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Quote by William J. Brennan

“Perhaps the bleakest fact of all is that the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent.”

Quote by William J. Brennan

Author

William J. Brennan

William J. Brennan was a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, known for his contributions to constitutional interpretation. He retired in 1972 and is the second longest-serving Justice in U.S. history. more

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“It should be clear that the death penalty does just the opposite of promoting decency and respect for life. It dehumanizes people and promotes murder. It can never be applied fairly.”

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“Judicial execution can never cancel or remove the atrocity it seeks to punish; it can only add a second atrocity to the original one ... So long as one sees killing as wrong there is no need to waste time with the deterrent argument, since it would be nonsense to try to prevent a theoretical evil in the future by perpetrating an actual one in the present.”

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