed right to appeal a death sentence virtually guarantee that most inmates will appeal their sentence. In some states the appeals are automatic. As such, the convicted will spend millions of dollars on the appeal process. Without limiting their rights, it would be more cost effective to sentence them to life without parole.
As we all know, the justice system is not perfect. Regardless of whether it be due to prosecutorial misconduct, bias, inadequate representation, bad advice, or new evidence, many death sentences have been overturned or commuted to life without parole. In some cases, there is question of whether or not the executed was innocent.
With a life sentence we can make amends to those wrongly convicted.
This is historical material “frozen in time”. The website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work.
