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News Commentary Archive from 2005
- Archive
of News Commentary
See all CADP News Commentary links
and excerpts from the years 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003
| 2004.
- About
Broken Links
- Raw
Vengeance - Death Penalty Does Not
Bring
"Closure" or Stop Crime
Stanley "Tookie" Williams,
who was executed by the state of California
early Tuesday morning, never stopped
proclaiming his innocence in the murder
of four people in 1979. While on death
row, Williams seemed to have repented
his role in co-founding the notorious,
murderous Crips gang, which still kills
today, 34 years later. He co-wrote books
for children about the dangers of becoming
involved in a gang. ... Whether or not
Williams committed the four murders for which
he was found guilty and whether or not he
found true redemption in his 24 years behind
bars, neither the government that killed
him, nor its citizenry, nor the families
of his victims gained anything by his death
on Tuesday. (12/14/05, Editorial by The Daily
Camera)
- Shift
in Debate on Death Penalty
Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's decision
this week to grant clemency in a death
penalty case will be seen in the coming
years as a landmark in the nation's debate
over capital punishment. In sparing the
life of Robin M. Lovitt, a convicted
murderer, Warner was responding not simply
to facts that weighed heavily in favor
of stopping the execution. He was also
operating in a changed political climate.
Even supporters of the death penalty
now have doubts about how it is administered.
Leading conservative Christians are struggling
with their consciences over how to square
their opposition to abortion with support
for death sentences. (12/4/05, The Daily
Camera. News commentary by E.J. Dionne.)
- Birmingham News Changes Its Position
"After decades of supporting the death
penalty, the editorial board no longer
can do so." The paper cited both
practical and ethical reasons for the change
in its stance: "[W]e have come to
believe Alabama's capital punishment system
is broken. And because, first and foremost,
this newspaper's editorial board is committed
to a culture of life. . . . We believe
all life is sacred. And in embracing a
culture of life, we cannot make distinctions
between those we deem 'innocents' and those
flawed humans who populate Death Row." (11/14/05, DPIC Update)
- The
Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account
of Wrongful Executions
The book
contains the stories of two men I believe
to be innocent who were executed and
whom I accompanied to their deaths.
The stories are going to break your
heart. Then there's the story of the
Supreme Court and the appeals courts
which deny constitutional rights and
rubber stamp death sentences without
ever allowing a fresh hearing of the
evidence. I encountered Justice Antonin
Scalia in the New Orleans airport (would
you believe he goes duck hunting with
my brother Louie in Louisiana?). My encounter
with him opens the chapter entitled "The
Machinery of Death." The last chapter
is called "The Death of Innocence" and
tells stories of jurors and prosecutors
and judges and wardens and politicians
who get tainted and corrupted by the
death penalty. In the end, with government
killings snaring both innocent and guilty
alike, we all lose our innocence. My
hope is that this book will help us bring
about the end of the death penalty. (http://www.deathofinnocents.net/) Order
book from Amazon.com (and benefit CADP)
- Former
Prison Superintendent Testifies about
Emotional Costs of Capital Punishment
Retired New York prison superintendent
Stephen Dalsheim recently cautioned legislators
about re-instating the death penalty, noting
his concerns about innocence and the toll
executions take on prison employees. "You
know, as I grow older, I realize maybe
we can get beyond vengeance," Dalsheim
said. "The death penalty is fraught
with the possibility that you could execute
an innocent man. Who could live with that?" (2/28/05, DPIC Update)
- "Hanging
Judge" Calls for End to the Death
Penalty
Retired Orange County, California
Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin,
who was once known as "the hanging judge," recently
called for an end to the death penalty.
In a column he published in the Orange
County Register, McCartin revealed that
a number of recent death penalty cases
and rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court
have led him to now oppose capital punishment
because it is expensive and can never
be applied in a fair and balanced way.
(7/5/05, DPIC Update)
- Judge
Urges Public to Reconsider Death Penalty
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill
recently announced that he is rethinking
capital punishment because it is expensive,
can be politically motivated, and risks
innocent lives. (11/21/05, DPIC Update)
- Justice
Denied Features News on the Wrongly
Convicted
The latest edition of the magazine Justice
Denied features stories of those
who have been wrongly convicted in
the United States and internationally,
including several death penalty cases.
