November 17, 2008
The Black/Afrikan community and the death penalty
by Sis. Marpessa Kupendua
Statistical data is abundant that the criminal justice system, from arrest through sentencing, impacts Black/Afrikan and Latino defendants the harshest, and the death penalty is, of course, no exception.(1) Although some political activists will concede the racist, classist and political aspects of the death penalty in specific cases, we continue to remain uninvolved in the larger struggle to abolish it completely.
Black activists must dialogue and challenge that mindset within our ranks, or we continue to risk that far too many of our brothers and sisters – such as Bro. Gregory (Ajamu) Resnover, Bro. Ziyon Yisrayah, Bro. Shaka Sankofa and potentially Bro. Troy Davis, Bro. Mumia Abu-Jamal and many more – will be wiped off of the planet. If we stand against racist oppression, we must fully understand that we are all under potential threat of life – unwritten death – sentences or straight up legalized lynching.
Most people in the Black/Afrikan community very understandably worry more about our children being killed on the streets than by lethal injection. We are so devastated by government-sponsored drugs, increased violence, murders and heartache that discussions around the uneven application of the death penalty are a glaring non-issue when our people live on the frontlines of these war zones.
Each day we hear and read of horror stories that fill us with disbelief, anguish and rage; we all share in the deep sorrow of senseless acts of violence and murder and want to tightly embrace those most closely affected. Many of us want an eye for an eye and so readily identify with being victimized that we even support the executions of juveniles and the mentally disabled in particularly gruesome incidences. It also seems a preposterous topic to raise because most people just can’t foresee that any member of our immediate families could ever face a death sentence.
But when this system offers to murder on our behalf, we must understand that it carries a double-edged sword: Many may believe in the execution of one, but be horrified at the prospect of the execution of another. Unfortunately, we are not given the luxury to pick and choose once we support state-sanctioned murder.
“I must admit that at times I wonder and question the intentions and knowledge of the death penalty activists (abolishers) who are horrified and oppose the killing of human beings, but who are not horrified at the very system in its totality, which renders such biased and unjust sentences upon its citizens and which contributes to the dehumanizing of its citizens. I say in turn that it’s not just the death penalty which must be overturned, but the whole institution of criminal justice as we know it must be overturned.” – From “What Is a Death Sentence?” by Bro. Adullah Hameen, who was legally lynched by the State of Delaware on May 25, 2001
The oppression of the Black community via the criminal justice system and its agents intensifies by the day as prison cells are inhumanely overcrowded and the prison warehouses are bursting at their seams. The police attacks that lead to incarcerations can now be more openly viewed in all their sick glory via the internet with its videos and on-the-scene accounts, putting their hate speech, beatings, shootings and murders on full blast before the world.
We are also all too familiar with the massive oversentencing of Blacks vs. their white counterparts, manufactured evidence, tortured confessions, deliberate confusion and lies and even more. Our children are seen as sub-human, easily manipulated, undomesticated and unemployable, sent down a conveyor belt straight to these dungeons and thus insuring the financing of their own encagement.
State and private prisons are among the largest employers in many towns and the profiteers are plentiful, including the phone companies and the many, many corporations who provide and receive untold services and benefits from these hellholes. It is mindblowing.
Organizers are too often painted as “siding with criminals” when addressing the disparities within the system and at times are even accused of being in denial about inmates’ culpability in the commission of crimes. After all, they will argue, they did wrong, they knew they were doing wrong and they should pay!
Even though many folks will concede that some captives may be innocent, at least of lesser counts than those with which they’ve been charged, and that some belong in drug or psychiatric treatment and not prison, and that of course some are becoming more hardened and callous than when they went in, and that yes some will be raped, beaten, tortured, enslaved for corporate profit while in prison and even killed – the bottom line for many remains that our community cannot be seen as making excuses for crime, a la Bill Cosby. As a result, many of our brothers and sisters will advocate even harsher punishments than the system already has in place and mimic those who would call for the jailing of our children for “crimes” such as wearing sagging pants or violation of noise ordinances.
We still yet believe that this system’s laws are designed to protect us, when nothing could be further from the truth! When presented with evidence that the death penalty is race- and class-based and not evenly applied, many will respond that yes, it needs to made fair, but it doesn’t need to be gotten rid of, not in all cases. Unfortunately, however, this system’s very foundation of racism and corruption can never be reformed or “made fair,” so it definitely cannot be trusted to determine who lives and who dies!
When addressing the needs of families of victims of crime, we must include the families of death row inmates. They are among the most underserved and unspoken of as they, too, cope with the tremendous depression suffered by all grief-stricken victims. These families, adults and children, are barely able to function while on the dizzying legal rollercoaster leading up to their family member’s date with death.
Some are treated as pariahs within their own community while struggling to carry on with work and school – simultaneously acting as their loved one’s source of emotional and financial support, traveling sometimes incredibly long distances to visit through glass or even by video, gouged by outrageously over-priced phone calls and advocating for these inmates with inadequate legal representatives(2), politricians and god-complexed prison officials. These families are not offered comfort or treated with even the most basic human dignity.
Capital punishment is itself premeditated murder! It’s about keeping alive this country’s bloodthirsty passion for legalized lynching, a passion which they will fight to feed even in the face of overwhelming innocence, recantations of perjured testimony, even to the point where an unhealthy inmate will be cured just so that they can be healthy enough to be murdered on death day!
