UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 01 FEBRUARY 2022
The School of Law are launching a new project with the American Bar Association (ABA) to update national guidelines which help ensure fair representation for those facing the death penalty.
The Centre for American Legal Studies and the Centre for Law, Science and Policy will work alongside the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Representation Project.
The project aims to update ABA Guidelines, which were produced in 2003, to set guiding principles around the appointment and performance of defence counsel in death penalty cases.
Since the original ABA Guidelines were first published, the quality of representation in capital trials has dramatically improved leading to a drop in death sentences in the U.S.
ABA Guidelines are applicable nationwide in the USA and operate as a compass for lawyers in capital proceedings, making them a vital resource to keep updated in order to maintain a high quality level of representation in these cases.
Modernising national guidelines
The research team, including law students Lydia Sorrenson, Jerome Sanghera and Owen Yates, will be led by Dr Sarah Cooper and Rebecca Lawrence at BCU and Christina Mathieson at the ABA.
The team will conduct a deep-dive analysis of the ABA Guidelines, including a review of their historical context, references in case law and law review articles, and related statutes and court rules, across US federal and state jurisdictions.
This analysis will allow the team to produce a rationale for changes made and update the Guidelines to reflect the modern legal landscape, including, for example, developing scientific evidence and medical understanding.
The project has the potential to shape legal practices across the US by improving national standards that govern capital litigation in the country.
Dr Sarah Cooper says:
Christina Mathieson, Staff Attorney, ABA Death Penalty Representation Project, says: