Americans rethink death penalty

Taipei Times ^ | 07.20.03

[Enemy Of The State]

Americans rethink death penaltyJuries are far more fearful of putting an innocent person to death, and prosecutors are being more careful

REUTERS
Sunday, Jul 20, 2003,Page 9

ILLUSTRATION: YU SHA

In the midst of a noisy debate over capital punishment in the US, a quiet change may have occurred -- the number of new death penalty sentences being imposed each year has dropped by nearly half.

Juries, perhaps fearful of putting an innocent person to death, are looking more closely at life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors heedful of the cost death penalty trials entail and the minefield of legal challenges that can get them reversed in court may be choosing their cases more carefully.

"The point we're coming to in America is that we are going to keep refining and refining and refining those who are eligible for the death penalty," said Josh Marquis, the prosecutor for Clatsop County in Astoria, Oregon.

"It should really be reserved for people like (Oklahoma City bomber) Timothy McVeigh," added Marquis, a death penalty proponent who chairs the Capital Litigation Committee of the National District Attorneys Association.

According to US Bureau of Justice Statistics, an average of 296 people were added to death row each year from 1994 to 2000. The actual number of new death sentences in 2000 was 226, well below the average, and the beginning of a decline. The number fell to 155 in 2001, the lowest recorded since 1973.

The bureau says it has not yet compiled statistics for last year. But Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, says his analysis of the total death row population numbers leads him to believe that last year's figure will again be around 155.

"There is a reluctance by juries," he said. "The states we've heard from say that cases where the death penalty is sought are more likely to get a life sentence now. For one thing, juries are being told about this option."

Three US Supreme Court decisions since 1993 have said jurors must be told that life without the possibility of parole is available as an alternative to the death penalty, if the state involved has such a law on its books, Dieter said.

Thirty-six of the 38 states which have death penalty laws also have life no-parole statutes, he said.

"Our sense is that there is also hesitation among juries because of all the stories about innocence or unfair treatment [of those on death row]. For whatever reason they're returning more life sentences," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union Capital Punishment Project said in a recent report that 108 people have been released from death row since 1973 after evidence of their innocence was uncovered.

That problem was painfully obvious in Illinois where investigations found 13 innocent prisoners awaiting execution.

Former Illinois Governor George Ryan imposed a still-standing moratorium on executions, and before leaving office early this year emptied the state's death row, granting clemency to 167 condemned prisoners and pardoning four others who had been convicted of murder.

His move touched off a renewed debate over capital punishment in the US, which is alone among western democracies in still carrying it out.

Illinois politicians revamped the state's laws but Ryan's successor has yet to decide on the changes. They include such measures as reducing the number of factors that can trigger the death penalty and allowing judges to file dissents when they disagree with a jury's imposition of the death penalty, making it easier for a prisoner to appeal.

Dieter says the debate prompted legislative proposals for similar changes or studies in about 17 states. While none has come close to a moratorium on executions, there will probably be studies of reform measures in a dozen more states, he added.

Marquis, the Oregon prosecutor, said the cost to the justice system is a factor. While prosecution costs rarely go beyond US$10,000, he said, it's not unusual for a defense to cost a half million dollars since "we require not just due process but super due process in capital cases."

"The goal is to seek the death penalty only for the worst of the worst," Marquis said.

US opinion polls have shown support for the death penalty rising in the last few years -- except when respondents were offered the option of life sentences without parole. A Gallup poll in May found 74 percent of respondents favored the death penalty for murderers but that fell to 53 percent if life without parole was available as an alternative.

Given growing support for what Marquis called "true life" -- laws that provide no-parole options, even Texas, which has executed more prisoners in the modern era than any other state, has begun to move towards a life-with-no-parole option, he said.

[Uncle Hal]

The libs are desperately trying to get the death penalty nullified. But Polls show strong support for the death penalty. I remember there was a poll a while back that showed support for the death penalty had gone up. The libs had a hard time explaining that away.

[No Dems 2004]

I'm not convinced by these arguments. America is still executing fewer people each year than it's sentencing, meaning that the total death row population is increasing.

That corrupted RINO gov of Illinois was one incident. Legislatures in both MD and NC have rejected moratoriums recently. Already 44 people have been executed this year and there seems set to be quite a lot more. Many or most of the states that don't have the DP (e.g. Wisconsin and Minnesota and possibly even Massachusetts) would bring it back if they had enough legislative or gubernatorial support for it.

The bottom line is: why must taxpayers pay to keep some filthy, vile person - who brutally murdered his fellow-man - alive for the rest of his life? No way. If you examine each of the executions this year, for instance, you'll realize that sympathy is not an option for these type of offenders. Put simply, they're not being executed for jaywalking or shoplifting (but rather for gruesome child-murder, brutal armed robberies, rape&murder, etc, etc - the kind of stuff that the general public just won't feel sorry for someone die for.)