But how many police officers and/or other officials were given the death penalty for the terrorist murders of 11 members of the MOVE family – men, women and children – when police dropped a BOMB on their home in Philadelphia on May 13, 1985?! How many police officers and/or other officials are given the death penalty for the murders of people in our communities, period? That is unacceptable! Their badges, guns, tasers and titles do not give them the right to murder our people with impunity – on the streets or in their prison death chambers!
The good news is that more and more community activists, and most significantly our creative and genius-filled young brothers and sisters, are not only adopting a community-wide view that eclipses the media and societal pressure to be consumed with self and self alone, but even understanding the broader significance of our people’s global struggle for liberation and self-determination!
There exists an incredible potential to seize the time and build a strong anti-death penalty contingent within our organizations and/or to make certain that a representative of our groups becomes involved with existing anti-DP organizing in our area, lest we continue to scramble and scurry when emergencies arise. There is an immediate need for education and discussion around the issue of capital punishment and there is an abundance of anti-DP information on and off-line to be disseminated within any gathering of our people.
Furthermore, these politricians have to be made to feel that their continued allegiance to capital punishment will negatively impact their careers, and so will anyone else who purports to act as a religious or other type of representative spokesperson for our communities.
Addressing police and prison issues is critical to rebuilding grassroots activism in any real and meaningful way, and the issue of state sponsored murder is a crucial part of that. This is the system that far too many of our families are touched by and, as Bro. Hameen wrote, not just the death penalty but “the whole institution of criminal justice as we know it must be overturned.” We must make it “un-hip” to be down with the death penalty, particularly amongst our own ranks!
ABOLISH THE RACIST, CLASSIST DEATH PENALTY! FORWARD EVER!
References
(1) From www.deathpenaltyinfo.org:
- Even though blacks and whites are murder victims in nearly equal numbers of crimes, 80 percent of people executed since the death penalty was reinstated have been executed for murders involving white victims.
- More than 20 percent of Black defendants who have been executed were convicted by all-white juries.
(2) More at www.innocenceproject.org/understand/Bad-Lawyering.php. Please also check www.troyanthonydavis.org, www.onamove.com and
www.freemumia.com.
Freedom fighter Sis. Marpessa Kupendua can be reached at nattyreb@comcast.net. Ask to be added to her email distribution list for news from and about political prisoners and on other urgent issues.
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I believe that innocence matters. We are all Troy Davis. Thank you for your article, Marepessa Kupendua.
If we are all Troy Davis, then we are all Mark Allen MacPhail.
However, I think we are all individuals who have a responsibility to fight for what is right.
It is always required that both sides of the story be told.
Please read all of the references, below, in their entirety.
(1) Davis v Georgia, Georgia Supreme Court, March 17, 2008
Full ruling http://www.gasupreme.us/pdf/s07a1758.pdf
Summary http://www.gasupreme.us/op_summaries/mar_17.pdf
” . . . the majority finds that ‘most of the witnesses to the crime who have allegedly recanted have merely stated that they now do not feel able to identify the shooter.’ “One of the affidavits ‘might actually be read so as to confirm trial testimony that Davis was the shooter.’ ”
The murder occurred in 1989.
(2) “THE PAROLE BOARD’S CONSIDERATION OF THE TROY ANTHONY DAVIS CASE” ,
9/22/08, http://www.pap.state.ga.us/opencms/opencms/
“After an exhaustive review of all available information regarding the Troy Davis case and after considering all possible reasons for granting clemency, the Board has determined that clemency is not warranted.”
“The Board has now spent more than a year studying and considering this case. As a part of its proceedings, the Board gave Davis’ attorneys an opportunity to present every witness they desired to support their allegation that there is doubt as to Davis’ guilt. The Board heard each of these witnesses and questioned them closely. In addition, the Board has studied the voluminous trial transcript, the police investigation report and the initial statements of all witnesses. The Board has also had certain physical evidence retested and Davis interviewed.”
(3) read the PDF statement released by Chatham County District Attorney Spencer Lawton on the case facts at: http://tinyurl.com/46c73l
A detailed review of the extraordinary consideration that Davis was given for all of his claims.
(4) Officer Mark Allen MacPhail
The family of murdered Officer MacPhail fully believes that Troy Davis murdered their loved one and that the evidence is supportive of that opinion.
http://www.markallenmacphail.com/
“In this case, nearly every witness who identified Davis as the shooter at trial has now disclaimed his or her ability to do so reliably. Three persons have stated that Sylvester Coles confessed to being the shooter. Two witnesses have stated that Sylvester Coles, contrary to his trial testimony, possessed a handgun immediately after the murder. Another witness has provided a description of the crimes that might indicate that Sylvester Coles was the shooter…If recantation testimony, either alone or supported by other evidence, shows convincingly that prior trial testimony was false, it simply defies all logic and morality to hold that it must be disregarded categorically.”
–Leah Ward Sears, Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, in dissent, Davis v. State (March 2008)
Josh:
Think about what you and the Chief Justice are considering.
Witness are saying it has been so long that they can no longer confirm their previous identification of Davis – identifications which happened right after the murder.
Time has fogged their memories. That doesn’t mean their initial identifications were in error. Courts presume that memories right after the crime are more reliable than memories many years later.
Sounds reasonable.
What makes the witness so sure of their ID of Sylvester Coles. Hasn’t the time been jusdt as long?
Another witness has provided a description of the crimes that “might” indicate that Sylvester Coles was the shooter…
Might. Might not. Time factor?
Obviously, the majority of the court “did not” find “that prior trial testimony was false”, that is why Judge Sears was in dissent, wasn’t it?
Should folks be concerned about wrongful identification, foggy memories, alternate testimony? Of course, but in context.
