Arizona Daily Star

Editorial

Arizona Newspaper Urges Suspension of the Death Penalty

     Citing the study recently released by Columbia University Law School (see below), the Arizona Daily Star recommended a moratorium on executions, stating: 

    Tucson earned an alarming distinction this week in a new study on the death penalty in America. The study by the Columbia University Law School found that Pima County leads the nation in the  rate at which it sentences convicts to death. However, the county frequently gets it wrong. More than 70 % of local death sentences are overturned on appeal.

   . . .

   Given these findings, the Legislature should impose an immediate moratorium on executions while it investigates what appear to be serious systemic problems in halls of justice all around the state.

   . . .

   The Columbia report noted several types of problems which can contribute to "overuse" of the death penalty and resulting high error rates. Those factors include chronic underfunding and overloading of courts, inadequacies in a community's overall approach to dealing with crime, and political pressures when judges or prosecutors face reelection.

   Any of these factors - perhaps all of them - are arguably at play in Arizona. The best solution would be for the Legislature to eliminate the death penalty. Short of that, it must examine these issues in detail to ensure that the state is applying the death penalty fairly.