Death at any cost: prosecutorial overreach.

• Author: Fisher, Anthony
• Position: Harvard Law School's Fair Punishment Project's report on capital punishment - Brief article

In the 40 years since the Supreme Court ushered in the modern death penalty era, about 5 percent of the over 8,000 death sentences levied have been overseen by just five prosecutors.

In a report issued this past June by Harvard Law School's Fair Punishment Project, capital punishment in the U.S. is characterized as a "personality-driven system" where "only a tiny handful of prosecutors are responsible for a vastly disproportionate number of deadi sentences." A telling quote in the report's introduction from former Caddo Parish, Louisiana, District Attorney Dale Cox helps illuminate why certain prosecutors so vigorously pursue death sentences: "I think we need to kill more people," he declared, adding, "revenge...brings to us a visceral satisfaction." Said another prosecutor of his former colleague, Donnie Myers of Lexington, Kentucky: "The only reason he gets up in the morning is to try death penalty cases. Virtually the...