Dudley:
The vote was 4-3. Both the current and former chief justices dissented, along with another justice. That’s a very close vote for someone’s life.
It’s not just that witnesses have recanted. They’ve very specifically recanted, stating that they were coerced by police. And the affidavits were sworn under oath, so they’d be facing up to five years in prison if they were found to be lying.
Larry Young, the man who was pistol whipped, and Michael Cooper, the man shot at earlier in the evening, i.e. both victims themselves, said that they could not and never did say that it was Troy Davis who attacked them.
Another witness stated that they were illiterate at the time of signing the police statement, and did not read it, because they couldn’t.
Death penalty prosecutions are generally very flawed, and you can’t expect to get a fair trial. 1 in 8 death row inmates since the reinstatement of the death penalty have been exonerated because of innocence, and the exonerations continue. They generally spend at least a decade, if not more, on death row, many receiving several death dates, before exoneration. One inmate had five full retrials before exoneration. This is not unusual, it’s just that this case has gotten a lot of publicity.
The former FBI director, William H. Sessions, a death penalty supporter, believes Troy Davis may well be innocent and certainly has the right to a new trial. So does Bob Barr, another death penalty support. And the former president Jimmy Carter, a death penalty opponent.
And Jesse Jackson, Jr., and Sheila Jackson Lee, Mike Farrell, former Texas District Attorney Sam D. Millsap, Jr., etc.
A study by Northwestern University indicates that there may have been at as many as thirty nine wrongful executions in the United States, i.e. innocent people got killed.
Another study has shown that 70% of wrongful convictions in death penalty cases are due to eyewitness misidentification. The only ‘evidence’ in this case is eyewitness misidentification.
typo: William H. Sessions -> William S. Sessions
The Wikipedia article has more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Troy_Davis_case&oldid=261810089
Josh: Close votes are very common in death penalty cases.
I share some of your concerns in the Davis case, but only looking at one side is not the way to go. That is why I posted all of those links. I hope you read the material, not just the dissent. It presents a very different views than yours.
Your credibility is really hurt y your ridiculous claim that: 1 in 8 death row inmates since the reinstatement of the death penalty have been exonerated because of innocence”.
How ridiculously absurd. That would be 1000.
Even the most deceptive anti death penalty folks are ONLY claiming 130, or 1 in 62.
In reality, we are looking at a number around 25 actual innocents released from death row, or 1 in 320.
Your off by about 4000%.
Sessions has been anti death penalty for years
Northwestern has not identified one innocent executed in the US, at least since 1900.
I was wrong … very wrong … about that figure; sorry (I thought the total number of sentences since 1973 was around 1000, but looking it up it’s around 5600).
I’m not sure what you mean about 130 being deceptive … that’s the number who’ve been exonerated, not the number of total innocents. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-list-those-freed-death-row
The Northwestern study is here: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/wrongfulconvictions/issues/deathpenalty/executinginnocent/
Sessions say he’s pro-death penalty provided it’s carried out fairly.
You’re still wtong.
About 8000 have been sentenced to death since 1973. Where are you looking it up?
Go to the link you provided, even on their exoneration pages they call the 130 innocent. Look up the definition of exonerated.
Possibly, as many as 25 actual innocents have been ientified and released from death row, in the modern era.
I am aware of the Northwestern study. They write: “While innocence has not been proven in any specific case, there is no reasonable doubt that some of the executed prisoners were innocent.”
There is considerable doubt and very little evidence of their actual innocence. That is why they were executed.
On that list they have Lionel Herrera for goodness sake. There’s just no credibility with that as your standard for an innocent executed.
Dudley:
I’m not trying or wanting to get in an argument.
The Northwestern study lists 39 cases of potential innocence.
In at least one case the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has issued a posthumous commutation for a (Black) maid who killed her (White) ‘master’ who abused her sexually. I can’t say for other states or other such cases in Texas, but I know that for sure.
The #130 exonerees is not disputable. They are innocent. That is what (or at least what … I understand) exoneration (to) mean:
On Wikipedia, it says 2% of death row inmates have been exonerated. If you do the maths, given that 130 were exonerated, that results in 100% being 5600. I think I was confusing the number of death sentences with the number of executions carried out (around 1000) since 1973 (well, ‘76, as per Gregg v. Georgia, SCOTUS decided).
Have a good day and a great new year. I don’t mean that sarcastically; I’m sorry for the statistical error in my first comment.
Sorry, the total number with 2% being 130 would be 6500. I’ve been getting to sleep at 2 am for the last month … my maths is temporarily (I hope only temporarily) going down hill.
Josh writes: “The Northwestern study lists 39 cases of potential innocence.”
Sharp: Exactly, I say potentially not and the Herrera case shows just how bad Northwestern’s standards are. Read the SCOTUS decision.
Josh writes: In at least one case the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has issued a posthumous commutation for a (Black) maid who killed her (White) ‘master’ who abused her sexually. I can’t say for other states or other such cases in Texas, but I know that for sure.
Sharp: To commute a case does not mean that the person is innocent. It never has meant that. It means to replace one sanction with another, meaning that it has nothing to do with innocence, but is about the punishment, only. A commutation re-enforces guilt and speaks to the severity of the original sanction. Not even a full pardon necessarily has anything to do with innocence.
Again, the number sentenced to death in the modern era, post 1973, is near 8000. Fact check, better. The 1976 date is with regard to the Gregg decision, which approved new death penalty statutes in 3 states. People had been sentenced to death, under those new states, since 1973.
The 130 “innocent” number is just a latant deception, as much fact checking has shown.
You should fact check more. Star here.
Re: fact checking issues, on innocence and the death penalty.
