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New York -- After nearly 15 years of research in Virginia's Lorton Central Prison, 1969 Tufts graduate Robert Blecker says most death row inmates should not be executed. "We need fewer death sentences, more justly applied," Blecker writes in a Washington Post op-ed. "I would argue that the vast majority of the 3,700 murderers on death row today should, instead, spend the rest of their lives in prison." Blecker's research on the death penalty is rather unique -- the New York criminal law professor spent over a decade interviewing criminals about their experiences. His research has attracted the attention of the national media including the Post and New York Times. "Seeking a better way to judge murderers, I looked not only in the law books, but in Lorton Central," he explains. While the Tufts grad cautions that criminals shouldn't be "our guiding lights," he writes: "By understanding their attitudes, I believe we can better punish their acts proportionately to their evil."
Blecker writes in the Post. Citing the need to refine the "mechanism for deciding the great moral questions -- whether this or that killer deserves to die," Blecker calls for states to rethink their death penalty laws. "If we consult the experts -- including the killers -- and rethink it right, I am convinced we will end up converting the sentences of thousands of murderers presently on death row to life imprisonment," the Tufts grad writes. "The remaining few hundred monsters we should execute." Posted 12-11-00
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Death
Penalty Needs Refinement 
While
Blecker says the worst crimes should continue to merit death,
he adds that many other crimes -- while terrible -- do not justify
capital punishment. "I am not saying any murderers should 'get
off lightly' -- they should be locked up for life, and the most
vicious among them should be put to death. But the death penalty
is too final and profound a punishment to be administered wholesale,"
