ABSTRACT
From this day forward, T no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death .... I feel morally and intellectually obligated to concede that the death penalty experiment has failed.
-Justice Harry Blackmun (Callins v. Collins 1994)
INTRODUCTION
I t seems apparent that the machinery of death is broken, as well as the promises of those who said they were "fixing it." 1Despite well-intentioned tinkering in an attempt to patch some cracks, it appears the cracks are larger and more numerous than previously believed, and the capital punishment system may be broken beyond any hope of repair. Good intentions do not always produce positive consequences? and this clearly applies to efforts at criminal justice reform, and the death penalty in particular. The evidence suggests that the time may have come to accept Justice Blackmun's conclusion that the death penalty experiment has failed, and follow his lead by tinkering no more with the machinery of death (ibid.).
