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News Commentary Archive from 2009
- Archive
of News Commentary
See all CADP News Commentary links
and excerpts from the years 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003
| 2004
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008.
- About
Broken Links
- There is No "Humane" Execution
This is what passes for progress in the
application of the death penalty: Kenneth
Biros, a convicted murderer, was put to
death in Ohio last week with one drug,
instead of the more common three-drug cocktail.
... The larger problem, however, is that
changing a lethal-injection method is simply
an attempt, as Justice Harry Blackmun put
it, to “tinker with the machinery
of death.” No matter how it is done,
for the state to put someone to death is
inherently barbaric.
(12/13/09, Editorial by the New York
Times) - Pulling the Plug on Capital Punishment
Not all the important turning points in
America's epic struggle over the death
penalty get noticed immediately by the
mass media and the public. A quiet blockbuster
this year was the decision of the American
Law Institute, a little-known but prestigious
organization of lawyers and judges, to
withdraw its approval for the standards
created by the institute's 1963 Model Penal
Code to guide juries in the choice between
long prison terms and execution. (12/7/09,
The National Law Journal. News commentary
by Franklin E. Zimring.)
- Selective Empathy
In overturning a
death sentence this week of a Korean War
veteran whose lawyer failed to inform the
jury about the man’s
combat-related traumatic stress disorder,
the Supreme Court drew cheers from veterans’ groups
and death-penalty opponents. But it also
raised a question: Is selective empathy
better than no empathy at all?
(12/3/98, New York Times. News commentary by Linda Greenhouse.)
- Death Penalty Just Too Costly
There are many troubling questions about
the death penalty. There are questions
of racial disparities. There are questions
of the mentally ill. There are questions
of mistakes. This newspaper has long supported
the death penalty. Polls show overwhelming
support for it. Opposing the death penalty
is not a popular position. But, I am opposed
to the death penalty. Morally, I don't
think the state should kill people. But
I also don't think the death penalty is
practical. It is not a deterrent to crime.
It takes so long that any idea of timely
justice is lost.
(11/1/09, Clarion-Ledger. News commentary
by D. Hampton, Editorial Director.)
- The Price of Death
Even in states where executions are carried
out as planned, the often grisly circumstances
lead some people to wonder why the United
States supports the death penalty, one
of the few developed countries that still
does so.
... It is time for the nation to conclude
once and for all that in our civilized
society there is no place for capital
punishmennt.
(10/26/09, Editorial by America Magazine.)
- Judge
Says Death Penalty "Too Fraught
with Variables to Survive"
Retired Federal Appeals Court Judge H. Lee
Sarokin recently offered a harsh critique
of the death penalty, especially challenging
the botched execution attempt of Romell Broom
in Ohio in September. Citing morality, arbitrariness,
and the dim prospects of closure for the
murder victims’ families, Judge Sarokin
called the imposition of the death penalty
an erratic and flawed process that should
not be permitted to continue. (10/19/09, DPIC Update)
- Botched
Executions
Ohio's attempt to execute Romell
Broom last month by lethal injection was
the death penalty at its most barbaric.
Even after that horribly botched failed
execution, the state wants to continue
putting people to death, starting next
week. Ohio should at the very least call
a moratorium so it can ensure that it has
the technical competence to put people
to death humanely. But every state should
use this shameful moment to question whether
they ought to be putting people to death
at all. (10/3/09, Editorial by the New York
Times)
- Death for the Death Penalty?
In
theory, the death penalty for capital crimes
should work. An accused killer takes the
life of an innocent and is put to death
to protect the rest of society. The only
problem is that theory has little to do
with real life. Prejudicial prosecution;
coerced confessions; corrupted informants;
botched lawyering; and, yes, even racism,
have turned the death penalty, as it is
now applied in the United States, into
a very dirty, inaccurate business.
(9/24/09, Black Voices - Black Spin)
- High Cost of Death Row
To the many excellent
reasons to abolish the death penalty -
it's
immoral, does not deter murder and affects
minorities disproportionately - we
can add one more. It's an economic
drain on governments with already badly
depleted budgets.
It is far from a national trend, but some
legislators have begun to have second thoughts
about the high cost of death row. Others
would do well to consider evidence gathered
by the Death Penalty Information Center,
a research organization that opposes capital
punishment.
