Weekend capital punishment reading

Death penalty cases and jurisprudence are always rich with drama.  But this week’s events involving the (after-the-)last-minute stay and cert grant in Hill and its ripple effects seem like a whole new chapter in capital drama.  With a weekend break providing a moment to reflect on capital punishment in theory and practice, I see SSRN has these interesting new papers on the death penalty:

• The Second Death of Capital Punishment by J. Richard Broughton

• When the Federal Death Penalty is ‘Cruel and Unusual’ by Michael Mannheimer

Recap of this past week’s (too?) exciting death penalty developments:

• Now what in Florida and Texas?
• A cruel and too usual jurisprudence?
• What’s SCOTUS doing in the Hill case?
• Does the SCOTUS cert. grant create a de facto moratorium?
• How will the Hill case impact execution plans?