Capital Punishment and the 8th Amendment

“Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders.” This quote by Albert Camus is only the tip of the iceberg regarding how the death penalty is unconstitutional. One of the clauses that is broken by this irreversible punishment is the 8^th Amendment that states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”. Unfortunately in our American society, it seems as if this amendment is not being followed, specifically with regard to the death penalty. In the United States, 34 states are practicing inhumane punishment in the form of the death penalty, a system that is becoming considerably more unusual throughout the world. You can read which states have retained this punishment here.

The death penalty is inhumane because there is no way to know whether or not the alleged criminal is feeling pain while being executed. Since the first two chemical solutions injected into the person’s body are used to induce a coma and then to paralyze them, we can get no sense of the possible physical distress that the person being executed is feeling. The intention is for the person not to feel pain, but because we cannot ask them about their experience afterward, we can only speculate.

Additionally, the lethal injection process is certainly not foolproof. With any kind of medication, certain people require higher doses in order for the desired effect to take place. Lethal injection is no different. The coma may not be successfully induced, or the paralysis fully in effect before the final chemical is injected to stop the heart, making the execution all the more painful and inhumane. To read more about lethal injection, you can visit this article on deathpenalty.org.

Finally, capital punishment violates the 8^th Amendment by being unusual. Nearly half of all countries have completely abolished the death penalty, and an additional 17% have at least abolished it in practice. The United States stands as the only Westernized country that retains the death penalty and it is in the top five countries with the highest execution rates as shown by this chart. In 2010, the US only had fewer executions than China, Iran, North Korea, and Yemen. To be grouped with such countries, many of which the US criticizes for their disregard for human rights, shows the disgrace in our backward beliefs and policies.

Praise for Oregon

This Tuesday, November 22, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber made a courageous move for justice and put a temporary reprieve on the execution of Gary Haugen for the remainder of his term as governor. Governor Kitzhaber’s decision was announced just weeks before Haugen was set to be executed after waiving his right to another round of appeals and volunteering for execution. Haugen would have been the third person executed in Oregon in the past 49 years since the death penalty was reinstated.

Governor Kitzhaber announced his decision stating that while he oversaw both executions during his term, one in 1996 and one in 1997, he made those decisions despite his deep personal convictions against the death penalty. He said,

“At the time I was torn between questions I have about the morality of capital punishment and my oath to uphold the Oregon constitution. Those were the most agonizing and difficult decisions I made as governor and I have revisited and questioned them over and over again for the past 14 years. I do not believe those executions made us safer. Certainly I don’t believe they made us more noble as a society. And I simply cannot participate once again in something that I believe to be a moral wrong.”

Kitzhaber cited a number of arguments used against death penalty, including the fact that it is not a deterrent to future crime, problems with inadequate defense, and the high costs of the death penalty. As Oregon has only executed two individuals since its reinstatement, both of whom volunteered, Kitzhaber called the death penalty in Oregon effectively an incredibly expensive life term, saying it is a perversion of justice that he would not participate in any longer.

“Oregonians have a fundamental belief in fairness and justice and justice that is swift and certain. But the death penalty as it is practiced in Oregon today is neither fair nor just and is neither swift nor certain and it is not applied equally to all. In my mind it is a perversion of justice.”

Finally, Kitzhaber called on the people of Oregon to re-evaluate the current system of capital punishment, one that he said, “fails to meet the basic standards of justice,” adding that it is not his decision alone to end the death penalty and that it is time for the state to have a debate on the issue.

“Today we can no longer avoid the question,” said Kitzhaber in his announcement regarding the efficacy and legitimacy of the capital punishment system, and this statement is true for all 34 states in the U.S. who still have the death penalty. It is time that we all, as a nation, engage in a serious debate on whether we want to be in the company of countries like China, Iran, North Korea, and Yemen, who are the four countries with the highest number of executions worldwide with the U.S. as the fifth highest.

