The article demonstrates that, once the distinction between guilt and sentence is taken into account, only about 27 percent of capital convictions are set aside. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of those defendants are eventually reconvicted and sentenced to imprisonment or death. The article claims that, even if most reversals are of the penalty alone, there are too many reversals in capital cases and explores possible explanations for this. The article also questions the implication that the capital punishment system has failed as a result of its inability to conduct reliable capital trials. Ninety-five percent of all murder convictions are ultimately upheld, but half of the death sentences are reduced to imprisonment, leading to the following inferences: (1) Capital trial courts do an acceptable job of determining guilt; (2) The principal tension within the system is over sentence, not guilt; and (3) The sentencing conflict is between trial judges and jurors who support the death sentences and appeals courts, which are far less supportive. The article questions the need for a capital appeals process that expends so many scarce criminal justice resources to determine sentences. Notes, table, figure