Death Penalty

We always hoped that in 2000 we would live like the Jetsons and while in 2008, we are still not even close to the having a car that packs itself into a bag, we have numerous new technologies and new media. The internet, film, video games and many other innovative media have given us the opportunity to express ourselves and the topics that matter, in a more creative and interesting way.

Searching through the internet I found a video that exemplifies this. It was launched by MTV, directed by A. Toscana and now you can find it at "youtube.com" It is telling a story about a man sentenced to death penalty. I encourage you to see is very well done and interesting:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUOanRJXCrM

Documentaries are also catching up with the new technologies and new trends.  For example At the Death House Door is a documentary that explores the history of the death penalty in the state of Texas through the eyes of Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served 15 years as the death house chaplain to the prison unit in Huntsville. Check the trailer at: www.ifc.com/atthedeathhousedoor

These are not the only attention-grabbing things you can find searching through the internet but is a start. You can also rent movies like Death man walking and The Exonerated. In addition, you can also become a member of the numerous groups in facebook or myspace, including an Amnesty International group at facebook.

The internet opens up a new world or like some people called it, a second life; without restrictions of time or space. I encourage you to look through it looking for information that matters like death penalty abolition and the end of torture and abuse against women. And if you are feeling creative design your own video using facts. Let's create and promote a second life worthwhile of the tremendous technologies we have in our primary life. Forward it!

~Tania, DP intern

Thankfully the New Hampshire Senate recognized that expanding the death penalty would not solve the criminal problems they are suffering. The bill sponsored by Senator Joe Kenny, R-Wakefield, wanted to impose the death penalty on those guilty of killing more than one person at a time. By a whopping 22-2 vote the senate sent the bill to interim study, effectively killing the bill.  Senator Jack Barnes, who in the past has publicly volunteered to serve as New Hampshire's executioner, was the only senator to join Senator Kenny to support passing the death penalty expansion bill.

Some of the Senators commented on their decisions to refuse the expansion bill. For example, Senator David Gottesman, D-Nashua, said all five members of the Senate Judiciary Committee agreed Sen. Kenney's bill was not ready for prime time. Attorney General Kelly Ayotte supported the change but offered an amendment because the language had flaws. While Sen. Robert Clegg, R-Hudson, said defense lawyers convinced him this whole concept needs more study and should be put in a new bill in 2009.

Besides being a human rights violation, more and more studies reveal that the death penalty does no good to the economy or to society. It does not serve as deterrence. It does not bring justice to the victims instead it extends and worsens their pain. It is arbitrary, unjust and irrevocable which can lead to the mistake of killing an innocent.

Do not expand the death penalty, abolish it!

~Tania, DP Intern

"Imagine a white man going on trial for the murder of a black man and receiving the death penalty... You know you can't." said Sister Helen Prejean past Monday at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center.

"Eighty percent of the real practitioners of the death penalty are in the 10 Southern states that practiced slavery the longest - where white people are threatened by people of color," Prejean said. "That's directly connected to 'Who did you kill?'"

Sister Prejean is not far off from the truth. Unfortunately, the single most reliable predictor of whether someone will be sentenced to death is the race of the victim. Since 1976, an overwhelming majority of death row defendants (over 80%) have been executed for killing white victims, although African Americans make about half of all homicide victims.

Many studies have confirmed that there is pattern evidence indicating racial disparities from the charging and sentencing, to imposition of the death penalty.

(See more information at http://www.amnestyusa.org/Fact_Sheets/The_Death_Penalty_is_Racially_Biased/page.do?id=1101091&n1=3&n2=28&n3=99)

We are still dreaming Martin Luther King's dream, we are not living it. There has been an advance on the fight against racism but our society still endures it. You see it in yourself, on the street and you see it in the court. We, as a society, are not perfect therefore the system we have created is not perfect either. Then, why impose an irreversible punishment knowing that the sentence could be based on our own bias and stereotypes?

  ~TANIA, DP intern

We hear a lot from folks who argue that we shouldn't worry about inflicting pain on the condemned during an execution, because of the pain they inflicted on their victims.  Or that the pain of the execution should match, or even exceed, the pain suffered by the victims in their last moments. 

"It is the hallmark of a civilized society that we punish cruelty without practicing it." 

So wrote the majority of the Nebraska Supreme Court today in outlawing the use of the electric chair in that state, by a vote of 6-1.  In its decision, the Court referred to electrocution as:

"purposeless infliction of physical violence and mutilation"

and:

"inconsistent with both the concepts of evolving standards of decency and the dignity of man." 

So that's out.  Nebraska was the last state in the U.S. to rely solely on the electric chair for executions, and so now has no legal means of execution.  Introducing lethal injection at this point would be problematic, given that we are still waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in Baze v. Rees.

The resolution to this dilemma has already presented itself, in the form of LB1063, a bill which repeals the death penalty and provides restitution for victims' families.  This bill passed the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature's Judiciary Committee (also by a 6-1 vote) on Thursday.  Getting rid of the death penalty is the one way to ensure that Nebraska never practices cruelty, but only punishes it.

Brian - DPAC

Let's dress ourselves with the Mardi gras colors. The traditional colors of this Carnival are purple, green and gold. Even if you do not like this holiday or consider it somewhat odd, I am asking you to reflect back to its origins and act based on those original meanings.

The story behind the selection of these colors originates from 1872 when the Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff of Russia visited New Orleans. During his stay, he was given the honor of selecting the official Mardi gras colors. The purple symbolized justice; the green represented faith and the gold signified power. Then let's celebrate that we have the power to produce real justice and the faith to believe in change.

In order to use our power to create real justice we need to reconsider some of our current laws and policies, for example the death penalty. Real justice never kills therefore there is no death penalty in real justice.

Our faith in change has been tackled in the current electoral campaigns. Recently politicians have used the word change in their campaigns because we are longing for change and they know it. We are supporting and voting for these candidates because we have faith that together we can turn things around and that a better future is possible. We are not willing to settle for how things are. And as part of our evolution we need to eliminate those policies that are diverting us from our main goal, which is change. Therefore if we want real justice and change, the death penalty is standing in our way. Let's use the Mardi gras colors to symbolize our commitment to change and real justice; let's abolish the death penalty so we can actually be on the road toward change and real justice.  

Tania, DP intern