TY - JOUR
T1 - Criminals get all the rights
T2 - The sociolegal construction of different rights to die
AU - Rountree, Meredith Martin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 by Northwestern University School of Law.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - In the United States, different people have different rights to die. This Article traces the origins of death-sentenced prisoners’ ability to enlist assistance in dying and compares it to the considerably more circumscribed right held by people with serious illness. It uses empirical research on “volunteers,” death-sentenced prisoners who sought execution, to argue that the legal standard for adjudicating their requests to hasten execution should be changed. Empirical evidence suggests many of the concerns governing the regulation of assisted dying in the medical context are present in the death row case. This Article therefore urges courts to use a balancing test comparable to that developed in cases involving assisted dying in the medical context. Further, counsel should be appointed to articulate the state’s interests in subjecting the conviction and sentence to appellate review.
AB - In the United States, different people have different rights to die. This Article traces the origins of death-sentenced prisoners’ ability to enlist assistance in dying and compares it to the considerably more circumscribed right held by people with serious illness. It uses empirical research on “volunteers,” death-sentenced prisoners who sought execution, to argue that the legal standard for adjudicating their requests to hasten execution should be changed. Empirical evidence suggests many of the concerns governing the regulation of assisted dying in the medical context are present in the death row case. This Article therefore urges courts to use a balancing test comparable to that developed in cases involving assisted dying in the medical context. Further, counsel should be appointed to articulate the state’s interests in subjecting the conviction and sentence to appellate review.
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M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84959500903
SN - 0091-4169
VL - 105
SP - 149
EP - 202
JO - Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
JF - Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
IS - 1
ER -