Robert Deans is the Information Specialist for the Death Penalty Information Center.
The DPIC focuses much more--if not completely--on the practical applications of the death penalty and its problems, rather than moral issues. Since the death penalty is certainly an emotional issue, is it difficult to stay this course at times?
Robert Deans: I think that because so many other groups focus on the morality play, it makes it easier for us to stay our own course as simply a factual resource center.
What do you feel is the most pressing current issue today in terms of the death penalty?
RD: There are two major decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court that will have an impact on the death penalty in the US when the decisions are handed down prior to the end of the year. One is the retroactivity of Ring v. Arizona, which stated that judges may not hand down death sentences. The other key issue is whether or not it is constitutional to execute juveniles, and the court will hear these arguments in Roper v. Simmons in the next term.
On a national scale, how important were the findings by the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment? And do you think those findings will have a lasting effect?
RD: At the very least the findings set precedents for other states to use legislation in studying their own systems.
Many countries are attempting to have a more active role in capital cases in the U.S. in which their citizens are defendants. Do you feel this encourages the U.S. to scrutinize the application death penalty? Or does it have more of a "closing ranks" effect in which policymakers would tend to defend the death penalty?
RD: This is hard to say. It may very well be closer to "none of the above." For example, despite constant bickering about human rights, one of our biggest trade partners is still China.
Even though most polls shows that Americans feel the death penalty is unfairly applied, why has there not yet been a national moratorium on the death penalty?
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