Death Penalty

If Wisconsinites choose to reinstate the death penalty next Tuesday they will be deliberately diverting limited resources from being spent on more police officers, better schools, or reducing health care costs.  Instead, that money will be used in capital cases that require numerous appeals, enormous court costs, and nearly two decades to complete.   

Prosecuting and defending capital cases requires an increase in specialized areas of legal practice.  This will force both the Department of Justice and the state public defender to significantly multiply their budgets and staff.  These costs will come directly out of the pockets of taxpayers. 

It is substantially cheaper to continue doing what it has for the last 153 years: let its society's worst members suffer behind bars, for the rest of their lives, without a chance of parole.  

El Paso County, home to the fourth largest city in Texas, called for a moratorium on the death penalty on Monday.  A resolution was passed by El Paso County Commissioners in a 4-1 vote.

This makes El Paso County the second county in Texas to call for a suspension of executions.  A similar resolution was passed in Travis County.  

These counties have joined the ranks of numerous other death penalty critics that are asking their local authorities to temporarily halt executions.  Opponents of the death penalty are urging for a review of whether their capital punishment procedures are constitutionally grounded.

On Monday, a federal judge ruled yet again that Missouri's revised death-penalty protocol was unconstitutional.  U.S District Judge Fernando Gaitan Jr. restated his previous ruling that Missouri's execution methods could put inmates at an "unreasonable risk of cruel and unusual punishment." 

Gaitan also remarked that the state's response to his previous ruling did "nothing to address these concerns and indicates its lack of willingness to even attempt to comply with the court's order."

This order put a moratorium on all executions in this state.

Amnesty International USA convened its Ninth Annual National Weekend of Faith in Action on the Death Penalty (NWFA) last weekend, during which thousands of members of faith-based groups and human rights activists throughout the nation examined their perceptions of the death penalty. More than 500 faith communities, interfaith groups, and individuals in 46 states and the District of Columbia held events that created a safe space for both those who support and oppose the death penalty to discuss their views.

Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, urged, "It is a particularly important time for members of religious and spiritual communities to lead the public in responsibly reflecting on the values of our society. Clearly many Americans believe that it is time to reject the outdated and discriminatory capital punishment system."

Major faith traditions around the world-including Catholicism, virtually all Protestant denominations, Reform and Conservative Judaism and Buddhism-have adopted explicit positions against the death penalty. Even faith traditions that do not specifically oppose the practice, such as Orthodox Judaism and Islam, have expressed concerns about the death penalty including the random and biased way it is applied and administered in this country.

"Faith communities are uniquely positioned to promote reconciliation and restorative justice as alternatives to violence in all its variations," said Kristin Houlé, Program Associate for AIUSA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty and coordinator of the National Weekend of Faith in Action.

For more information about the National Weekend of Faith in Action, please visit: http://www.amnestyusa.org/faithinaction/

now there are veterans of the journey of hope that participate year after year but none of them hold a candle to the most famous (or infamous) of them all -- sister helen prejean...

now if you have never witnessed and heard sister helen speak publicly then you have missed a lesson in connecting with your audience and a general ear-to-ear smiling treat...sister helen's magic is her authenticity - and that could be said of the entire journey...sister helen tells her own story of how she came to grasp the message within the life of jesus as the preferential option for the poor and in the process makes herself just like the members of her audience - fallible...and then she encourages them to struggle to live their lives at the intersection of compassion and grace -- powerful messenger ... beautiful human being...

sister helen spoke at three events in 24 hours and when she hits her stride and her delivery finds its rhythm it's a beautiful thing -- check her out, k'???

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

as i mentioned i hooked with the journey of hope - from violence to healing somewhere near charlottesville - well, actually it was in another roadside diner on the outskirts of roanoke where i picked up eloise and greg thursday noon ... we headed into charlottesville and arrived at the church of the incarnation ... where we met with 4 parishioners and 3 self-proclaimed "outsiders" who were in reality uva students...and proceeded to connect with these seven attendees, this rapt audience, through the personal stories of greg (wrongful conviction and death row exoneration) and eloise (the loss of 4 loved ones to murder) who have traveled two distinct and different paths to campaign against capital punishment ...

