The Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities expresses its deep appreciation to all those whose work made this report possible.

This report has been researched and written primarily by Section staff. Section Director Penny Wakefield drafted much of the text. Other substantial contributors to the research and production of the report were Section Staff Assistant Christine D. Smith; law student researchers and interns Edna Boyle-Lewicki, Alice Legat, Kaliope Parthemos, and Kathrine Gorney; and Assistant Section Director Hector P. Vargas Jr. Former Assistant Section Director Jesselyn McCurdy conducted much of the initial legislative research.

Contributing significantly to the presentation and publication of the report were ABA Governmental Affairs staff member Kevin Driscoll and ABA Media Relations & Public Affairs staff members Nancy Slonim and Maureen Collins.

The Section also is indebted to Ronald J. Tabak, Section Council member and chair of the Section=s Death Penalty Committee, for his advice, technical expertise, and substantive contributions to the report; James E. Coleman, Jr., the Section=s chair-elect, for his editorial review of the report; and Virginia E. Sloan, Section Council member, for her review of the report.

The Section also wishes to acknowledge Robert J. Grey, Jr., chair of the ABA House of Delegates, for his thoughtful comments during his Aug. 4, 1998, press conference, in which he discussed the significance of this report and the death penalty resolution as examples of the ABA=s contributions to justice system improvement and public understanding of the law.

Providing invaluable assistance in the research of the report were Richard C. Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center and Jane Henderson of the Quixote Center/Equal Justice USA Project. Staff members of state and local bar associations and state legislatures, too numerous to mention individually, provided guidance and information concerning policy and legislative developments in their states. The Section also drew upon recent publications of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the Death Penalty Information Center, and the U. S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, for the data presented in the report=s appendices.

In this report, the Section attempts to note as accurately as possible all pertinent legal, public policy, and legislative developments of which the Section has become aware during more than a year of ongoing research. The Section regrets any inadvertent errors or omissions and would appreciate notification of them for inclusion in any further report on death penalty resolution implementation.

Walter H. White, Jr., 1998-99 Section Chair

September 1998