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| Nebraska defends death penalty use |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 08/09/2001 |
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A Nebraska commission has concluded the state's use of the death penalty is largely free of racial discrimination and is applied only to the worst offenders, the panel's chief said Wednesday. Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice's study findings come at a time when the death penalty throughout the United States is under close examination, amid allegations of discriminatory treatment of minorities and evidence of wrongly convicted individuals being sentenced to die. The Nebraska report looked at 177 cases in which the death sentence was applicable out of a pool of more than 700 cases in Nebraska from April 1993 through December 31, 1999. The study examined how prosecutors charged, prosecuted and plea bargained cases, and sought to determine the overall fairness of death sentences, taking into account factors including the defendants' race, religion, and socio-economic status, as well as the socio-economic status of the victim. The study also found that Nebraska's system of charging and sentencing is 'reasonably consistent and successful in limiting death sentences to the most culpable offenders.' Of the cases examined, 81 first-degree murder cases were presented for possible death sentences, with capital punishment handed down in 27 of those. To date, three of the defendants have been executed. Nebraska and Alabama are the only two U.S. states that use the electric chair as their sole means of execution. |
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