U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Fairness to the End: The Right to Confront Adverse Witnesses in Capital Sentencing Proceedings

NCJ Number
122633
Journal
Columbia Law Review Volume: 89 Issue: 6 Dated: (October 1989) Pages: 1345-1373
Author(s)
C K Tahbaz
Date Published
1989
Length
29 pages
Annotation
In order to minimize the arbitrary imposition of the death penalty, a capital defendant should not be denied his sixth amendment right of confrontation during the penalty phase of a bifurcated capital sentencing procedure.
Abstract
A capital defendant is permitted to exercise his sixth amendment right of confrontation during the guilt phase of his trial. Current law and practice in several States regarding the confrontation right in capital sentencing hearings is discussed, along with capital sentencing jurisprudence relying on eighth amendment and due process interests. Because the sixth amendment confrontation clause protects interest similar to those identified for protection by the U.S. Supreme Court in capital sentencing, it is reasonable to argue for protecting these interests by extending the confrontation guarantee of the sixth amendment to the capital offender's sentencing proceeding. 156 footnotes.