It is time we ask ourselves whether we want to be known as a leader in human rights, or as a country that still employs a system that is highly expensive, that is racially and socio-economically skewed, and that is draconian and backwards. It is atrocious that a country that aims to lead the rest of the world in so many ways could allow itself to lag so far behind when it comes to capital punishment. We must follow the path that countries around the world have already paved and abolish the death penalty across the U.S. Governor Kitzhaber has already made a step in the right direction. It is time that the rest of the nation join in and end this barbaric system.

View Governor Kitzhaber’s announcement here:
Governor Kitzhaber issues reprieve – calls for action on capital punishment

Article also published at The Progressive Playbook.

Two Months

It's been two months since Troy Davis was executed by the state of Georgia and yet I still find it hard to believe that we allowed it to happen. Yes, we allowed it to happen. Sure, we signed petitions, made phone calls, sent emails and some of us did even more. We wrote letters to the editors of our local newspapers. We tweeted, talked to our friends, wore our "I AM TROY DAVIS" shirts. We watched Amy Goodman reporting live from the protest site near the death house. We held our collective breath and then dared to hope again when word came that something was happening at the Supreme Court. When we heard that the execution had not been stayed and that the execution, no, the murder, of Troy Davis was actually going to happen, we were horrified -- not surprised really, but horrified still.

This past weekend I gathered with friends and colleagues who dedicate their lives to abolitioning the death penalty. It was great to see them and yet I felt distant, almost numb. Is Troy really dead? Being with my fellow abolitionists felt surreal. Last time we were all together, Troy was still alive and we were hopeful.

We did a post mortem of the campaign to save Troy. Post mortem - I never realized what a chilling phrase that is. We listened as those who were there that night told their stories. I am so proud of their work and humbled to be among them. We learned from each other, made plans and pledged to continue the fight.

But when I returned to my room each night, I cried. I am still so overwhelmed by sadness and disbelief. How did we let this happen? How is it, that as a country, we still cling to the hope that executing a human being will make things better? How long will we believe in the false promise of closure? What is the source of our lust for revenge? What is it going to take to end the killing? How on earth can the agents of our government be such cold-blooded killers?

I have so many questions tonight and so much sorrow in my heart. I know we tried to stop the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. It wasn't enough. We have to do better. We have to demand that our legislators change the laws that give a state the right to commit murder in our names. We have to talk to our county commissioners and tell them that spending one penny in an attempt to commit murder is wrong and that we will not tolerate it any longer. We have to go to court when the sentence of death is sought. We have to be there to watch, to take notes and to look into the eyes of those who would kill in our names. We have to show the prosecutors and judges and jurors that they do not do their work in a vacuum. We have to educate ourselves on how this insanity can still happen in the United States of America and, most of all, we have to stop the killing. We have to stop it now. We cannot let this continue. We are all Troy Davis.

The Reggie Clemons Case

The Reggie Clemons case reads like a manual for anti-death penalty advocates: no physical evidence links him to the crime, alleged police coercion, prosecutorial misconduct, questionable eye-witness testimonies, inadequate legal representation, a stacked jury, and questions of race, according to Amnesty International.

Reggie Clemons was convicted and sentenced to death in St. Louis, Missouri as an accomplice in the murder of two white women in 1991. The women, Julie and Robin Kerry, were killed as they fell from the Chain of Rocks Bridge into the Mississippi River.

Along with Clemons, three other youths were arrested and three of them, all African-American, were given the death sentence. One of them, Marlin Gray, was executed in 2005. The fourth man, Daniel Winfrey, was offered a lesser offense in exchange for testifying against Clemons.

As stated before, no physical evidence linked Clemons to the crime. His conviction relied mainly on two eye-witnesses, the first of which was Winfrey. The second eye-witness was Thomas Cummins, cousin of the two victims, who initially was picked up by authorities and confessed to the crime. He later identified Clemons and the other suspects as the perpetrators and charges against him were dropped.

