William B. Saxbe Designated Professor of Law at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Position:
Pro to the question "Should the death penalty be allowed?"
Reasoning:
"In sum, the heart has its reasons, but also its value. The heart not only explains the death penalty's persistence, but also justifies it. A complete human, and a humane criminal justice system, need both head and heart. Such a system may well praise the death penalty, rather than burying it. We should certainly educate and critique emotions and their excesses, such as lynchings. Momentary eruptions of anger may cloud reflective emotional judgments. The job of the justice system is to not to stifle or skew emotions, however, but to promote reflective emotional deliberation. We can neither ignore punitive emotions nor assume that enlightened emotional progress will make the death penalty fade into the obscure mists of the past."
Cowritten with Stephanos Bibas, "The Heart Has Its Value: The Death Penalty's Justifiable Persistence," University of Pennsylvania Law School, Scholarship at Penn Law, 2008
Experts
Individuals with MDs, JDs, PhDs, other relevant advanced degrees, corrections and government officials with significant involvement in, or related to, death penalty issues. [Note: Experts definition varies by site]
Involvement and Affiliations:
William B. Saxbe Designated Professor of Law, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University, Fall 1997-present
Owner and Author, Sentencing Law & Policy Blog, Spring 2004-present
Co-Founder and Co-Faculty Managing Editor, Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Spring 2002-present
Editor, Co-Managing Editor, Federal Sentencing Reporter, Fall 1994-Spring 2001, Summer 2001-present
Received the Ohio State Bar Foundation Outstanding Research Award, 2006
Cowritten with Alyson S. White, "Looking At The Libby Case From A Sentencing Perspective," Federal Sentencing Reporter, Oct. 2007
Written Statement before the US House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on "The Use and Misuse of Presidential Clemency Power for Executive Branch Officials," July 11, 2007
"Can And Will Information Spur Post-modern Sentencing Reforms?," Federal Sentencing Reporter, Apr. 2007
"Claiborne and Rita--Booker Clean-up or Continued Confusion?," Federal Sentencing Reporter, Feb. 2007
