Capital Punishment, Federal Courts, and the Writ of Habeas Corpus
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2003
Editor(s)
Stephen P. Garvey
ISBN
9780822384038
Publisher
Duke University Press
Language
en-US
Abstract
The controversy over capital punishment in the United States is entangled with a related debate regarding the role the federal courts should play in the adjudication of death penalty cases. That related quarrel turns on the federal courts’ authority to entertain habeas corpus petitions filed by death row prisoners. Historically, the writ of habeas corpus ensured that individuals did not suffer deprivations of liberty without a prompt judicial determination that their incarceration was lawful. In modern times, the writ supplies the principal means by which federal courts consider prisoners’ claims that they were convicted and sentenced to death in violation of the United States Constitution.
Recommended Citation
Larry Yackle,
Capital Punishment, Federal Courts, and the Writ of Habeas Corpus
,
in
Beyond Repair? America's Death Penalty
58
(Stephen P. Garvey ed.,
2003).
Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822384038