[Akira]

Agreed! I heard recently (although have not verified it myself) that it can cost upwards of $30,000 a year to house an inmate. So by all means, let's pay that for 50 years so some throat slasher can be well-fed and not have his library privileges revoked.

Being a Texan, I love the jokes about how many murderers we execute. Keep 'em coming! When the jokes stop, it means the executions have stopped, and I certainly don't want that.

[TheAngryClam]

The people in France and the UK also support the death penalty (60-70% support usually).

The leftists will get it annulled here, against the wishes of Americans, soon enough.

[mvpel]

That corrupted RINO gov of Illinois was one incident.

What about that corrupted "justice" system in Illinois that had more innocent people on death row than guilty, as proven by DNA tests?

[VOA]

What about that corrupted "justice" system in Illinois that had more innocent people
on death row than guilty, as proven by DNA tests?

Even if only half of what the press said about the Illinois system was true,
there was a REAL major problem.

I'm all for the death penalty as the "nuclear" option to be dropped on the head of
of "the worst of the worst", but it absolutely, positively has to be done right.

One other interesting factoid I heard during the Illinois issue:
Attorney/DNA expert Barry Scheck (sp?), the fellow made famous during the OJ trial
was part of the project uncovering the slop in the Illinois system.
AND he said that he could NOT identify a person who had been executed in the USA
(due to death penalty conviction) who had actually been innocent.
I thought that was a pretty surpising admission coming from Scheck...and indicates that
even though there has almost surely been an innocent person executed at some time,
at least in the modern era, this must be exceedingly rare, maybe even non-existent.

Slight addendum: I have friends and old co-workers who are on the periphery of the
Gilchrist case in Oklahoma City (the police expert witness who apparently
hyped her results of fiber/hair analysis and ensured some false convictions.
Her situation (and that of a number of criminal forsenics are part of a problem...
the examining scientists are part of/paid by the police department, thus there
could be incentives (even unconscious) for the scientists to bend/hype results to
help the cops/DAs (and their own reputations!).

I don't know how to fix that institutional part of the problem...

[No Dems 2004]

And what about the guilty ones who were commuted?

Two wrongs don't make a right. IMO that governor should almost go on death row himself for what he did. (He's the same RINO who went down and cozied up to Castro, when no-one else dared). That said, I do support better and ever-improving systems for the death penalty, but moratoriums are politically-motivated to stall the administration of justice.

[OldPossum]

Folks, folks, this is a Reuters article. Consider the source.

[breakem]

Haven't seen a number in a few years, but I think death row costs are higher than the average inmate. Additional staffing and security needs.

[mvpel]

And what about the guilty ones who were commuted?

Are you so bloodthirsty that only their deaths will satisfy you, even though they will never see the light of day in free society ever again?

[Sonny M]

Are you so bloodthirsty that only their deaths will satisfy you, even though they will never see the light of day in free society ever again?

Pretty much, but then again, I'm biased since I've known people who were murdered. I would much rather my tax dollars go towards killing somone who took an innocent human life then letting them eat, sleep, read and have recreation untill the end.

[Susannah]

average annual cost per prisoner in California is $50,000. Though, I don't think that cost includes their medical and dental services.

One family sued the state and won about $34,000 + a heart transplant for their prisoner.....meanwhile, a Californian nonprisoner with insurance missed out on an available heart that would have cost him over $150,000. (the story was covered by CBS)

[No Dems 2004]

Are you such a bunny-hugger type that you don't want guilty murderers put to death?

[mvpel]

What difference does it make to any of us whether they're put to death or kept in a cage until they die, unless you have a desire for vicarious revenge carried out by the government?

[mvpel]

Pretty much, but then again, I'm biased since I've known people who were murdered. I would much rather my tax dollars go towards killing somone who took an innocent human life then letting them eat, sleep, read and have recreation untill the end.

At least you're honest about it, unlike so many in this debate. I'm coming from an admittedly different point of view, in that I don't trust the same government that runs the DMV with the power of life and death over its citizens.

[squidly]

What about that corrupted "justice" system in Illinois that had more innocent people on death row than guilty, as proven by DNA tests?

Better recheck your facts. There was no majority of death row inmates found innocent.

[No Dems 2004]

"What difference does it make to any of us whether they're put to death or kept in a cage until they die, unless you have a desire for vicarious revenge carried out by the government?"

Because it's justice served, and it serves as a warning to other would-be evildoers. Also, it brings these people to the end of themselves. Very often these people repent on their deathbed. It's probably the only chance they'll get to humble themselves.

[mvpel]

You're right - the actual fact is that more people were exonerated than executed in the time leading up to the moratorium in Illinois.