Stevens: US Better Off Without Death Penalty
by TChris
Speaking before the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said Monday: "I think this country would be much better off if we did not have capital punishment." He asked states to "really consider whether they think the benefits outweigh the very serious potential injustice, because in these cases the emotions are very, very high on both sides and to have stakes as high as you do in these cases, there is the special potential for error."
Stevens' statement ... appears to be the most pronounced statement against capital punishment made by a Supreme Court justice since the late Harry Blackmun wrote in 1994: "From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death."
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