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<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nLet’s suppose that Suzy and Bobby had a business together, which they’re liquidating. They have to negotiate how they’ll split the business assets, and if they can’t reach an agreement, then they’ll have to go to trial.<\/p>\n
Just one thing: If they go to trial, there’s a good chance that the judge is going to have Suzy put to death. There’s no chance Bobby will be put to death; only Suzy faces that possibility.<\/p>\n
In that situation, I’d be willing to bet that Bobby walks away with most of the company assets. You can’t have a fair negotiation when one of the negotiating parties faces death if the negotiations fall through.<\/p>\n
Daniel De Groot <\/a>argues that the death penalty actually makes false confessions more likely, by giving police and prosecutors an unfair negotiating tactic: threaten suspects with death. Quoting Derek Tice, who confessed to a murder he almost certainly didn’t commit:<\/p>\n DEREK TICE: At least every, I’d say, 30 seconds [Police Detective] Ford was saying, “You keep saying you weren’t there, you keep lying to us, you’re going to die. You’re going to get the needle. How does it feel to die?” And after the nine hours, my thinking was my only options are tell him a lie, tell him what he wants to hear and live, or keep telling the truth and die.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Furthermore, the death penalty is such a strong negotiating technique, it can be used not just to induce false confessions but also false accusations:<\/p>\n MIKE FASANARO, ATTORNEY: [My client] Joe was facing the death penalty. The commonwealth approached me and asked me whether or not he might be interested in testifying on behalf of the commonwealth. In return, they would take the death penalty off the case, off the table. I approached Mr. Dick about it. I approached his parents about it. Based upon the evidence, based upon the personality of the client that I had, I considered that if we went to trial, the death penalty was a legitimate possibility.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You can’t blame the death penalty alone — venal and corrupt police, district attorneys who care more about being tough than serving justice, incompetent and overworked defense attorneys, and a justice system whose incentives all point in the wrong direction all contribute to false convictions. But it’s clear that the presence of the death penalty makes all other problems worse, by crippling the ability of defendants to fully fight for their own cases — just as Suzy, in my example, will not be able to strongly negotiate for her fair share of her business.<\/p>\n The particular case De Groot is discussing is pretty damn outrageous<\/a>; I’d recommend going over and reading his post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let’s suppose that Suzy and Bobby had a business together, which they’re liquidating. They have to negotiate how they’ll split the business assets, and if they can’t reach an agreement, then they’ll have to go to trial. Just one thing: … Continue reading