In addition to the questionable testimonies, there seems to have been clear misconduct throughout the criminal justice process. To begin with, Clemons claims that he confessed to raping one of the victims under the pressure of police brutality. Two other suspects also alleged the same mistreatment and witnesses attest to seeing Clemons’ face swollen following the police interrogation. Clemons retracted the confession and maintains his innocence of all charges.

As is the case with many capital cases, inadequate legal representation for Clemons was clear and Clemons’ lawyer was later suspended from practicing law after various complaints were filed. In addition, there was clear prosecutorial misconduct, according to four federal judges who have all agreed that the prosecutor’s tactics were overly aggressive and abusive. The prosecutor compared Clemons, who had no criminal record, to a serial killer. Again, the prosecutor received various complaints from both state and federal courts.

The question of race is one that plays in very clearly in the Clemons case. There have been clear trends shown concerning biases regarding the race of the victim. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, over 75% of cases that result in execution were when the murder victim was white, even though only about 1/2 of murder victims nationally are white. In the Clemons case, both of the victims were white, the two main eye-witnesses were white, and the three convicted defendants were black. In addition, a 2002 U.S. District Court judge ruled that the death sentence of Clemons should not stand since six prospective jurors were excluded improperly in jury selection, resulting in a stacked jury that was unrepresentative of the population of St. Louis. This ruling, however, did not stand and was overturned by a higher court on technical grounds.

Clemons has a new hearing date set for March 5th, 2012 and there will be a huge push among abolitionists throughout the country to get him off death row. Regardless of your moral feelings on capital punishment, is seems clear that a country which considers itself to be a bastion for human rights around the world, would want to end a system which is clearly racially skewed and rife with mistakes that have put innocent men to death before and, if not stopped, will do it again. Missouri has executed 68 people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Let’s not add one more name to that list.

Article also published at The Progressive Playbook.

Photo credit: Amnesty International

Moving toward a Moratorium

A report released on The-News-Leader.com by Andrew Welsh-Huggins of the Associated Press today announced that Ohio’s 30-year-old death penalty law will be examined by a committee, which was convened by Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor. According to O’Connor, the purpose of the committee is not to decide if Ohio should have capital punishment, but rather to build a fair and impartial analysis of the law. During the time of the committee, which was given just over a year to complete the study, there will be an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty in the state, as three executions have already been postponed and another inmate has requested a postponement of his Nov. 15 execution date as well.

While this is not an end to the death penalty in Ohio by any means, it is a signal that dialogue has begun surrounding the issue, a dialogue that will hopefully spark debate among the additional 33 states in the U.S. that still have capital punishment on the books. After all, the systemic issues with Ohio’s capital punishment system are certainly not unique to the state. In fact, the issues with capital punishment go far deeper than simply a moral issue of whether it is permissible for the State to take the life of one of it’s citizens. The death penalty system is one that is clearly unbalanced in terms of race, class, and geography.

According to The Death Penalty Information Center, 96% of the states where the death penalty has been reviewed have shown a clear pattern of race-of-victim or race-of-defendant discrimination. Additionally, over 75% of the murder victims in cases that resulted in execution were white, despite the fact that only 50% of murder victims are white. In terms of socio-economic imbalance, nearly all the defendants in capital cases cannot afford their own attorneys and are given court-appointed attorneys, which, according to recent studies in states like Pennsylvania, such as this one, these court-appointed attorneys are often over-worked and under-paid, and many times lack the experience necessary to take on a capital case (read more here). Within states that allow the death penalty, the quality of representation or the likelihood that a court will pursue the death penalty often varies from county to county, making the system one that is not only rife with classism and racism, but also one that is arbitrary, based more on the color of the victim’s skin and on the county the crime was committed in then on the severity or proof of the crime.

