Maryland Gov. Pushes for Death Penalty Repeal

On January 15th, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley announced that he will once again push for repeal of capital punishment in the state. O'Malley, who has long been opposed to the death penalty, attempted repeal in 2009 but fell short. Now, with renewed momentum and stronger support within the legislature, many think that Maryland may be the next state to abolish capital punishment.

And it seems about time. While the entire nation scrambles to cut spending in the wake of recession, anti-death penalty advocates argue that we simply cannot afford to maintain a system marked by such high costs and seemingly little returns.  Governor O'Malley said,

“It is not a deterrent. It cannot be administered without racial bias. It costs three times as much as locking someone up for life without parole. And it cannot be reversed if an innocent person is executed.” 

A 2008 study by the Urban Institute estimated that Maryland taxpayers are paying about $186 million for the capital punishment system in the state - a system which has carried out only five executions since 1978 when Maryland reenacted the death penalty. The study estimated that, in comparison to an equivalent non-death penalty case, Marylanders paid an extra $1.9 million more per death sentence - a total of about $3 million per death penalty case. According to the Death Penalty Information Center,

"The study examined 162 capital cases that were prosecuted between 1978 and 1999 and found that seeking the death penalty in those cases cost $186 million more than what those cases would have cost had the death penalty not been sought. At every phase of a case, according to the study, capital murder cases cost more than non-capital murder cases."

What's more, the study looked at 106 cases where the death penalty was sought but not handed down in Maryland and found that those cases cost the state an additional $71 million simply to seek a death sentence, yet the final outcome was ultimately life or a long-term sentence.

If Maryland successfully repeals the death penalty, it will be the sixth state in the past decade to repeal, including Connecticut which voted for repeal last year. 17 states plus the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty. Along with Maryland, Senator Hank Sanders of Alabama plans to introduce a bill to abolish the death penalty this year, as do Kentucky Representative Carl Rollins, Senator Claire Levy of Colorado, New Hampshire Governor Margaret Hassan, and Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon.

O'Malley has been a true champion for progressive causes since he was elected Governor of Maryland in 2006. In 2011, he signed a law to make certain undocumented immigrants eligible for in-state college tuition, also known as the Dream Act, and in 2012 he signed a law to legalize same-sex marriage in the state which was upheld by majority vote during the general elections. This year, O'Malley has stated that he plans to pursue stricter gun safety regulations, including a ban of assault weapons and gun safety courses and background checks for potential gun owners. He also announced plans to increase the use of renewable wind-energy off of the Atlantic coast through use of incentives.

Vigil Nov 8, 2012 in Protest of Execution of Hubert Michael

Unless there is a last-minute stay, Hubert Michael will be executed by the state of Pennsylvania. His execution will be the first of a non-volunteer (someone who has chosen to abandon the appeals to which he is entitled) in 50 years, and the first execution in 13 years. We invite you to join us for a vigil tomorrow evening.

We will be gathering outside of SCI Rockview at 5PM for a candle light vigil in protest of Hubert Michael's execution. Please come and stand in solidarity with us. We are organizing car pools from the York/Harrisburg and Philadelphia areas. Please contact Kathleen at KLucas@padp.org if you are able to offer a ride or if you need one. We would like to have a group from Pittsburgh join us as well. Please contact Kathleen if you are willing to help organize a car pool.

More detailed information about the vigil:

• The state of Pennsylvania is back in the killing business. The first execution in 50 years of a non-volunteer is scheduled for November 8, 2012 to begin at 5 PM. Please stand with us outside the death house on the evening of Michael Hubert's execution. The vigil will take place regardless of weather. Here is a list of items you may want to bring along: Layers of clothing and, if rain is predicted, umbrellas. Candles as symbols of shining a light of hope for ending the death penalty in PA and throughout the world. Folding chairs Some snacks to share Musical instruments Flashlight Signs (we will also have some made in advance) Camera/Video camera There is no parking on the road outside the prison so we will be relying on shuttle service by the generous Penn State students using their personal vehicles. Please park in the Nittany Mall in State College outside of Sears and look for a group of vehicles which will be clearly marked with signs calling for abolition of the death penalty and white fabric strips hanging out their windows.  Speakers will include Reverend Walter Everett, whose son was murdered, Ashlee Shelton, former head of Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, and a spokesperson for Hubert's spiritual advisor, Sister Barbara. Please spread the word far and wide about this vigil and encourage everyone to join us. Pennsylvania must be shown that we do not want the state to kill in our names. Invited speakers will include leaders of Amnesty International, Pennsylvania Prison Society, murder victims' family members, faith leaders, and representatives from other organizations. If your organization is interested in this speaking opportunity, please contact me at info@padp.org . Yours in Solidarity and Hope, Kathleen