The Death Penalty Information Center has been responsible for some of the most serious deceptions by the anti death penalty side.
Dieter and DPIC have produced the claims regarding the exonerated and innocents released from death row list.
Richard Dieter, head of the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC): defining what “exonerated” or “innocent” means.
“. . . (DPIC) makes no distinction between legal and factual innocence. ” ‘They’re innocent in the eyes of the law,’ Dieter says. ‘That’s the only objective standard we have.’ ”
That is untrue, of course. We are all aware of the differences between legal guilt and actual guilt and legal innocence and actual innocence, just as the courts are.
Furthermore, there is no finding of actual innocence, but it is “not guilty”. Dieter knows that we are all speaking of actual innocence, those cases that have no connection to the murder(s).
Dieter “clarifies” the three ways that former death row inmates get onto their “exonerated” by “innocence” list.
“A defendant whose conviction is overturned by a judge must be further exonerated in one of three ways: he must be acquitted at a new trial, or the prosecutor must drop the charges against him, or a governor must grant an absolute pardon.”
None establishes actual innocence.
DPIC has ” . . . included supposedly innocent defendants who were still culpable as accomplices to the actual triggerman.”
DPIC: “There may be guilty persons among the innocents, but that includes all of us.”
Good grief. DPIC wishes to apply collective guilt of capital murder to all of us.
Dieter states: “I don’t think anybody can know about a person’s absolute innocence.” (Green). Dieter said he could not pinpoint how many are “actually innocent” — only the defendants themselves truly know that, he said.” (Erickson)
Or Dieter won’t assert actual innocence in 1, 102 or 350 cases. He doesn’t want to clarify a real number with proof of actual innocence, that would blow his entire deception.
contd
contd
Or, Dieter declare all innocent: “If you are not proven guilty in a court of law, you’re innocent.” (Green)
Dieter would call Hitler and Stalin innocent. Those are his “standards”.
And that is the credibility of the DPIC.
contd
contd
For fact checking.
1. “Case Histories: A Review of 24 Individuals Released from Death Row”, Florida Commission on Capital Cases, 6/20/02, Revised 9/10/02 at http://www.floridacapitalcases.state.fl.us/Publications/innocentsproject.pdf
83% error rate in “innocent” claims.
2. “Is ‘the innocence list’ an appropriate name?”, 1/19/03
FRANK GREEN, TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
http://www.stopcapitalpunishment.org/coverage/106.html
Dieter admits they don’t discern between legal innocence and actual innocence. One of Dieter’s funnier quotes;”The prosecutor, perhaps, or Dudley Sharp, perhaps, thinks they’re still guilty because there was evidence of their guilt, but that’s a subjective judgment.” Yep, “EVIDENCE OF GUILT”, can’t you see why Dieter would think they were innocent? And that’s how the DPIC works.
3. The Death of Innocents: A Reasonable Doubt,
New York Times Book Review, p 29, 1/23/05, Adam Liptak,
national legal correspondent for The NY Times
“To be sure, 30 or 40 categorically innocent people have been released from death row . . . “.
That is out of the DPIC claimed 119 “exonerated”, at that time, for a 75% error rate.
NOTE: It’s hard to understand how an absolute can have a differential of 33%. I suggest the “to be sure” is, now, closer to 25.
contd
contd
4. CRITIQUE OF DPIC LIST (”INNOCENCE:FREED FROM DEATH ROW”), Ward Campbell, http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/DPIC.htm
5. “The Death Penalty Debate in Illinois”, JJKinsella,6/2000, http://www.dcba.org/brief/junissue/2000/art010600.htm
6.THE DEATH PENALTY – ALL INNOCENCE ISSUES, Dudley Sharp
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2006/03/20/all-innocence-issues–the-death-penalty.aspx
Origins of “innocence” fraud, and review of many innocence issues
7. “Bad List”, Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review, 9/16/02
http://www.nationalreview.com/advance/advance091602.asp#title5
How bad is DPIC?
8. “Not so Innocent”, By Ramesh Ponnuru,National Review, 10/1/02
http://www.nationalreview.com/ponnuru/ponnuru100102.asp
DPIC from bad to worse.
Yes, commutation is a reduction of sentence not a pardon or exoneration. I explicitly stated that. Otherwise I would have written pardon, which it was not.
But at the same time, please remember that the case was of a Black maid who was sexually assaulted by a White ‘master’, and the execution was actually illegal. That it took until this decade to issue a commutation is beyond my comprehension. But it was, after all, in Texas, which as you know, gave a Black defendant an 83 year old KKK member as some pathetic form of counsel.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain Inalienable Rights, that among these Rights are the Rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” — US DoI
“The execution of a person who can prove [their] innocence comes perilously close to simple murder.” — Harry Blackmun, fmr. SCOTUS Associate Justice
“The Constitution was framed fundamentally as a bulwark against governmental power, and preventing the arbitrary administration of punishment is a basic ideal of any society that purports to be governed by the rule of law.” — William Brennan, fmr. SCOTUS Associate Justice and unofficialy ‘Deputy Chief Justice’
“Those whom we would banish from society or from the human community itself often speak in too faint a voice to be heard above society’s demand for punishment. It is the particular role of courts to hear these voices, for the Constitution declares that the majoritarian chorus may not alone dictate the conditions of social life.” — William Brennan
“One area of law more than any other besmirches the constitutional vision of human dignity… The barbaric death penalty violates our Constitution. Even the most vile murderer does not release the state from its obligation to respect dignity, for the state does not honor the victim by emulating his murderer. Capital punishment’s fatal flaw is that it treats people as objects to be toyed with and discarded… One day the Court will outlaw the death penalty.
