Group That Shaped Death Penalty Gives Up

It was a little bit buried inside the paper today, but Adam Liptak's "Sidebar" column ("Group That Shaped Death Penalty Gives Up on Its Own Work") is worth a read.  He describes a significant event in the crime and punishment realm that occurred this past fall: the American Law Institute, an organization of judges, law professors, and lawyers that provided the intellectual support for the death penalty in the U.S. via the Model Penal Code have declared that project -- active since 1962 -- a failure.  This won't change anything tomorrow, Liptak suggests, but it's likely to be something we'll hear about over the next several years in the public conversation about capital punishment.

The original ALI report -- from April 2009 -- can be found on their website.