but the next day (friday the 20th) here in richmond there was a different story to tell...this was a smaller stage - just the comraderie of sisterhood ... this was a day that culminated in an act of bonding, a relationship road-tested and tried, consumated - hey, hey, hey - with a visit to a tattoo parlor ... it was on the industrial edge of richmond that christina lawson and suezann bosler entered an inky underground establishment catering to the needs of the skiin art deprived and left bearing the customized mark of the journey of hope in a very permanent way...

and so it is on the road where events large and small sustain community whether they speak of redemption, fairness, grace, justice, reconciliation, or simply on behalf of public policy alternatives that don't include killing a human being...

peace out from saxby's coffee ship in nw richmond... <3

Ohio Governor, Bob Taft grants John G. Spirko a stay of execution until April 17, 2007.  This will provide additional time to complete a DNA analysis of evidence related to his case.

Governor Taft Grants
5th Reprieve For John G. Spirko
pdf file

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

this just in - a stay of execution was announced by tcask ...

 The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a stay of execution for Donnie Johnson who is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, October 25th at 1:00 a.m. While this stay is in effect, please DO NOT contact the Governor as directed in our previous action alert.

i'm in a panera bread copping their wifi ... sitting ehre with eloise williams (a nawlins' returnee) and greg wilhoit (a death row exonoree ... we do a presentation at a catholic parish this evening after breaking bread with them ... if i can scam back on the net i'll tell you about each of their stories and how the potluck was!!!

 peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

when i signed up to travel with "the journey" for a full week i had only "the tempest" of the 2002 north carolina journey to reference...so that when i tried to leave nashville yesterday afternoon it came as no surprise that life would pop up and waylay the best made plans...

the tempest??? this is just to say that the planning and logistics mapping of this event is monumental on the type of budget under which it functions - this is one that will test and organizer's skills of detail management and leave a professional event coordinator with well teased, albeit unintentionally, hair...

the aforemntioned life popping up??? not 5 blocks from my house the suv in front of me hit a dog who went screaming into a nearby yard - we both stopped (one of my six rescues was found like this...oh she of 3 legs) - and after leaving a note forn the likely owner i took this sweet midsize terrier mix to my vet...she has a "beautifully" broken right rear leg and some deep bumper cuts ...but i tapped my organizer skills, googled up a reverse address search enging, found the name and number of the person whose house we believe the dog to live at...byb friday i may have the decision of life or death for this sweet girl in my hands (we'll explore that theme late, k'?)...

oh yeah, so about the journey  ... you remember the journey don't you ...

Journey of Hope...from Violence to Healing is an organization led by murder victim family members joined by death row family members, family members of the executed, the exonerated, and others with stories to tell, that conducts public education speaking tours and addresses alternatives to the death penalty.

Journey Storytellers come from all walks of life and represent the full spectrum and diversity of faith, color and economic situation. They are Real People who know first hand the aftermath of the insanity and horror of murder. They have Real Stories that recount their tragedies, and their struggles to heal as a way of opening dialogue on the death penalty in schools, colleges, churches and other venues.

The Journey spotlights Real People with Real Stories. Some choose not to seek revenge, and instead select the path of love and compassion for all of humanity. Some see forgiveness as strength and as a way of healing. Others come by different paths. Listen to the Voices of Experience because all reject the Death Penalty as Bad Public Policy and believe ...

i roll into roanoke (va) at noon today and move immediately into action so stay tuned for my reports from the road ...

peace out <3

Ohio Death Penalty Information reports:

Judge Frost of the US District Ct for Southern Ohio has stayed the October 24 execution of Jeffrey Lundgren and granted his motion to be included in the Ohio lethal-injection challenge case.  No information as to the likelihood of an appeal of today's ruling to the US 6th Circuit Ct of Appeals by the Ohio Attorney General.

from the diaries of the tennessee dude... 

it struck me as something like getting a 225 on your sats...i mean if you sign your namE you get like 800 right??? - that's like 50% of a perfect score...

so what does it take to get just 14% of a perfect score??? not much virginia...

former illinois gov. george ryan halted all executions in that state in 2000 and commuted the death sentences of more than 100 inmates after the exonerations of more than a dozen death-row inmates in a 22-year period...illinois instituted a number of changes, including videotaping confessions, but a moratorium remains in place...a crime commission in that state recommended 85 changes to the system. Some, but not all, were instituted.

virginia has instituted 12 of those 85 changes in recent years, including improved dna and forensic testing procedures and permitting videotaping of confessions...