Permanently.” — William Brennan
“In Texas, we’re executing record numbers each year. Things have gotten so bad because people have all been silent and let things get bad. We are told many times that we are not supposed to forgive – that when people do horrible things to us we should do something just as bad in retribution. Those of us who know better – those of us who know the power of forgiveness – need to speak up. Every chance we get, we need to challenge the mentality that compassion is a weakness. Compassion is the toughest thing of all, but it’s the only thing that works to restore peace in our lives.”
— Carol Byars, whose husband, James Hapney, was murdered in 1977
“I cannot support a system which, in its administration, has proven so fraught with error and has come so close to the ultimate nightmare, the state’s taking of innocent life… Until I can be sure that everyone sentenced to death in Illinois is truly guilty, until I can be sure with moral certainty that no innocent man or woman is facing a lethal injection, no one will meet that fate.”
— Former Governor of Illinois George Ryan
“I cannot believe in a God who metes out hurt for hurt, pain for pain, torture for torture. Nor do I believe that God invests human representatives with such power to torture and kill. The paths of history are stained with the blood of those who have fallen victim to “God’s Avengers.” Kings, popes, military generals, and heads of state have killed, claiming God’s authority and God’s blessing. I do not believe in such a God.”
— Sister Helen Prejean
Back to the original exoneration statistic, of 1 in 62 = ~130 exoneers since 1973 = 2% of death sentences since 1973, think about this:
The homicide rate in New York City is 7.3 homicides per 100,000 people, or 0.0073 percent.
The exoneration rate in US death rows is 2% since 1973.
2% / 0.0073% = 273.97
So the exoneration rate — the rate of innocence, shall we say — is almost 274 times larger than the possibility of being murdered in the US’s most populous city.
That’s a bloody scary statistic.
Dudley:
I’m a Brit. I could have sworn you have the same standards for conviction, but if not let me explain a concept we have in this country:
“Innocent until *proven* guilty”
Emphasis on *proven*.
The Chief Justice of Georgia’s Supreme Court, Leah Ward Sears, wrote such a strong dissent presumably because she was shocked that you can be sentenced to death providing there is only no _reasonable_ doubt, but you can lose a life-or-death appeal provided you have not shown prior trial testimory to be “fabrication in the purest form,” a procedurally complex task for defense teams who are intentionally maligned and, like Troy’s original defense firm the Georgia Resource Center, maligned by federal law signed by kill happy Bill Clinton (the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act 1994) which substantially reduced resources such that the Center was “not trying to provide any kind of adequate defense, merely trying to not fall completely apart,” as was inferred in a sworn affidavit in the Davis case.
FWIW, the UK, and the rest of Europe (a no-death penalty zone bar Belarus which is not allowed to join the CoE due to its murder system) have far lower murder rates than the US.
Analysis shows that pro-death penalty US states have on average twice the murder rates of non-death penalty states. I cite from DPIC, so you may well not believe that, in which case head of the Department of Justice’s website.
“I should not regret a full and fair trial of the entire abolition of capital punishment.” – James Madison
“Until I can have the infallibility of human judgment demonstrated to me, I shall ask for the removal of the sentence of death.” – Thomas Jefferson
The USA’s founding fathers would be disgusted with the criminal justice systems in the pro-death penalty states.
Dudley:
As far goes your condemnation of DPIC, remember that a court of law makes no distinction, nor does it attempt to make a distinction, between legal guilt and actual guilt.
A court can never, ever, know for _sure_ that a given defendant is guilty (or innocent), because the jury are not witnesses, they are civilians who before their request to serve on the jury had no involvement with the given offense; as such, since they were not at the scene of the crime at the time of the crime, they merely have to deliberate based upon what they _think_ happened.
And therefore legal and actual guilt are assumed by the ‘justice’ systems to be equal. There are, of course, not, in far too many cases.
It is important to consider quotes, prior to using them.
“The execution of a person who can prove [their] innocence comes perilously close to simple murder.” — Harry Blackmun, fmr. SCOTUS Associate Justice
sharp: well, of course it does. But no one is going to execute a person who can prove their innocence. Not exactly a brilliant quote by the justice.
“One area of law more than any other besmirches the constitutional vision of human dignity… The barbaric death penalty violates our Constitution. Even the most vile murderer does not release the state from its obligation to respect dignity, for the state does not honor the victim by emulating his murderer. Capital punishment’s fatal flaw is that it treats people as objects to be toyed with and discarded… One day the Court will outlaw the death penalty. Permanently.” — William Brennan
Sharp: intellectually and factually, this is one of the most ridiculous quotes, ever, from a supreme court juctice. The death penalty cannot violate the constitution. All legal sanctions support human dignity because they hold the individual responsible for their bad acts. Not holding them responsible would be an insult to dignity.
Is the Death Penalty Constitutional? Is this a serious question?
Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters, contact info below
Twice, the 5th Amendment authorizes execution.
(1) “ No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury . . . ” and
(2) “. . . nor shall any person . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law . . . ”.
The 14th amendment is, equally, clear:
” . . . nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law . . .”
Not surprisingly, over 200 years of US Supreme Court decisions support those amendments and the US Constitution in authorizing and enforcing the death penalty.
Some wrongly believe that the US Supreme Court decision, Furman v Georgia (1972), found the death penalty unconstitutional. It did not.
The decisions found that the statutory enforcement of the death penalty in the US was a violation of the 8th Amendment.