KDKA Talk Show Host Says PA Should Get Rid of Death Penalty

Wow! Conservative Pittsburgh talk radio host, KDKA's Robert Pratte just said live on air that if a legislator is brave enough to introduce a bill to abolish the death penalty in Pennsylvania, that he would support him. He said it several times. I think he means it and I couldn't agree more.

Rob's reasoning goes something like this: it's a waste of money and we shouldn't be wasting money on it at a time when important things, like education, are being cut from PA's budget. He says we can't shorten the appeals process and that he doesn't want to see an innocent person executed.



With the abolition of the death penalty in Connecticut, there are five states in five years that have abolished it. We're now at a total of 17 states without capital punishment. And there's more coming. I want to make sure that PA is one of the next to end this barbaric practice.


We can do this. We must.

PA to follow NC in Addressing Racial Bias in Death Penalty

Racism has been a blemish on the record of the United States since the colonial era. Despite many laws, acts and movements to abolish racism, it unfortunately still remains prominent in society. Now, we claim that racial discrimination does not occur in our country, such as during a trial where a black male could be sentenced to death. However, many factors point to racist tendencies in the courtroom, but some states, such as North Carolina, are fighting back.

The first case involving North Carolina’s Racial Justice Act has concluded. It involves Marcus Robinson, who was convicted of murder in 1994. The RJA allows death row inmates to present evidence of racial bias to a judge, and if the judge rules that there was racial injustice present throughout the process that inmate’s sentence will be changed to life without parole. Robinson’s case is the first under the RJA that will hopefully set the bar for the 150 cases to follow.

Robinson’s defense is arguing that prosecutors did not allow African Americans to serve on the jury based on the color of their skin. A Michigan State University study showed that in more than 173 death penalty trials from 1990-2010 prosecutors struck black jurors more than twice as often as non-black jurors.

Philadelphia took a very proactive approach in preventing African Americans from serving on a jury. District Attorneys in Philadelphia underwent training sessions, during which they were taught how to effectively hide racial bias while eliminating blacks from the jury pool.  

Quotes from the tape include:

“Let’s face it, … there’s the blacks from the low-income areas[,] … you don’t want those people on your jury.”

And

“You know, in selecting blacks, you don’t want the real educated ones.”

Do you find it hard to believe that this sort of racism still exists in America? Watch the video for yourself: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5102834972975877286

Pennsylvania’s version of the Racial Justice Act, House Bill 1996, is scheduled to be introduced to the House next week. Although there is currently a study underway in PA regarding the death penalty, the House needs to pass HB1996 now to prevent anyone from being unjustly executed.

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

Moving Forward

Although it has been happening painfully and slowly, the U.S. is beginning to show promise as capital punishment is becoming less and less favorable throughout the country. A New York Times editorial from Oct. 14, The Death Penalty's De Facto Abolition, highlighted this positive move forward as the United States struggles to catch up with the rest of the world with regards to the death penalty.

"From their annual high points since the penalty was reinstated 35 years ago, the number executed has dropped by half, and the number sentenced to death has dropped by almost two-thirds. Sixteen states don’t allow the penalty, and eight of the states that do have not carried out an execution in 12 years or more."

We still have far to go, however. As many people are aware, September marked a very dark day for the U.S., when Georgia decided to execute Troy Anthony Davis, a man who spent many years on death row and was finally killed on September 21, 2011, despite too much doubt about his case. On that same day, Lawrence Brewer, a man convicted of the most henious of hate crimes whose guilt was not under question, was also executed in Texas, marking the 475 execution in the state since 1976 when the death penalty was re-instated.

In Pennsylvania, we have a lot of work to do as well. Pennsylvania currently has 219 people on death row, and, while PA has only executed 3 individuals since 1976, the death penalty remains a wildly expensive, and racially/socio-economically unbalanced program.

We can take so much, however, from such travesties as the Troy Davis case, just as Troy himself did when he stated to Amnesty International,

"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath."

