The document discusses the complex and imperfect nature of justice. It notes that justice requires an unwavering commitment to doing what is right rather than what is easy. When justice breaks down, the disadvantaged are further harmed. The organization exists to help ensure justice is served fully at every stage of the legal process as a defense against cruelty.

2. JUSTICE IS NOT LINEAR. It is not absolute, nor simple, nor
free from human error. Justice will show you the worst of
humanity, and it will ask you to be fair. It will demand your
patience, your courage and your reason, even in the face of that
which would defy reason.
To ensure that we are truly protected under the law, justice
requires an unwavering commitment to what is right, not what
is easy. And when its cycle fractures, when players fail to abide
by the same rules or the rules fail in their clear understanding,
the unthinkable happens. The already disadvantaged are
plunged deeper in the grasp of violence and terror. The
forgotten become the wrongly accused. And the very concept
of what make us human is called into question.
This organization exists because we know that justice doesn’t
end the day a verdict comes down. Justice is a full-circle
endeavor, and the worth of all our lives hangs in its balance.
We exist because justice—in all its forms and at every stage of
the law—is our best defense against unforgivable cruelty.

3. THE STAKES ARE HIGH
Justice 360 is the only organization
in South Carolina working to reform
policies and practices in capital
proceedings. We believe our mission—
to promote fairness, reliability and
transparency in the criminal justice
system—has never been more vital.
We’ve seen a lot since our founding
in 1988. And while much has
changed (including the name of our
organization), one thing has remained
constant: the need for resources,
representation and advocacy in death
penalty cases.
Whether a defendant will be sentenced
to death typically depends more on
the quality of his legal team than any
other factor in his trial proceedings.
That’s why our attorneys specialize
in defending capital cases. We focus
on excellence in representation,
collaborative teamwork, and offering
the resources and expertise necessary to
construct a fair and adequate defense.
60%
7THHIGHEST
OF ALL DEATH
SENTENCES IMPOSED
IN SOUTH CAROLINA
HAVE BEEN REVERSED
DURING APPELLATE
PROCEEDINGS.
SOUTH CAROLINA HAS
THE 7TH HIGHEST PER
CAPITA EXECUTION
RATE IN THE COUNTRY.

4. VICTIMIZATION IS A TWO WAY STREET.
Our system of justice strongly favors
the prosecution, which is all too
often vulnerable to racial bias and
prosecutorial misconduct. While the
U.S. Supreme Court has required
special protections to ensure that our
nation’s most severe punishment is
not administered in an arbitrary or
discriminatory fashion, practical reality
does not always coincide with judicial
theory.
Defendants in capital cases are
commonly intellectually disabled,
mentally ill and unable to pay the high
costs associated with experienced
representation. Along with race, these
factors are enormous impediments to
fair capital proceedings, and are proven
to increase the likelihood of a death
sentence. Compounding these issues
is the reality that, without adequate
representation, a high percentage of
capital cases involve false confessions,
jailhouse informants and unreliable
eyewitness testimony.
Given these circumstances, innocent
people can be sentenced to death. And
even when the right party is prosecuted,
unfairness may so mar the process that
the conviction could be subject to later
reversal.
70%
1004OUT
OF
OVER
OF SOUTH CAROLINA’S
CURRENT DEATH ROW
POPULATION SUFFERS
FROM A SERIOUS
MENTAL ILLNESS.
IT IS ESTIMATED THAT
4 OUT OF EVERY 100
DEATH ROW INMATES
ARE INNOCENT.

5. THE COST IS GREAT.
The financial cost of prosecuting,
defending, adjudicating and appealing
a death penalty case is more expensive
at every step than a non-death penalty
case. In fact, it costs far more to sentence
someone to death than to house and feed
them for life.
Sadly, many South Carolinians assume that
inmates drag out the appeal process for
many years in order to delay the inevitable.
The truth is that prisoners spend most of
that time waiting on the state and on court
rulings, which may take years to respond at
each step of the process.
Money aside, the inherent cost to
our society is astronomical. Unjust
administration of the death penalty takes
its toll on victims, families, communities,
and, ultimately, all of us.
$1.1MIL
A SINGLE DEATH
PENALTY CASE IN
SOUTH CAROLINA
COST TAXPAYERS
AN AVERAGE
OF 1.1 MILLION
MORE THAN LIFE
WITHOUT PAROLE.
WE’RE HERE TO HELP.
We are compelled to ensure that inmates
condemned to death receive a thorough
review of their case, appeal as appropriate,
and quality representation. Through our
work in four key areas of the criminal justice
system, we hope to advocate for a more
holistic, more humane administration of this
most severe of punishments.
DIRECT REPRESENTATION
Attorneys on our staff directly represent
death row inmates at all levels of the
process, concentrating primarily on state
post-conviction and federal habeas corpus
proceedings. In fact, we often take on the
cases that others won’t. No matter the
circumstances, we focus on providing the best
possible defense to inmates who would not
otherwise have access to an experienced legal
team. We are committed to navigating the
complexity of extreme criminal sanctioning,
as well as providing holistic representation to
inmates and their families.
MORE

6. JUSTICE 360 ADVANCING EQUALITY
IN CAPITAL CASES
900 elmwood avenue
suite 200
columbia, sc 29201
office 803.765.1044
email info@justice360sc.org
www justice360sc.org
RESOURCES & TRAINING
The organization serves as a resource
center for attorneys appointed on
capital cases and to pro bono attorneys
who assist them, whether at the trial
level or during later stages of the case.
We provide consulting services, sponsor
training programs, and publish resource
materials. These services are designed
to give capital defense teams the tools
they need to advocate effectively for
their clients. Attorneys, students, and
other interested persons can access a
wide variety of resource materials using
our website downloads or by contacting
us directly. Each year students from
the Cornell Law School Death Penalty
Project intern with our organization,
and we have had a staff position for a
fellowship attorney since 2009.
POLICY REFORM
Justice 360 is engaged in a variety
of efforts to advance reform. We
participate in policy research and
other joint projects with educational
institutions, and we advocate for
specific reforms aimed at addressing
systemic flaws in the capital punishment
process. Recently, we have developed
proposals for a Racial Justice Act that
would address racial disparities in death
penalty cases in our state, and a Mental
Illness Ban to stop the execution of the
severely mentally ill.
PUBLIC EDUCATION
We provide services and author
educational materials that are
expressly designed to help non-lawyers
understand the societal and judicial
issues surrounding South Carolina’s
death penalty. We also welcome
opportunities to speak publicly to
civic groups, congregations, classes, or
other groups of people. By raising the
public’s awareness of capital sentencing
in our state, we can begin to shape the
conversation surrounding the death
penalty and begin to effectively advance
the cause of justice.