One article is about Lena Baker, who
was posthumously pardoned 50 years
after Georgia executed her for the
murder Ernest B. Knight. The magainze
also features a story about the innocence
claims raised by Frances Newton, who
was recently executed in Texas. Other
articles discuss the Streamlined Procedures
Act (legislation before Congress that
seeks to limit capital appeals), inadequate
representation, and compensation for
the wrongfully convicted. (10/24/05, DPIC Update)
- L.A.
Times Editorial: "Shut Down Death
Row"
In an editorial on October
27, the Los Angeles Times called for
an end to the death penalty in California.
The Times stated that the punishment
should end not because of the merits
of individual death row inmates, such
as Stanley Williams, scheduled for
execution on December 13, but because
of "who we are" as
a civilized society. (10/31/05, DPIC Update)
- Life
and Death and Samuel Alito
Capital proceedings are often fraught
with error. In recent years, the Supreme
Court - with the assent of Justice Sandra
Day O'Connor, whom Alito would replace
- has invalidated several convictions
and death sentences because of misleading
jury instructions, poor lawyering, racial
discrimination in jury selection and
prosecutorial misconduct. So what do
we know about Alito's views on this issue?
... Although O'Connor's approach to capital
punishment has been solidly conservative,
she has at times supplied a crucial vote
in contentious cases in favor of greater
care and fairness in the application of the
death penalty. Yet it is precisely in the
most contentious cases that Alito has shown
an unbroken pattern of excusing errors in
capital proceedings and eroding norms of
basic fairness. At a time when America's
commitment to due process of law is being
closely scrutinized at home and abroad, Alito's
record on capital punishment raises serious
concerns. It deserves careful attention
from the Senate and the American people
as a measure of his capacity to interpret
the law in pursuit of impartial, humane
and equal justice. (11/27/05, Los Angeles
Times. News commentary by Goodwin Liu.)
- Righting
a Wrong - The High Court Outlaws Execution
of Juvenile Killers
Until this week, the United States was
the only nation in the world that still
allowed the execution of juvenile murderers.
The U.S. Supreme Court finally ended
this shameful practice on Tuesday, when
it ruled that
executing a prisoner for crimes committed
before the age of 18 violates the constitutional
ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The decision was long overdue. As public
support for the death penalty has waned,
some of the high court's rulings have
narrowed the boundaries of capital punishment;
three years ago, for example, the justices
outlawed the execution of mentally retarded
prisoners. Under a 1989 decision, however,
the Constitution as interpreted by the
court still allowed states to execute
people for murders committed as early
as the age of 16. The practice was not
only barbaric but inconsistent. ... The
day will come when the United States
abandons capital punishment altogether.
This week's ruling by the Supreme Court
is a long-awaited and necessary step
toward that goal. (3/3/05, Editorial
by The Daily Camera)
- Stevens
Issues Pointed Remarks on Death Penalty
As many states move to reform their
policies on capital punishment, it's
worth pausing over some timely remarks
on the subject by U.S. Supreme Court
Justice John Paul Stevens. At a recent
meeting of the American Bar Association,
Stevens delivered an award named in honor
of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall,
a determined foe of capital punishment.
It was a suitable occasion for Stevens
to mention some of the barriers to justice
built into the legal system. Take, for
example, the jury selection process. Stevens
pointed out that prosecutors go to great
lengths to determine whether an individual
has "moral or religious
scruples" that would argue against
imposing the death penalty. This creates
an atmosphere in which "juries are
likely to assume that their primary task
is to determine the penalty for a presumptively
guilty defendant." And because prosecutors
can challenge those who have reservations
about the death penalty, the process
creates a risk that a fair cross-section
of the community will not be represented
on the jury." (8/23/05, Editorial
by The Daily Camera)
- USA
Today Editorial Says Life Without Parole
is "Fitting Replacement" for
Death Penalty
In an editorial highlighting
public support for the sentencing option
of life without parole in death penalty
cases and the need to take steps to protect
against executing innocent people, USA
Today recently stated that life without
the possibility of parole is a "fitting
replacement" for the death penalty.
The editorial praised the historic enactment
of a life without the possibility of
parole statute in Texas and other recent
activities around the nation that seek
to address problems with capital punishment.
(6/27/05, DPIC Update)
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