|
News
Moratorium Now
Call For A National Moratorium On Executions
There are several proposals for a moratorium on executions. That idea is not farfetched. Colorado had a de facto moratorium for 30 years until October 13, 1997. There were no executions in the United States from June 1967 (Luis Monge in Colorado) to January 1977 (Gary Gilmore in Utah). There were serious questions about the constitutionality of various state laws, but state laws were actually not invalidated until Furman v. Georgia in 1972 and new laws were validated in Gregg v. Georgia 1976. Thus in this time span, capital punishment was legal for 6 years but no executions were carried out. We have had experience with unofficial moratoriums on executions and in some jurisdictions the death penalty is on the books, but not carried out.
In February 1997 the American Bar Association called for a moratorium on executions. The A.B.A. had repeatedly urged that there be no executions until policies and procedures consistent with impartial justice were in place, including:
Adequate competent counsel in capital cases (1988,89,90,96)
Independent judgment of courts on constitutional claims (1982, 90)
End racial discrimination regarding victim or defendant (1988, 91)
End execution of juveniles and mentally retarded persons (1983,89)
Instead of improvements, legislation and judicial decisions have exacerbated the injustices in capital cases into a "haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal consistency." Hence the urgent need for a moratorium.
The U.N. Commission on Human Rights has called for a world wide moratorium on executions. At least 45 nations have abolished capital punishment since 1976, more than in any other quarter of a century in history. The United States is the leader of the opposition to this trend. Sister Helen Prejean is chair of "Moratorium 2000," aimed at worldwide support to be voted on by the U.N. General Assembly in 1999.
More immediately related to our program is the Moratorium Now campaign, sponsored by Equal Justice USA of the Quixote Center in Maryland. At last count 250 groups had signed on. The number is growing. Coloradans Against the Death Penalty has signed up. This does not require approval of a particular resolution, but simply endorses idea of a national moratorium. We believe many people who do not necessarily oppose capital punishment across the board, once they consider the "arbitrary and capricious" application of the law and structural injustices, would favor such a moratorium. We invite your support and that of groups you belong to!
As people favoring executions become acquainted with the facts, they often reconsider. For example, Norman Kinne, former Dallas District Attorney:
"Even though I'm a firm believer in the death penalty, I also understand what the cost is. If you can be satisfied with putting a person in the penitentiary for the rest of his life...I think maybe we have to be satisfied with that as opposed to spending $1 million to try and get them executed." (Dallas Morning News 3/8/92)
The financial cost does not begin to count the social cost of the death penalty. Colorado managed to do without executions for 30 years. It is time we understand that we, our judicial system, and our state would be better off without it.
http://www.igc.org/quixote/ej/mora.html
|
