DePaul University College of Law Associate Professor Leonard Cavise applauded the decision of the American Bar Association to call for a moratorium on the death penalty, but he said more should be done.

The ABA House of Delegates voted Monday to call for a halt on imposition of the death penalty because it is administered in Aa haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal consistency. "The measure asks states to ensure Aconstitutional guarantees" are in place to prevent innocent people from execution.

"It's gratifying that the ABA has seen fit to recognize the arbitrary manner in which the death penalty is implemented in this country," said Cavise. "Unfortunately, the courts need to be convinced that actual innocence should always be a defense, that lawyers in death cases need to be competent, that racial minorities should not be exposed to death more frequently simply because of their color and that a civilized country demands that we not execute juveniles and the mentally handicapped."

Cavise said there is no evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime and too often innocent people are put on death row. Consequently, he said, the ABA has not gone far enough.

"If the bar cannot argue for abolition, it can at least advocate that the death penalty be reserved for the most heinous crimes, rather than any homicide that the state legislature chooses to include in the statute," Cavise said. "Lawyers need to criticize not only the procedure by which the death penalty is administered, but also the death penalty itself."

"Very few countries have an operating death penalty. The United States has the only well-developed jurisprudence of death and a proven track record of arbitrary implementation," he said. "In Illinois, eight people have recently been removed from death row because they were innocent. There is no evidence that the death penalty serves any purpose other than to satisfy the blood-lust of its advocates."

Cavise teaches evidence, criminal procedure, criminal law and trial advocacy at DePaul.

For more information call Cavise at 312/362-6841.