[Insert disclaimer here] If something between 40 to 60 percent of death penalty cases are reversed on appeal because, perhaps, the person is actually innocent, does that mean we should get rid of the appeal process? If you are Republican Congressmen Dan Lungren and Jon Kyl the answer appears to be yes.
It seems these two men want to "streamline" the legal process by eliminating or sharply reducing the ability to appeal death penalty verdicts. Surely it must concern them that innocent people would be killed. But based on their bill, it seems the focus is that the sentence will be carried out more expeditiously.
According to a source in the article, most reversals are based on: "egregiously incompetent lawyering, prosecutorial misconduct or suppression of evidence, misinstruction of jurors or biased judges or jurors," said the study published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies."
The solution, in my opinion, is to get rid of the death penalty. Once someone is executed, you cannot correct an error. Hence, judges and juries are very circumspect when sentencing someone to death. If there wasn't such a need to be so cautious, cases could move much more efficiently through the system (if that's what the two men are actually concerned about).
