US death penalty's 50th anniversary sparks abolition debate

The scourge of the death penalty hangs over America | Austin Sarat

The restoration of capital punishment in 1976 was based on a fantasy of fairness. It must be abolished Thursday will mark the 50th anniversary of the rebirth of the death penalty in the United States. On 2 July 1976, the supreme court handed down decisions in five cases that laid out a formula for passing constitutional muster. The formula the court devised and explained at length in one of those cases, Gregg v Georgia, was built on a wish and a prayer. It was a fantasy of fairness, powerful ...

By Austin Sarat