Death Penalty Is Upheld in Publicized Georgia Case: New York Times writer Robbie Brown, reports that the Georgia parole board has denied clemency to Troy Davis, sentenced to death for the killing a Savannah police officer in 1989. Davis, 39, is scheduled to die by lethal injection in Jackson, Ga., on Sept. 23, unless the United States Supreme Court agrees to hear an appeal. Previous posts on this case are here and here. A jury in 1991 convicted Davis in the 1989 murder of Mark Allen MacPhail, an off-duty police officer moonlighting as a security guard who was shot to death while responding to a late-night fight at a Burger King in Savannah. Davis testified he was at a nearby pool hall and left before Officer MacPhail arrived. The defense claims that since the trial, seven key witnesses have recanted, saying they were bullied by investigators into lying under oath. A per curiam Eleventh Circuit decision in 2006 rejects these claims and notes that Davis was also convicted of shooting another victim in the jaw and striking a third man in the head with a pistol on the night that Officer MacPhail was killed.

Violent Crimes Costing U.S. $45.1B A Year: This story, from the Orlando Sentinel News Services, reports the United States leads the world in economic loss from deaths caused by armed crime, according to a global survey released September 12th. The U.S. registered an estimated loss of up to $45.1 billion in terms of economic productivity because of violent crimes, said the report by the U.N. Development Program and the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey. At least 490,000 people are killed in armed crimes each year worldwide, placing a huge economic cost and social burden on nations, the report said. It did not give a country-by-country breakdown of the numbers of people killed in armed crimes but did say Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica and South Africa are among the countries with the most recorded violent crimes in the world. More people are killed worldwide in violent crimes every year than in wars, it said, asserting that armed killings and their economic impact on nations are largely underreported.

Mexico In The Midst Of A Legal Revolution: AP writer, Julie Watson, reports that Mexico has amended its constitution to throw out its inept and corrupt legal system. Under the constitutional amendment passed by the legislature, approved by all 32 states and signed by President Felipe Calderon, Mexico has eight years to replace its closed proceedings with public trials in which defendants are presumed innocent, legal authorities can be held more accountable and justice is equal. Since the Spanish conquest in the 1500s, Mexico has had an inquisitorial system adopted from Europe in which the accused is not presumed to be innocent and proceedings are largely carried out in writing and in secret. Without the threat of exposure in public trials mistaken arrests, bungled investigations and confessions extracted under threats and torture have become common in Mexico. Mexico's new penal code is similar to the one adopted by Chile in 2005, where cases are examined by three judges who consider the legality of the evidence and whether the defendant's rights were respected. Then, the judges send cases to trial or recommend other means of adjudication, such as a plea bargain or probation.