 The recommendations "do not outweigh the legal and public support for Virginia's constitutionally correct death penalty statute," McDonnell's spokesman, J. Tucker Martin, said in an e-mail.

now that's the kind of argument we heard opposing civil and voting rights legislation, isn't it??? we all know that protecting human rights violations by legislating them into law doen't make the violation any less morally or existentially wrong...

i suppose the virgina tourist council could come up with a new vacation slogan, something like,                         

"Virginia - No Place to go but UP!"

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

one thing that world day against the death penalty reminds us of is that the world is not all about the u.s....in that vein i found a commentary by badri raina that shed some new light on the death penalty that i had not viewed before...

raina's launching point??? seems that a recent bollywood film explores the idea of making ghandian philosophy relevant to everyday life - cool so far - however, it seems that, according to raina, many of the same crowd in india supporting such a track are also calling for the hanging of afzal guroo who was charged with a 2001 attack upon the indian parliament...riana uses this contradiction to build her case against capital punishment...

the most unexpected thing i read in her very interesting piece???

It must have been on the basis of such an understanding of civilized life that the Hammurabi Code was opposed  by Voltaire, Diderot, Thomas Paine, Adam Smith, and David Hume.  Quite some gathering there, wouldn't you say?  Immanuel Kant was to put that opposition on the clearly articulated anti-utilitarian perception/conviction that "people are valuable in themselves, regardless of whether they are useful, or loved, or valued by others." (cited in MacKinnon, Barbara, Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, 2nd ed., N.Y. Wadsworth Pub., Co., 1998).

adam smith??? cost issue??? hmmmmmmm... check out the entire piece here...

peace out <3

This year, the World Day against the Death Penalty (October 10) falls in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Today Amnesty hosted an online discussion with Georgetown Islamic studies professor Najam Haider to discuss the death penalty in classical Islamic law and what can be done to support the trend of some Muslim nations to pardon prisoners during Ramadan.

Najam Haider answered many great questions today like: When is capital punishment acceptable under Islamic law?  Are woman more often affected by the death penalty?  Can death by stoning be just or humane?  If a woman is raped is she automatically executed?  Under Islamic law, what kind of evidence is required for a death penalty case?

To read Haider's thoughtful insights into these questions and many more, please visit  http://www.amnestyusa.org/askamnesty/live/display.php?topic=75

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

gosh, at first glance one might say that their hearts are in the right place (bless their little hearts)...

of whom do i speak??? those politicians who are calling to expand the death penalty for child rapists ... i mean we're all against child rapists okay, and adults/parents have a social obligation to protect and "do right" by those who are in our charge so to speak - and well, there are few things that are gonna get our backhairs all raised up than a child being violently attacked and sexually abused...

so we can at least understand where this impulse comes from ... it's primal, it's deep down, it's clearly an emotional response...

but here's the rub (and the core of the problem with emotions driving the generation of public policy) - if you have the death penalty available to prosecutors for child rapists you increase the possibility of the victimized child being killed in addition to having been raped ... the victim/witness may as well be killed if the death penalty is on the table ...

further, child sexual abuse is often perpetrated by a family member ... having the death penalty on the table may well act as a deterrent to reporting the crime if uncle jimmy, dad, or a female family member is the violator ...

what we want is for a child victimized in such a terrible way is to remain alive, get medical attention in the short-term and  adequate counseling for as long as they need it to rebuild their psyches and their trust in adults...

we can further extrapolate that the death penalty as a general rule is an emotional reaction to violent crime that has not been constructed to take into account what is best for the survivor's of homicide victims and indeed society itself...

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

heh heh - fat chance...even as i approch my final birthday this side of 50 my memory has not slipped that badly just yet...

ergo, if you recall back on 22 september i asked you a straightforward question: why build a statewide media distribution list???

here's the deal...for many of you who are accepting death penalty abolition organizer responsibilities (or seek to), and especially those who are state death penalty abolition coordinators (like myself), have to address the issue of scarce resources in a very concrete way...and that forces us to prioritize our potential tasks along two axises - what is strategic and what is feasible...and it's at the intersection of these two parameters that media work emerges as an embraceable responsibility...for the why go back and read 22 september ...

first off a new home computer (a portable laptop - priceless) has the embedded tools to make it easy - e-mail programs and fax-modem software...it's easy and CHEAP to set up an e-mail list - as you gather names (always create new entries with names and not just their e-mail address) create city distribution lists so that you can target messages when appropriate (e.g. Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron...)...add reporters, assignment editors, editorial managers, and station managers for small outlets...

some decisionmakers still prefer to receive faxes (hard copies) so your internal faxes are your tool of choice here...and with long distance minutes so cheap it's affordable (some carriers offer unlimited in and out of state long distance for a flat $20/month!)...

so how do you gather your contacts cheaply and easily???