(9/27/09, Editorial by the New York Times)
- NCADP
Launches "Shouting from the Rooftops" Campaign
In
2006, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia wrote that there has not been "a
single case - not one - in which it
is clear that a person was executed
for a crime he did not commit. If such
an event had occurred in recent years,
we would not have to hunt for it; the
innocent's name would be shouted from
the rooftops." So to raise
awareness about Cameron
Todd Willingham, who was innocent
yet executed, the National Coalition
to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP)
is now "Shouting from the Rooftops." Learn
more. (9/24/09, CADP)
- Innocent Until Executed
For years, death-penalty opponents and
supporters have been working their way
toward a moment in which each side would
rethink things. They were seeking a case
in which a clearly innocent defendant was
wrongly put to death. (9/3/08, Newsweek.
News
commentary by Dahlia Lithwick.)
- Reaction
to Execution of Innocent Man Grows
Recent scientific reports indicating
that Texas likely executed an innocent
man have spurred wide coverage and commentary.
Cameron Todd Willingham was executed
in 2004 for the arson murder of his three
children. Fire experts now say the blaze
was likely an accident. Read excerpts
from coverage. (9/8/09, DPIC Update)
- Former Death Row Warden Discusses the
Impact of Executions
In the video,
Dean Ault discusses the tremendous drain
that carrying out executions had, and continues
to have, on his life. He added, "I
know I'm not the only one who has administered
executions that felt the way I do. They all
have shed a lot of tears." He questions
the value of the death penalty, and recognizes
the difficulty that many politicians have
in challenging this punishment, despite
its obvious flaws.
(8/24/09, DPIC Update)
- Restrictions on Death Penalty Appeals
Raising Judges' Concerns
A number of federal judges have recently
written strong dissents in capital cases
because they were concerned that restrictions
on appeals could lead to tragic mistakes.
Judge William Fletcher of the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, for example,
began his dissent in the case of Kevin
Cooper with the words, "The State
of California may be about to execute an
innocent man." According
to a study by the New York Times, such
concerns have risen recently. "In
dozens of capital cases in recent years,
appeals court judges, some of whom have
ruled in favor of the death penalty many
times, have complained that Congress and
the Supreme Court have raised daunting
barriers for death row prisoners to appeal
their convictions, and in many cases the
judges have taken on their colleagues." (8/17/09, DPIC Update)
- Browse
Multimedia Resources on the Death Penalty
The Death Penalty Information Center
(DPIC) maintains a Multimedia Resources
page. This Web page organizes numerous
links to audio files, podcasts, and videos.
Videos include interviews with death
row prisoners, case studies, commentaries,
and so on. Podcasts cover a variety of
topics: arbitrariness in the application
of the death penalty, clemency, cost
of the death penalty, and the issue of
deterrence. The DPIC page also includes
links to many additional audio and video
clips. These links are to multimedia
resources available from organizations
such as the BBC, NPR, PBS, and various
commercial news outlets. Visit
the DPIC Multimedia Resources page.
(8/10/09, CADP)
- Documentary Tells Story of Innocent
Man Who Spent 18 Years on Death Row
In 1984, Juan Melendez was sent to Florida's
death row for the murder of Delbert Baker
even though no physical evidence linked
him to the crime. In 2002, he was released
with all charges vacated after it was found
that prosecutors had withheld critical
evidence in the case. ... Juan Melendez
- 6446 is a documentary released as part
of the HBO-sponsored 10th Annual New York
International Latino Film Festival. Director
Luis Rosario Albert tells Melendez' story
through his own words and the words of
his family, friends and lawyers - the story
of a migrant Puerto Rican farm worker sent
to death row for a crime he didn't commit.
Editor's note:
Juan Melendez spoke at 2004
CADP events. (8/3/09, DPIC Update)
- Senator Kennedy Raises Concerns About
Expansion of Federal Death Penalty
In response to an amendment to the Matthew
Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act that would
add the death penalty as a punishment for
certain offenses under the Act, Senator Edward
Kennedy (MA) entered a statement into the
Congressional Record highlighting some of
the risks of the death penalty. An excerpt
of his statement: "I stand firmly in
opposition to any new legislation that would
radically expand the use of the death penalty,
and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to
oppose the Sessions amendment because it
adds another new death penalty to the Federal
Criminal Code. Since the reinstatement of
the death penalty in the 1970s, the Death
Penalty Information Center has reported that
135 people have been released from death
row in the United States because of innocence
- approximately one exoneration for every
nine executions."
(7/27/09,
DPIC Update)
- "Double Tragedies":
Mental Illness and the Death Penalty
A new report, "Double
Tragedies," addresses
the question of whether people with severe
mental illness should face the death penalty.
The report was authored by the National Alliance
on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Murder Victims'
Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) and called
for treatment and prevention instead of execution
for such offenders.
