Illinois Death Penalty Mitigators Claim Victory, Look for Work

When prosecutors say defendants should die, mitigators look for reasons why they shouldn�t.
by Michael Miner
Since 2003, defense attorneys in capital cases have been directed by the U.S. Supreme Court to conduct a careful search for the mitigating circumstances of each defendant's life, and by the American Bar Association to retain a specialist who will compile "a comprehensive and well-documented psycho-social history of the client based on an exhaustive investigation." The point of these directives was to make the death penalty less capricious and unjust.…

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Source: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/illinois-death-penalty-mitigators/Content?oid=3472972

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