And not only is this system a gross violation of human rights in this country, it is also costs more than life without parole. The Death Penalty Information Center notes that in Kansas, capital cases are 70% more expensive than cases of life without parole. In Florida, it costs the state $51 million a year over what it would cost to give all first degree murder cases life without parole. This trend is similar across all 34 states with the death penalty still in place. In such difficult economic times, it is hard to imagine why a system which has been proven to be a failure in terms of deterrence of future crimes and which is clearly racially skewed, geographically skewed, and socio-economically skewed, is allowed to continue in this country. With fewer and fewer people in support of the death penalty every year, it is time that we have some serious debate about our criminal justice system and our medieval capital punishment system. Ohio has begun the discussion. Now it is time for the remaining 33 states to do the same.

Article also published at The Progressive Playbook.

Hank Skinner Breaking News

This afternoon the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a stay of execution for Hank Skinner. But it's a mixed bag. The court issued the stay to allow time to consider whether to grant DNA testing, not to actually grant DNA testing. Why not just test the DNA? What have they got to lose?

The court order states in part, "Because the DNA statute has changed, and because some of those changes were because of this case, we find that it would be prudent for this Court to take time to fully review the changes in the statute as they pertain to this case."

Consider away! Bottom line is that if there is even the slightest chance that Hank Skinner is not guilty of the crime for which he is to be executed, we need to test the DNA!

Thanks to all of you who have been making phone calls and signing petitions in the interest of justice. Stay tuned for more information as we get it.

The Case for Hank Skinner

On March 18, 1995, Henry Watkins "Hank" Skinner was convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her two adult sons, Randy Busby and Elwin Caler. The three individuals were brutally murdered on December 31, 1993 in Pampa, Texas, as Twila was bludgeoned to death and the two sons were stabbed.

It has been fifteen years since Skinner's conviction, and in March, 2010, just thirty five minutes before Hank was scheduled to be executed, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution in order to consider Skinner's request for DNA testing, something that was not done during his trial in 1994. Ultimately, while the Supreme Court ruled in Skinner's favor, it did not grant Skinner the actual DNA testing, instead, under the Civil Rights Act of 1871, the Supreme Court ruled that Skinner could sue the county D.A.

It is not as if there wasn't any DNA evidence to test. In fact, there were many DNA samples taken from the crime scene, including a rape kit, blood samples, samples of biological material from underneath Twila Busby's fingernails, suggesting that she fought back at her assailant, and a windbreaker with more blood samples, human hairs, and perspiration stains. There is also evidence that another man, Twila's uncle, had been stalking her the night of the murder and had a violent past with Twila.

Despite the plethora of DNA evidence and the pleas of seven of the 12 jurors on the case to test the DNA, the state of Texas has refused to test the samples in the Skinner case. Skinner is set to be executed on November 9th, and judging by the actions of Georgia in killing Troy Davis this past September despite so much doubt, we cannot assume that justice will be paid by our failing court system. We need to act now and prevent Texas from executing what may very well be an innocent man. Texas has done it before in 2004 when they executed Cameron Todd Willingham, despite expert arson evidence that could have exonerated him.

We need to act now. Please contact Gray County (TX) District Attorney Lynn Switzer and Governor Rick Perry and urge Texas to test Hank Skinner's DNA and not to execute another man. You can also sign this petition and show your support.

Photo credit: Amnesty International

Article also published at The Progressive Playbook

Announcing Polly Underwood Scholarship

LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE AGAINST

THE DEATH PENALTY, SEPTEMBER, 2011

1 Keystone Plaza, Suite 200 Harrisburg, PA. 17101-2044 ph. 866 800 7278

Dear Student:

The Legislative Initiative against the Death Penalty has established an essay contest for high school students who are in the eleventh grade. The essays should discuss some facet of the death penalty and be submitted between October 1, 2011 and April 30, 2012. The award is $1000 to be deposited directly into the student’s account at the college of his or her choice.

LIADP thinks that it is extremely important to encourage students to learn about capital punishment. It is our belief that those who study the death penalty will soon oppose it. As part of our effort to educate students about this issue we have given scholarship tickets in the past to the play, “Dead Man Walking” and to our annual Fred Speaker Memorial Lecture and dinner. We believe that students who write about the death penalty will become aware of its sad history and the work of those throughout history who have seen its folly.

