Capital Punishment: Summary of Supreme Court Decisions of the 1998-99 Term (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Oct. 21, 1999 |
| Report Number |
RS20369 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Paul S. Wallace, Jr., American Law Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
The most significant capital punishment cases decided by the Supreme Court during the 1998-99
term did very little in terms of reversing the lower courts where the petitioners were the defendants
at the trial level. (1) Significantly, among these cases, the Court settled splits
in the circuits on issues
of statutory interpretation and other trial-related issues. The Court also made clear that withholding
an element of an offense from a jury's consideration can be a harmless error. In the Strickler
case,
the Court gave some guidance on what "materality" means for purposes of the disclosure rule of
Brady v. Maryland. Additionally, the Court took its first look at the new federal death
penalty
statute.
1. Â For additional background materials on the subject,
see W. White, Capital Punishment's Future , 91 Mich.
L. Rev. 1429, 1429 (1993); D. Schrader, Capital Punishment: Summary of Supreme Court
Decisions on the
Death Penalty , CRS Report 96-116(pdf) A (Feb. 1, 1996); P. Wallace, Capital Punishment
Summary of Supreme
Court Decisions During the 1997-98 Term , CRS Report RL30145(pdf) (April 19, 1999).
