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Transforming the Justice System

Kentucky law students are tranforming the justice system with their Innocence Project.

Here is some well deserved praise for Ohio Governor Taft who commuted the death sentence of Jerome Campbell last week. Campbell was a juvenile offender who was scheduled for execution this past Friday.

This commutation - the first that Taft has granted, for that matter the first any Ohio governor has granted since 1991 - provides a compelling case for keeping such powers in the hands of the state's chief executive.

....The Ohio Parole Board recommended in May that Taft commute Campbell's sentence. And after studying the facts, Taft correctly concluded that the state should not carry out the execution in view of powerful and troubling questions about the prosecution's conduct. Taft's ruling upholds the central purpose of commutation: Whenever nagging doubt exists, the state should always err on the side of life.

Noah Leavitt argues in Counterpunch that the US should allow foreign law students to represent foreigners on America's Death Row.

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