Quality of Counsel
In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated in Roper v. Simmons that the death penalty must be reserved for "the worst of the worst," i.e. offenders who commit "the most serious crimes and whose extreme culpability makes them the most deserving of execution." Quality of counsel, however, is a far better predictor of who gets sentenced to death and ultimately executed. The death penalty is arbitrary and capricious, in part, because the "worst of the worst" most readily describes the quality of representation of those subject to it.
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