(7/20/09,
DPIC Update)
- Save Troy Anthony Davis: Georgia is Set
to Execute a Man Who May Well Be Innocent
The State of Georgia has been trying to execute
Troy Anthony Davis for more than 15 years,
despite compelling evidence that he did not
commit the murder for which he is sentenced
to die. Davis has been to death's door three
times - most recently, he was 90 minutes
from execution - rescued each time by heroic
lawyering. But his luck may be running out.
A 30-day stay of execution expires this weekend,
prompting Amnesty International and other
human rights groups to declare Tuesday a
global day of action - a time for those who
hate injustice to raise our voices and save
this man's life. You can get details of protests,
poetry readings, letter-writing campaigns
and information about the case at www.aiusa.org/troy or
by texting "Troy" to 90999.
(5/17/09, New York Daily News. News commentary
by Errol Louis.)
- Jurors
Already Killed the Death Penalty
In
its final hours this week, the legislature
killed a controversial bill that would
have done away with the death penalty in
Colorado. The outcry over its defeat (by
one vote in the Senate) has been passionate.
But the reality is that the death penalty
has been functionally dead in this state
for many years, in part because juries
have been reluctant to impose it. That
point came home to me in a very personal
way when I was called in February to appear
for jury duty in the trial of Robert Ray.
On Thursday, an Arapahoe County jury found
Ray guilty of the first-degree murder of
two young people who were set to testify
against him in another murder trial. That
jury will now decide whether to sentence
him to death. (5/9/09, The Denver Post. News
commentary by Susan Thornton.)
- Time To Kill the Death Penalty
Even justice has a price tag, and in today’s
times, when legislators were talking about
cutting $500 million from higher education,
we have to make tough choices on the kind
of justice we’d like to pursue. We
think the Colorado House made the right
decision when it decided to kill the death
penalty and use the money toward solving
cold cases. We understand perfectly why
families of victims would want to see the
ones who caused them so much pain put to
death. But in these times, we simply can’t
afford it. The death penalty is a luxury.
The last death-penalty case tried in Colorado
cost $1.4 million to prosecute. It costs
around $70,000 to prosecute a non-capital
case. You can do the math.
(4/30/09, Editorial by the Greeley Tribune)
- Eliminating Death Penalty in Colorado
the Right Move
Count us among those applauding the Colorado
House's close-as-a-shave vote to eliminate
the death penalty here. The bill, which
now goes to the state Senate, would take
money used for death penalty cases and
apply it toward solving cold cases. ... We
hope it does pass in the Senate, and we hope
the governor signs it. For the grieving friends
and families of more than 1,400 Coloradans,
that expanded chance for justice outweighs
the desire for ultimate revenge on a very
few, who will spend the rest of their days
in prison where they belong. (4/23/09, Editorial
by The Camera)
- Ending the Death Penalty - A Spiritual
Perspective!
Audio interview: http://latalkradio.com/images/Nanice-021609.mp3
(2/16/09, LATalkRadio.com)
- Editorials: Death Row Futility - The
Death Penalty Is Wrong; Decrying Long Stays
On Death Row Is Beside The Point
And those duration-of-stay numbers merely
strengthen our opposition. We find it shocking
and depressing that California keeps hundreds
of people locked up for decades awaiting
execution at an estimated additional cost
of $63.3 million per year (over and above
the normal cost of incarceration) when it
could save more than 90% of that by scrapping
the system entirely and replacing it with
life imprisonment without parole. ... Inefficiency
and costliness are obviously only a small
part of what's wrong with the death penalty.
But as the commission noted, they create
cynicism and disrespect for the rule of law,
and increase the emotional trauma of victims'
families. Let's end this brutal, anachronistic
practice. (2/23/09, Los Angels Times)
- Editorials: Death Penalty Moratorium
Needed in Texas
The Dallas Morning News renewed its call
for a moratorium on executions in Texas
because of the numerous errors in the state's
death penalty system. ... These and other
problems have led the Dallas Morning News
to change its 100-year position and oppose
the death penalty completely. " It's the view
of this newspaper that the justice system
will never be foolproof and, therefore, use
of the death penalty is never justified."
(1/5/09,
DPIC Update)
- Editorials: Washington Post Calls for
an End to Capital Punishment in Maryland
A recent editorial in the Washington Post
cited trends and statistics from DPIC's
2008 Year End Report in calling for an end to
the death penalty in Maryland. The paper
urged Maryland lawmakers to "heed the
march of history" and noted that use
of the death penalty is declining around
the country.
(1/5/09,
DPIC Update)
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