Based upon the death penalty being integral within the constitution, through the 5th and 14th amendments, I do not believe it will ever be found unconstitutional.
“We are told many times that we are not supposed to forgive – that when people do horrible things to us we should do something just as bad in retribution. Those of us who know better – those of us who know the power of forgiveness – need to speak up. Every chance we get, we need to challenge the mentality that compassion is a weakness.”
— Carol Byars, whose husband, James Hapney, was murdered in 1977
Sharp: A little sad. I have never heard anyone say “you should not forgive or have compassion for the murderer.” How whould say that to a victim survivor? I have dealt with many people in that situation and have never heard someone voice that to a vicitm survivor. No one has the right to tell those folks how they should fel or what they should do, in that regard. One can forgive and have compassion and still understand the need and apropriateness of a just sanction, inclusive of the death penalty.
“I cannot support a system which, in its administration, has proven so fraught with error and has come so close to the ultimate nightmare, the state’s taking of innocent life… Until I can be sure that everyone sentenced to death in Illinois is truly guilty, until I can be sure with moral certainty that no innocent man or woman is facing a lethal injection, no one will meet that fate.”
— Former Governor of Illinois George Ryan
Sharp: Ryan wanted a legacy for himself, beside the one of convicted, disgraced felon. Therefore, he went to the only constituency he could create, for himself, murderers and anti death penalty activists, because all other constituencies had, rightly, abandoned him.
Regarding Ryan’s mass clemency, please read:
“A Cruel Penalty for Victims”
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/02/03/loc_bronson03.html
“Extending Mercy to the Wrong Group”
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30536
George Ryan’s convictions
George Ryan Sr.was convicted . . . “on sweeping federal corruption charges of wielding power to help himself and his friends.”
“. . . a federal jury . . . found Ryan guilty on all 18 counts of steering state business to cronies for bribes, of gutting corruption-fighting efforts to protect political fundraising and of misusing state resources for political gain.” “Ryan’s co-defendant, lobbyist and longtime friend Lawrence Warner, was also found guilty on all 12 counts against him.”
“U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald called Ryan’s quashing of investigations into the sale of driver’s licenses for bribes as secretary of state ‘a low-water mark for public service.’ ”
“With the verdicts, Operation Safe Road has snared 75 convictions, ranking it with Operation Greylord, the 1980s probe of judicial corruption, as the most successful federal investigations in modern Chicago history in reach and significance.”
All from, “Ryan convicted in corruption trial”, Chicago Tribune, April 17, 2006 Matt O’Connor and Rudolph Bush, staff reporters
INNOCENCE on death row
Regarding all of the Illinois “exonerations”, please review:
“The Death Penalty Debate in Illinois”, JJKinsella,6/2000, http://www.dcba.org/brief/junissue/2000/art010600.htm
“I cannot believe in a God who metes out hurt for hurt, pain for pain, torture for torture. Nor do I believe that God invests human representatives with such power to torture and kill. The paths of history are stained with the blood of those who have fallen victim to “God’s Avengers.” Kings, popes, military generals, and heads of state have killed, claiming God’s authority and God’s blessing. I do not believe in such a God.”
— Sister Helen Prejean
sharp: It is not uncommon for persons of faith to create a god in their own image, to give to that god their values, instead of accepting those values which are inherent to the deity. Sister Prejean states, in reference to the death penalty, that “I couldn’t worship a god who is less compassionate than I am.”(Progressive, 1/96). She has, thereby, established her standard of compassion as the basis for God’s being deserving of her devotion. If God’s level of compassion does not rise to the level of her own, God couldn’t receive her worship. Director Tim Robbins (Death Man Walking) follows that same path: “(I) don’t believe in that kind of (g)od (that would support capital punishment and, therefore, would be the kind of god who tortures people into their redemption).” (”Opposing The Death Penalty”, AMERICA, 11/9/96, p 12). Robbins establishes his standard for his God’s deserving of his belief. God’s standards do not seem to be relevant. Robbins’ sophomoric comparison of capital punishment and torture are typical of the ignorance in this debate and such comments reflect no biblical relevancy. Perhaps they should review Matthew 5:17-22 and 15:1-9. Be cautious, for as the ancient rabbis warned, “Do not seek to be more righteous than your creator.” (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7.33)
Josh, you are completely wrong on both the law and in reason.
Many court decisions have made the obvious distinction between legal guilt and actual guilt and “not guilty” and actual innocence.
In fact, earlier you acknowledged the ovbious differences, as do most rational people.
As everyone knows, “not guilty” does not mean actually innocent. It is a legal standard, meaning the state could not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Happens all the time and both actuall guilty and actually innocent people are freed by such a verdict.
Of course, the “innocent until proven guilt standard”, ONLY exists during trial and only for the fact finders, be they judge or jury.
Everyone, even you, knows that the overwehlming majority of those people are factual guilty of committing the crime, prior to trial.
Many court cases, have discussed, in detail all of these obvious distinctions. So you are very wrong on the law and what judges consider. As a matter of fact, I asked you to read just such a case, Herrera. Oviously, you haven’t gotten around to it.
Again, fact checking and knowing the facts, before making claims is very important.
FYI, no one is concerned about executing a legally innocent person. Why? ecause we can’t.
The entire debate, is about the probabilities of sentencing an actual innocent to death and the probaility of executing that actual innocent.
Again, no one is concerned about executing the legally innocent.
The 130 is an obvious scam to anyone who wishes to fact check.
Based upon all of your error filled claims, we know where you stand.
Once again, the 130 is not a scam, it cannot be. The Department of Justice provides that statistic. It is a statistic of those who *have* been released, not because of commutations, but because of exonerations a la actual innocence.
