{
  "id": "RS20369",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RS20369",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 102698,
      "date": "1999-10-21",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:41:48.321941",
      "title": "Capital Punishment: Summary of Supreme Court Decisions of the 1998-99 Term",
      "summary": "The most significant capital punishment cases decided by the Supreme Court during the 1998-99\nterm did very little in terms of reversing the lower courts where the petitioners were the defendants\nat the trial level.  (1)  Significantly, among these cases, the Court settled splits\nin the circuits on issues\nof statutory interpretation and other trial-related issues. The Court also made clear that withholding\nan element of an offense from a jury's consideration can be a harmless error. In the  Strickler\n case,\nthe Court gave some guidance on what \"materality\" means for purposes of the disclosure rule of\n Brady v. Maryland.   Additionally, the Court took its first look at the new federal death\npenalty\nstatute.     \n     1.  \u00a0For additional background materials on the subject,\n see  W. White,  Capital Punishment's Future , 91 Mich.\nL. Rev. 1429, 1429 (1993); D. Schrader,  Capital Punishment: Summary of Supreme Court\nDecisions on the\nDeath Penalty ,  CRS Report 96-116(pdf)  A (Feb. 1, 1996); P. Wallace,  Capital Punishment\nSummary of Supreme\nCourt Decisions During the 1997-98 Term ,  CRS Report RL30145(pdf)  (April 19, 1999).",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RS20369",
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          "filename": "files/19991021_RS20369_fcd95a3d529ec0e6e756cce0b52eaa7c8e47a86c.pdf",
          "images": null
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law"
  ]
}