Reversals and Errors in Capital Cases: A Closer Look
Explore the rate of reversal in capital cases, with a focus on flaws in trials leading to resentencing, as highlighted by the case of Chris Ochoa. Discover the shocking statistics and implications of flawed death sentences being overturned in the judicial system.
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Deadly Justice, Ch 7 Reversals Any comments or questions about Chris Ochoa? February 5, 2025 Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 1
The state of xxx hereby sentences you to the punishment of death by lethal injection. May God have mercy on your soul Oops, just kidding. Your trial was actually flawed, so on second thought you will either: Go to prison for life, or Have a new trial, potentially to be sentenced to either life or death again Reversals may be from the guilt or the penalty phase of the trial Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 2
What do you think is the rate of reversal? Given that you were just sentenced to death, deemed by a jury of your peers to be among the worst of the worst and deserving of death, What are the odds that the judicial system will then reverse itself, saying that the trial was so flawed that it has to be done again, or that your death sentence was wrongly imposed and you must be resentenced to Life rather than Death? Drum roll please Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 3
70 freakin percent Liebman, S. James, Jeffrey Fagan, Andrew Gelman, Valerie West, Garth Davies, and Alexander Kiss. 2002. A Broken System, Part II: Why There Is So Much Error in Capital Cases, and What Can Be Done About It. Columbia Law School. http://www2.law.columbia.edu/brokensystem2/index2.html Liebman, James S., Jeffrey Fagan, and Valerie West. 2000. Error Rates in Capital Cases, 1973 1995. Columbia University Law School, June 12. Available from: http://www2.law.columbia.edu/instructionalservices/liebman/liebman_final.pdf. Gelman, Andrew, James S. Liebman, Valerie West, and Alexander Kiss. 2014. A Broken System: The Persistent Patterns of Reversals of Death Sentences in the United States. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 1, 2: 209 261. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 4
BTW, actual death warrants are also reversed. The majority (!) of all death warrants signed by the Governor are later cancelled. Some are cancelled after the person has their last meal and even when they are strapped to the gurney. Others are cancelled in the days after they are issued, well before the scheduled execution date. Still We ll talk about this later in the semester. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 5
Outcomes from 9,017 death sentences imposed since 1972. (Current as of Jan 1, 2025) Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 6
Details on reversals: Generally, a term of life without parole. A few mass commutations. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 7
Homicides in general, from FBI reports Age of offender: Mean is 30 Age of victim: Mean is 33 Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 8
Capital offenders: Mean is 29, same as homicide offenders in general, no change over time. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 9
Reversals increasingly come after many years. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 10
Therefore, executions increasingly of older people. Recall, no change in age of offenders. Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 11
Exonerated individuals: some after 40 years Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 12
Aging in place (On Death Row) Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 13
Age Group Under 20 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s or higher 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 5 2 5 0 0 329 241 66 28 593 1112 516 118 34 678 1320 1089 458 83 26 175 880 1154 751 269 33 27 284 741 847 480 143 12 5 1 1 4 0 2 5 Total 676 2379 3661 3267 2534 Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 14
Summary: About 70 percent are reversed. Data as of January 2025 9,034 death sentences 1,607 executions (18 percent) Others? Over 4,000 have had their sentences reversed, being removed from death row Almost 200 have been found to be innocent, a subset of reversals. About 70 percent of death sentences are later reversed. Wow. About 2,100 still on death row, so who knows what will happen to them. For now, they are simply aging in place Baumgartner, POLI 203, Spring 2025 15
