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...marriages it has created. There was a time when only a few liberals and a small group of clergymen fretted over the fairness of the death-penalty system. But ever since famed defense lawyer Barry Scheck and his Innocence Project gained national exposure with their successes in freeing death-row inmates with DNA evidence, a number of prominent conservatives have come forward with their doubts about the reliability of the judicial process. These doubts have also turned up in the polls. "I don't know if McGinn is innocent or not," said Scheck, who has signed on as a volunteer...
Illinois Governor George Ryan, a Republican, triggered the first major shift in death-penalty politics last January, when he declared a moratorium on executions in his state after no fewer than 13 death-row inmates were freed when new evidence cast doubt on their guilt. Then came Pat Robertson, the religious broadcaster, who called for a national moratorium. Next Wednesday, Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon will introduce a major bill in the Senate that would compel states to use DNA testing in all relevant cases. Also next week a highly touted study...
...majority still support capital punishment, the number is down to 66%, from a high of 80% in 1994. But fully 92% support making DNA testing available to those convicted before its widespread use. At the moment, only two states, New York and Illinois, insist on giving inmates on death row access to the new technology. Why the shift? Part of it may be the legacy of the country's lower crime rate--even though murder stats have registered a slight uptick in a few major cities (see box). The flurry of sentences overturned on the basis of DNA evidence...
These kinds of judicial atrocities have led to some remarkable conversions. Former Virginia attorney general William Broaddus, a Republican, used to prosecute capital cases. "It was part of our heritage and culture in Virginia," he says. Now he opposes them, after spending time with a death-row inmate he represented in 1996: "When you shake someone's hand, you start thinking." John DiIulio, the conservative crime scholar, has also changed his mind. His beef is that death row is a crapshoot because there is no logical relationship between those who commit capital crimes and those who end up facing death...
...death penalty in Texas--and under Bush--is particularly relevant because of the sheer number of people who have been executed on his watch. (Vice President Al Gore also favors the death penalty, but he has the advantage at the moment of not having to manage a death row.) The nation's largest state, California, has had eight executions since 1976. In the nation's second largest state, Bush has six scheduled this month alone. And even among Texas Governors Bush stands out: during the four years Ann Richards, Bush's predecessor, was Governor, 51 Texans were executed--about half...