Is the death penalty being fairly and appropriately applied?

For four nights we're going to focus on the subject of the death

penalty. Whether you're in favor of it or oppose it, we're going to ask

you to put your own opinions on hold.

Imagine yourselves to be part of a national jury and do what is always

expected of jury members: listen and weigh the arguments. Listen to the

prosecutors and the defense attorneys. Listen to the judges and the

defendants. And listen also to a few of the people who are not always

heard in a courtroom - the governors, who often have the final decision

in matters of life or death and the families of the victims, who are

often seen in court but rarely heard.

See if you can distinguish between your emotions, your feelings and what

the law actually provides. These laws, after all, are drafted without any

knowledge of who the victims were, how they died or who their accused

killers may be. The law is intended to be unemotional, clinical,

even-handed, fair. In 38 of our states, the death penalty is on the

books. We're not asking you to decide whether it should be but, rather,

whether it is being fairly and appropriately applied. So remember, as

you come to your own individual decisions, that you'll be rendering a

verdict on a system, which, for good or ill, is ours.

Ted Koppel

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

>From Classroom to Death Row

Law students and a private organization are the last hope for most

convicts on Alabama's death row. The defense teams are fighting

against a system that they think unjustly sentenced their clients to

death although many are undoubtedly guilty.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

The Power of the Prosecutor

In Maryland, where county prosecutors have very different philosphies on

capital punishment, the difference between a life sentence and the death

penalty may depend on which side of the county line you stand.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14

A Tale of Two States

Illinois and Virginia are two states with very different track records

on the death penalty. In part three of Nightline's series, a look at the

"efficiency" of Virginia's capital punishment system and the moratorium

issued by Illinois's governor that reignited the death penalty debate

across the country.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

Don't Mess With Texas

According to former judges involved in death penalty cases, the state of

Texas doesn't have enough adequate and competent lawyers to represent

indigent capital murder defendants.