1. google things like media list ohio or media outlets ohio and you will get easy links with large to small market outlets there for the cutting and pasting
2. visit http://www3.capwiz.com/y/dbq/media/ and click on your state - again, a plum list waiting for you to click, cut, and paste
3. visit http://newslink.org/ (nuff' said)...
4. and for a more segmented multicultural venue click here ...

k' - that's plenty o' nuts and bolts stuff to digest for today...have a great weekend and do justice justice...

peace out <3

from the diaries of the tennessee dude...

we've been chatting a bit about legislative work and realities on the blog lately and we've definitely brought up the pending referendum in wisconsin that's on their november ballot...

the swirling question has been around whether or not the wisconsin referndum will pass and what it all means...and i think here's the deal...win or lose the grassroots work being done inside legislative districts in wisconsin is important regardless of what happens on november 7th...human rights organizers be they working on capital punishment or other issues germaine to the universal declaration of human rights need to be doing this type of outreach-organizing and the experience gained by human rights organizers working as death penalty abolitionists translates across issues through the full spectrum of human rights work...

so monitor the numbers put out by the wisconsin policy research institute but know that because the referendum is only advisory, focusing solely on it would not make sense because the ultimate fight for reinstatement will take place in the legislature...the groundwork being laid for that fight at the current time can and will reap the reward of maintaining wisconsin as an abolition state if we keep doing the groundwork with our eye on the prize...

peace out  <3    

 The holidays can often be one of the most difficult times of year for those on death row and the families of murder victims.  Amnesty's goal is to distribute over a 1,000 holiday cards this year.  This season, please help us spread a message of hope.  We will gladly provide as many cards as you are committed to sending.

To obtain the cards please contact us at padp@aiusa.org or 202.544.0200 ext. 500

Or write to:        

So, last week I was reading that a medical expert testified that California's methods for lethal injection are not good enough for a dog!  Murder is always abhorrent, but it seems reasonable if we are going to execute some prisoners, it should be done in way that is good enough for animals.

Currently, lethal injection is the primary method of capital punishment that satisfies Eighth Amendment requirements.  But, since doctors around the country are now calling it cruel and unusual, I was curious to explore deeper how state-sanctioned murder has been carried out in the past.  Here's what I learned:

In 1976, the Supreme Court legalized capital punishment following a decade-long moratorium on the death penalty.  Six months later, the first person executed following that decision was Utah resident Gary Gilmore.  He was sentenced to death by firing squad.

Soon there after, firing squads were determined too gruesome and not precise enough means of execution.  In Gary's case, it took two minutes to die after being struck by bullets from a handful of riflemen.  In the past, many riflemen participating in executions hesitate and misfire; forcing the prisoner to slowly bleed to death.

Hangings also took place at this time, but many regarded them even less humane than firing squads.  In an ideal hanging, the prisoner's cervical spine is broken, the diaphragm won't function and suffocation occurs after a minute-long process.  If the hanging is botched, it can result in decapitation or strangulation that can take up to 45 minutes to kill a prisoner. 

Gas chambers were another option for states.  Unfortunately, this process generally took even longer than hanging and the public revolted at the sight of prisoners grasping for air.  One execution took over 11 minutes before the prisoner died.  Watching this slow death was so repugnant for witnesses that the attorney general vomited, reporters were crying and the prison warden threaten to resign if he was forced to carry out another similar execution. 

The final means of execution is the electric chair.  In theory, electrocution should cause unconsciousness within seconds.   However, there are examples of a prisoner's head catching fire and it taking multiple attempts to actually kill someone.  For one Alabama inmate, it took nearly 20 minutes for him to die.  Another inmate was not killed following an execution attempt.  A year later, after an unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court, the same inmate was returned to the chair and executed. 

For more information visit: Death Penalty Information Center