Also, I believe you misinterpreted the Northwestern study.
It said “While innocence has not been proven in any specific case, there is no reasonable doubt that some of the executed prisoners were innocent.”
I think you misread it; they’re saying that there is “no doubt that some of the executions prisoners were innocent.”
There have, of course, been other such studies. It is, of course, likely that they will uncover different results, based upon whether they were including pre-Furman (v. Georgia) or merely post-Gregg (v. Georgia) executions. Furman being the outlawing of the US death penalty statutes, in 1972, by SCOTUS, and Gregg being the reinstating.
If you’d like to list my ‘error filled claims’, please, go ahead. And remember, you’re only allowed to included ones that actually do include errors, not cases you misinterpreted.
Here’s another case of (yes, actual exoneration) after execution: http://forejustice.org/wc/george_kelly.htm.
In depth list here with full descriptions: http://mitglied.lycos.de/PeterWill/penal9.htm.
“Perhaps the bleakest fact of all is that the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent.”
-William J. Brennan
“There’s no question, in my mind, that someone has slipped through the cracks and that an innocent person has been executed.”
-Jay Burnett, former Harris County criminal court judge.
Slavery didn’t use to be unconstitutional. Amendments are permissible for a reason. To state that centuries old law is infallible and forever marked in stone is ludicrous. If there was no living constitution, slavery would still be constitutional. And that’s not a concept that I’m even going to begin to express my disgust with.
And SCOTUS makes wrong decisions sometimes. A bunch of ideologically-unshifting right-wingers such as Scalia and Alito do not define morality merely because they vote to uphold inhumanity.
Have you heard of the Dredd Scott decision? Later overruled, for (very) good reason. The outcome of Baze v. Rees (SCOTUS, decided April 2008) has been termed by legal experts as “the Dredd Scott decision of our time.”
I understand that you’re “not concerned about executing an innocent person.” I just don’t understand the ammorality that you made that statement with.
There *are* documented cases of exonerations posthumously. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles does not issue exonerations, certainly not posthumous ones, callously.
So considering that even Texas accepts there have been wrongful executions, how can you make such a statement.
And let’s not forget Troy. 7 out of 9 witnesses recant. The Georgia Supreme Court current and former chief justices vote for a retrial evidentiary hearing. The Eleventh Circuit issues a third stay. Death penalty supporters express concern. Sylvester Coles is stated in sworn affidavits as having admitted three times to the crime. Sylvester Coles ditched a weapon of the same caliber as the murder weapon (caliber determined by bullet forensic analysis) on the night of the murder. Sylvester Coles refuses to comment on allegations. Federal judge chastises Georgia deputy attorney general for pathetically failing to include Coles, a suspect immediately after the murder, in witness parades.
And you say Troy is guilty.
Josh:
Not only to you refuse to fact check, you make things up.
I have never thought nor stated that I am “not concerned about executing an innocent person.”
It is a dispicable thing for you to make up, as well a immature nonsense.
I said no one was concerned about executing a legally innocent person. Because, we can’t.
The concern is with executing an actually innocent person.
I made that very clear. So, I now, must suspect you are being intentionally dishonest.
Josh, give me a link to the Texas case. A Texas link, not an anti death penalty site. I’ll take a look at it. Very likely it does not say what you say it does. You are so error prone there is no way to accept what you say. And if such a case of government acknowledged execution of an innocent in Texas actually existed, I would have heard aout it and I haven’t.
So, show your proof.
I have never said that Troy Davis was guilty, legally guilty or “actually guilty”.
You just made it up. Please, stop doing that. Is it too much to ask?
Of course, everyone acknowledges his legal guilt. It is the actual guilt that the debate is about. As you well know, when you want to admit it.
See the difference?
Oh my, Josh, you’ve trumped yourself.
You write: “the 130 is not a scam, it cannot be. The Department of Justice provides that statistic. It is a statistic of those who *have* been released, not because of commutations, but because of exonerations a la actual innocence.”
No, it’s an anti death penalty scam.
I provided many links to show you precisely what was going on, plus a detailed review that the exonerated definition is a new one , made up by anti death penalty folks and does not mean actual innocence, as the anti death penalty folks admit.
Let me guess. You didn’t read any of it.
But, your welcome to show me your Justice department link. Where is it? I’ll read it.
I did not misread what Northwestern said. Their standards are so poor I say there is much reasonable doubt in all of their stated case as to whether any were actually innocent.
I appreciate your links to non US cases. Can you direct me to government sites that confirm those claims?
“Perhaps the bleakest fact of all is that the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent.”
-William J. Brennan
sharp: About 10% of all murders within the US might qualify for a death penalty eligible trial. That would be about 64,000 murders since 1973. We have sentenced 8000 murderers to death since then, or 13% of those eligible. I doubt that there is any other crime which receives a higher percentage of maximum sentences, when mandatory sentences are not available. Based upon that, as well as pre trial, trial, appellate and clemency/commutation realities, the US death penalty is likely the least arbitrary and capricious criminal sanctions in the US.
“There’s no question, in my mind, that someone has slipped through the cracks and that an innocent person has been executed.”
-Jay Burnett, former Harris County criminal court judge.
Sharp: No doubt, but no proof.
Josh you mix non mixale and non relevant to each other statistics and combine that with inaccurate numbers.
You write: That the monicide rate in New York City is 7.3 per 100,000
The exoneration rate in US death rows is 2% since 1973.
2% / 0.0073% = 273.97
So the exoneration rate — the rate of innocence, shall we say — is almost 274 times larger than the possibility of being murdered in the US’s most populous city.
