EXPERT ADVISORY

New York, NY (April 11, 2001) -- New York Law School Professor Robert Blecker, retributivist advocate of the death penalty, is available to offer expert commentary on the pending execution of convicted Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh and on wider issues surrounding the application of capital punishment in the U.S.

Professor Blecker makes a powerful case on behalf of the death penalty as a form of retribution, arguing that society should impose capital punishment against those whose past actions merit the ultimate penalty. Specifically as to McVeigh, he calls for a nationally televised execution, preceded by videotapes profiling the victims and families, and without McVeigh's last statement being broadcast. He has himself recently witnessed an execution.

Professor Blecker's insights from convicted killers he's met and interviewed were the subject of an essay recently published in The Washington Post, on the front page of its "Outlook" section and served as the basis of a profile in The New York Times last year.

He has recently offered his views on the death penalty on Court TV and CNN, among other media outlets. His forthcoming book, The Worst of the Worst: Who Deserves to Die? (Basic Books), will be the first scholarly work since 1979 to advocate the application of the death penalty.

A former anti-corruption prosecutor, Harvard Fellow in Law and Humanities, and playwright, Professor Blecker's publications include: "Haven or Hell? Inside Lorton Prison" (Stanford Law Review), as well as articles in Penthouse, the National Law Journal, and The Nation.  He teaches courses in Criminal Law, Constitutional History, and Sentencing at New York Law School.

Last fall Professor Blecker co-taught a class at the Law School on the death penalty with Russell Neufeld, a prominent capital defender.

His play "Vote NO!,” an anti-federalist case against adopting the Constitution, premiered in 1987 at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Professor Blecker can be reached at work at (212) 431-2873 or at home at (516) 365-7180. In the alternative, please contact Alta Levat, New York Law School Public Affairs, at (212) 431-2325, alevat@nyls.edu.

ABOUT NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL

Founded in 1891, New York Law School, old.nyls.edu, is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States. Located near the centers of law, government, and finance in Manhattan's TriBeCa district, New York Law School enrolls 1,400 students in its day and evening divisions.