NATION : Panel Urges Faster Death Appeals

WASHINGTON — A special judicial committee today proposed speeding the legal process under which Death Row inmates can challenge their convictions or sentences as unconstitutional.

The panel, chaired by former Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., was set up to review complaints about the long delays that have resulted as most Death Row inmates pursue appeal after appeal in state or federal court.

Powell criticized the present procedures, known as habeas corpus, which have led to an average delay of more than eight years between a murderer’s conviction and execution.

There are about 2,200 inmates on Death Row nationwide. Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, there have been only 116 executions.