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...
Only Nebraska and Alabama have the chair as the sole method of execution. ... ” At least 16 of Alabama’s 187 death row inmates
were under 18 when they committed their crimes. ... Alabama has not carried
out any juvenile executions since it resumed using the electric chair in 1983. ... Wainwright, every defendant has had the
right to a lawyer for a trail and a direct appeal, and Alabama pays for such lawyers for
poor people, as every other state does. In Alabama, once a person has been convicted and
sentenced to death, he or she is no longer entitled to court-appointed legal defense. ... Thirty prisoners on Alabama’s death row have
no lawyers to pursue appeals, by far the largest such group in any state. At a time when
some other states are considering suspending executions, debating racial disparities in
capital convictions or examining the wisdom of executing mentally retarded prisoners,
Alabama officials remain firmly opposed to changes in the state’s death penalty system.
The lack of appeals lawyers in Alabama is one reason the state has the fastest-growing
death row in the country and the second-largest condemned inmates per capita behind
Texas. ... Two of Alabama’s 30 death row prisoners, without lawyers, recently came
within hours of execution because they missed deadlines for appeals. ... Alabama limits such petitions filed in state court to two years. ... With volunteers in short supply, opponents of the death penalty argue
that it is only a matter of time before Alabama executes someone who never had access
to the full protection of the legal system. ... The Legal Aid Society has set up a project to
recruit out-of-state lawyers to represent Alabama prisoners, but legal advocates say they
never know from case to case whether a lawyer can be found for a prisoner whose
execution is near.
Approximate Word count = 1459
Approximate Pages = 5.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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