We encourage all eleventh grade students to take part in the scholarship competition. LIADP has enclosed a student set of directions and applications. These materials are also available by email from joan@turningflower.org.,by United States Postal Service --- LIADP, PO Box 15, Loysville, PA. 17047, and on the Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty web site, www.padp.org.

The scholarship is in memory of Pauline Underwood of Harrisburg and Shippensburg, who worked tirelessly for the abolition of the death penalty into her ninety-second year and who passed away in January 2011. Polly’s letters were published in Central Pennsylvania newspapers as recently as 2010.

Joan W. Anderson

President LIADP

APPLICATION FOR UNDERWOOD

MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

SUBMIT BETWEEN OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND APRIL 30, 2012. SEND A COPY

OF THIS FORM WITH THREE COPIES OF YOUR ESSAY.

DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON YOUR ESSAY.

STUDENT LAST NAME ___________________________________________________

FIRST NAME______________________________BIRTH DATE___________________

STREET ADDRESS____________________________________________________________

CITY______________________________________________STATE______ZIP_________

PHONE________________________CELL PHONE____________________________

EMAIL__________________________________________________________________

NAME OF HIGH SCHOOL_________________________________________________

STREET ADDRESS_______________________________________________________

CITY, STATE, AND ZIP____________________________________________________

TELEPHONE NUMBER__________________________________________

FACULTY ADVISOR ________________________________________________

STUDENT SIGNATURE ______________________________________________

Send to LIADP, P.O. Box 15, Loysville, PA 17047

ESSAY DIRECTIONS:

1. ESSAYS ARE TO BE WRITTEN BY STUDENTS IN THE ELEVENTH GRADE. ESSAYS SHOULD BE RECEIVED BY LIADP BEFORE APRIL 30, 2012. ORDINARILY YOUR ESSAY SHOULD BE NO MORE THAN 750 WORDS IN LENGTH.*

2. YOUR ESSAY MAY BE BASED ON THE HISTORY OF THE DEATH PENALTY AS WELL AS YOUR SPIRITUAL BELIEFS OR ETHICAL VALUES. STATISTICAL EVIDENCE AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS WILL BE WELCOMED. QUOTATIONS AND PARAPHRASING SHOULD BE PROPERLY DOCUMENTED WITH EITHER FOOTNOTES OR ENDNOTES.

3. SOME QUOTATIONS ARE SUPPLIED WITH THIS APPLICATION. YOU MAY CHOOSE ONE OF THESE OR USE A QUOTATION THAT IS NOT ON OUR LIST. YOU MAY REFER TO THE IDEAS OF SOMEONE ELSE THAT YOU RESPECT.

4. YOUR ENTRY SHOULD INCLUDE A BIBLIOGRAPHY.

5. THE ESSAY SHOULD BE THOUGHTFUL AND SHOW SENSITIVITY TO THE COMPLEXITY OF THE ISSUE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

6. THE ESSAY MAY ALSO BE USED TO FULFILL A SCHOOL OR HOME SCHOOLING ASSIGNMENT. IFYOUR ESSAY WILL BE USED FOR AN ASSIGNMENT THE ACCEPTABLE LENGTH OF THE ESSAY MAY NEED TO BE ADJUSTED. (*CONTACT LIADP AT THE ADDRESS BELOW IF YOU NEED TO DISCUSS THE LENGTH OF YOUR ESSAY.)

7. BY ENTERING YOUR ESSAY IN THE CONTEST YOU ARE GIVING THE LIADP PERMISSION TO PUBLISH IT.

8. PLEASE SUBMIT A COPY OF YOUR APPLICATION WITH YOUR ESSAY AND SEND TO: LIADP, PO BOX 15, LOYSVILLE, PA. 17047 OR TO joan@turningflower.org.

Please submit a copy of your application with three copies of your essay. Do not put your name on the body of the essay. Send application and essay copies to: LIADP, P.O.Box 15, Loysville, PA 17014. Phone number 1-866-800-7278