Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> tcask:: on the road (to abolition)

Criminal Law

: tcask:: on the road (to abolition)

More Death Penalty Study Committee News

By Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing

Today the Fairness subcommittee of the Tennessee Death Penalty Study Committee met to continue its discussion about how to improve representation for indigent defendants charged with capital crimes in Tennessee. Report after report cited in the Committee, including reports by the American Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association, highlight the lack of adequate defense services available to indigent defendants in our state who are on trial for their lives.The Fairness subcommittee decided to recommend to the full Committee that an independent office of death penalty representation services be established in Tennessee in order to address some of the problems with the current system.This office would be charged with raising qualification and training standards for attorneys defending capital cases; monitoring capital case workloads and performance to ensure that defendants were being represented adequately; determining the services that defense attorneys need to defend their clients; setting compensation rates for capital counsel; and finally recruiting and appointing counsel and/or providing judges with a list of qualified counsel from which the judge could appoint...continue to full post

Full post as published by tcask:: on the road (to abolition) on September 08, 2008 (boomark / email).