—————–
Some reality
Murder rate NYC 6 per 100000
exoneration (actual innocence) 25 per 8000 0.3%
All of the actual innocents from death row have been released. Still alive.
Of all the government programs in the world, that put innocents at risk, is there one with a safer record and with greater protections than the US death penalty?
Unlikely.
Definition of exoneration: n : the act of vindicating; “subsequent events have proved to be a vindication of his position” [syn: vindication, whitewash]
As goes the 1 in 8 stat, I described it incorrectly.
It’s 1 exoneration for every 8 executions. I’ll do the math:
exoneration (http://definr.com/exoneration)
1,136 executions since Gregg v. Georgia
130 exonerations since Gregg v. Georgia
1,136 / 130 = 8.73, or 11.44 percent
If you’re having to release one person for every eight you kill, there’s something very wrong. And please don’t use excuses like blaming the appeals process.
“Freedom has many difficulties … but at least we did not have to put a wall up to keep our people in” JFK
Instead you kill your people (FWIW, after his brothers’ murders, Ted Kennedy was a staunch death penalty opponent. In 1968, RFK was seriously considering signing abolition legislation.)
Frankly, it isn’t important to the morality of the death penalty whether or not you put innocents at risk. It happens to be the case that you put many innocents at risk, but the main issue is that killing is wrong, whoever does it.
As far as what you said about people of faith ‘creating a god of [their] own image’, that’s not really a good statement to make, considering
‘Thou shalt not kill’ -10 Commandments
‘Whomever of you is without doubt cast the first stone’ -Jesus
‘You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.’ —Matthew 5:38-42, NIV
To be frank, pro-death penalty advocates are the one creating a God of their own image. For some God forsaken reason (literally) they are inventing a God who is uncompassionate and full of hatred and anger. That is not the Christian God, the Jewish God, or the deity of any other religion.
As Gandhi said, ‘An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind’
typo ‘Whomever of you is without doubt’ -> ‘Whomever of you is without guilt’. Although I guess the same applies.
Governor Ryan, by the way, issued the mass commutations in 2000. It was a whole three years later that his resignation came (2003), and six years later (2006) that he was charged by Patrick Fitzgerald. Please connect the dots for me, because I’m really not understanding the supposed link between the commutations and his corruption as governor.
And Patrick Fitzgerald doesn’t exactly seem to be singing the praises of Illinois’ death penalty. He arrested Jon Burge, the torturer who put many innocents on death row by obtaining false confessions.
” But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” —Luke 6:27-31. NIV
The homicide rate in NYC was 7.3 per 100,000. The FBI compiled the statistics, and you can find the data at their website. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/index.html. The FBI do not lie for the sake of lying.
And let’s not forget that the southern states, the pro-death penalty states, have on average in 2007, a 42% higher murder rate than non-death penalty states.
Geez, that’s one hell of a detterent!
Oh yeah, that data is from the FBI. Again, they’re not anti-death penalty.
http://davecoop.net/2007.htm
http://davecoop.net/1990.htm
http://bit.ly/deathpenaltydeterrence
Hmm…
Josh:
You never provided the link for the 130 exonerated.
It is not the justice dept., as you wrongly stated.
The anti death penalty groups invented their own deifinition of exonerated a shoe horned a bunch of cases into tht definition.
Thou shalt not kill is an improper translating. It is thou shalt no murder.
Again, you either refuse to fact check or, even worse, you may make things up.
Well, since you couldn’t find it yourself,
Don’t tell me the lists are not true. The truth is that the people on the lists have been acquitted, pardoned, or had the charges dropped. These are not possible innocents. Not O.J. Simpsons. They are ordinary Americans, starved of “Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (and almost of their lives) by a government, well, mainly southern state governments, who couldn’t be bothered to ensure that the constitution was upheld.
http://www.aclu.org/capital/moratorium/10413prs20040218.html (It’s ACLU! Commies! Automatic Lies!)
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-cases-1973-1983#1 (Gasp! DPIC! Automatic lies!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Krone (Wikipedia; must be socialists! Can’t trust them!) (of course the evidence here is that he is the 100th American to be exonerated)
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_17_54/ai_90888288 (A critique of DPIC’s list. Unfortunately for you, this states that _at least_ 32 have been released due to actual innocence. That’s one exoneration for every thirty-five executions, and that is of course a severe underestimation, but this article is propoganda, so that it even accepts that 1 in 35 are innocent is staggering..)
Oh yeah, the translation is correct. Ask the Roman Catholic church. It’s thou shalt not kill.
By the way, if it was thou shalt not murder, then executions would count as murder, because the death cause given is homicide.
Definition of homicide: n : unlawful premeditated killing of a human being [syn: murder, slaying]
Note the synonym of murder.
So executions = homicide (as the states describe them) = murder.
So thou shalt not murder = murder is killing = don’t kill.
Hmm…
Look at an executed person’s death certificate. Homicide is the cause of death.
Josh, You really need to fact check. I am not sure you have gotten anything right, yet.
Murder is an unlawful killing. One can kill in self defense, in a just war and with lawful execution and it is legal and moral.
Murder is neither.
Хм… Пока это у нас не сильно развито, так что придётся чуть подождать.
У меня скоро в букмарках место закончится, но я рад добавлять с вашего блога и дальше ссылки на интересные темы!
Интересно. Думаю многие будут не согласны..
Автору памятник нужно поставить за такое!:)
Люди в таких вот случаях так говорят – Бей в решето, коли в сито не пошло. ;)