Troy and his family never stopped fighting and Troy's sister, Martina Correia, vowed even after his death to continue the fight against capital punishment in ALL cases. We all, across the planet, fought hard to save Troy's life and we will continue that fight even in the face of adversity. We will continue to fight for those whose guilt is questioned, like Troy, and even for those, like Lawrence Brewer, whose guilt is clear and whose motives are abhorrent. We will fight for those who have clearly been wronged by the justice system and we will fight for the racist murderer. We will fight for them because we know that no one has the right to take the life of another. Continue this good fight. End the death penalty in Pennsylvania and end the death penalty in the United States.

Former death row inmate released from Tennessee prison

Tennessee prison released Gaile Owens, a woman who spent the past 26 years on death row and came within just two months of being executed, on Friday, from the Tennessee prison for women. She was put on death row for hiring a stranger to kill her husband in 1985. Last year, her death sentence was dropped to life in prison, which, at the time, was a 30 year sentence and she was released early on good behavior.

Owens, who was a battered wife, did not use her husband's abusiveness as part of her defense because, her supporters say, she did not want her sons to find out about the physical and sexual abuse. However, Governor Phil Bredesen, who made the decision to spare her life, said he made the decision because, he said, prosecutors had tried to cut a deal with Owens saying that if she pleaded guilty they would not seek the death penalty. However, her co-defendant would not accept the plea bargain and Owens was put on trial.

This is yet another case that shows the inefficiency and unjust death penalty system. For 26 years, this woman was kept on death row, at a cost that is shown to be as much as 3x more expensive than a sentence of life without parole, due to the single-person cells and increased security measures. Taxpayers pay hundreds of millions of dollars per state to keep up this costly, not to mention, immoral, program. What's more, the state of Tennessee came dangerously close to executing a victim of sexual and physical abuse by her husband, and needlessly taking another life.

Luckily, Gov. Bredesen had the courage to not allow this to happen. What we need to see in this country is more of the same. Right now, in 34 states in the U.S., as of Jan. 2011, 3251 people are on death row (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/). With a financial crisis going on in this country, would it not be beneficial for everyone to end this program that dumps millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars into a system that the majority of Americans don't even support? And what's more, the U.S. prides itself on being a leader in human rights, yet we have thousands of people on death row, a system that Europe, and many other countries, have already done away with.

It is time to end this terrible system that has proven itself to be ineffective and unjust. Please contact your representatives and tell them to end the death penalty!

(Photo credit: AP)

The United States of America: A Beacon for Civil Rights

Amnesty International released this map in March, 2011: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/deathpenalty/u-s-in-top-5-for-executions-worldwide/. The map shows which countries have abolished the death penalty world-wide. According to Amnesty, more than 2/3rds of the countries of the world have either abolished the death penalty or have not executed anyone within the past decade. In the U.S., 1/3 of the states have also elected to abolish the death penalty. This past year, 2010, however, the U.S. has ranked top five for the MOST executions carried out across the planet, only surpassed by China, Iran, North Korea, and Yemen, as illustrated by this graph from Amnesty International:



It is troubling to see that the U.S., which holds itself in high esteem for its human rights strides over the past century or so, has managed to retain a policy of such a draconian and barbaric nature. All across the world, the U.S. condemns the leaders of other countries for not allowing a basic level of human rights that we in the U.S. consider to be fundamental. These include such great ideals as in our first amendment: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right to assembly, and the right to petition the government. These basic rights we allow our citizens and demand from other countries, and yet, something that seems so obviously unjust and uncivilized, such as capital punishment, has still managed to continue in this country, meanwhile other nations surpass us by abolishing this abhorrent system.

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. Not only is capital punishment detestable on a moral level, it is also ineffective, as there is no evidence that it deters future crime, racially imbalanced, with a statistically higher number of minorities on death row (most especially when the victim is white), socio-economically imbalanced, with more lower-class individuals on death row, and it is far more expensive than sentencing someone to life without parole.

What is obvious is that the death penalty cannot continue in this country if we wish to maintain our standing in the world as a leader in human rights. We must follow the path that countries around the world have already paved and abolish the death penalty across the U.S. In order to end on a positive note, the following list is from Amnesty International's web page of countries that have abolished the Death Penalty since 1961:

Abolitionist for all crimes:

• Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Iceland, Panama, San Marino, Uruguay, Venezuela
Abolitionist for ordinary crimes:
• Austria, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland
No Executions in the Past 10 Years and A Policy Not to Carry Out executions
• Andorra, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cape Verde, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay