Abstract
I. Introduction . . . . . 806
II. Judicial Opinions: Inappropriate Application . . . . . 808
A. Justice Blackmun in Callins . . . . . 808
B. The Roots in Furman and the 1976 Cases . . . . . 809
C. Principle and Practice . . . . . 811
D. Empirical Evidence . . . . . 814
III. CP as Constitutional or Just Only If Applied Precisely . . . . . 815
A. The Initial Argument . . . . . 815
B. CP Kills People . . . . . 817
IV. Implicit Appeals to the Premise that CP Is Unjust in Principle . . . . . 820
A. Discrimination in CP and in Education . . . . . 820
B. 'We Shouldn't Be Doing That Anyway' . . . . . 822
C. Protecting the Victims of Illegitimate Discrimination . . . . . 824
1. Convicted Murderers as the Victims of Discrimination . . . . . 825
2. Justice and Mercy . . . . . 829
3. Murder Victims and Survivors as the Victims of Discrimination . . . . . 830
V. Distortions in Practice as Undermining the Justification in Principle . . . . . 833
A. Consequentialist Justification . . . . . 833
B. Deontic Justification . . . . . 835
C. Common Pattern of Interpretation . . . . . 837
VI. Conclusion . . . . . 837
Recommended Citation
Robert F. Schopp,
Justifying Capital Punishment in Principle and in Practice: Empirical Evidence of Distortion in Application,
81 Neb. L. Rev.
(2002)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nlr/vol81/iss2/6