Connecticut's Religious Leaders Say End the Death Penalty

Dozens of Religious Leaders Rally in Hartford to Advocate the Abolition of Connecticut's Capital Punishment Law

Calling it the just and moral thing to do, dozens of religious leaders from the state’s Christian and Jewish communities gathered at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford Tuesday to petition the General Assembly to repeal Connecticut’s death penalty law.

“There are times where sometimes we have theological debates about things in which we disagree, however when it comes to the death penalty this is one item that members of major denominations agree, there is consensus that the death penalty should be abolished,” said State Rep. Bruce Morris, D-Norwalk, who also serves as a minister and emceed Tuesday’s proceedings.

The religious leaders presented Morris and State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven, with a letter signed by more than 300 clergy supporting passage of House Bill 5036, a bill introduced by Holder-Winfield that would abolish Connecticut’s death penalty. Speakers advocated replacing the state’s capital punishment law with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of release for the state’s most violent convicted murderers.

“As people of faith, we reaffirm our opposition to the death penalty and belief in the sacredness of human life,” the letter stated. “We urge you, our elected officials, to examine the reality of Connecticut’s death penalty and seek ways to achieve true healing for those who suffer because of violent crime. Please support repeal of the death penalty. It is time for Connecticut to move beyond this broken and harmful system.”

Speakers argued that the death penalty was an “ineffective, unfair and fallible” response to violent crimes.

“The death penalty applies disproportionately to the poor and minorities and puts innocent lives at risk of execution,” Morris said. “Since 1973, 138 individuals sentenced to death were later exonerated of their crimes. When a human life is at stake, there’s simply no room for error.”

James Curry, a Bishop from the Episcopal Church, said that he has spoken to the victims of many families who feel that the death penalty only adds to their pain and suffering, because of lengthy trials and appeals and the notoriety associated with the cases.

“By abolishing the death penalty, we in Connecticut have an opportunity to affirm and respect our dignity as a society,” Curry said. “…Life imprisonment without possibility of release is a punishment that can respect the needs of a victim’s family for closure in the legal process, it can respect their needs for justice, and it can respect the memory of all their loved ones.”

Peter Rosazza, a Bishop from the Connecticut Catholic Conference, said that the Catholic Church opposes the death penalty because it violates the sanctity of life.

“Human life is a gift from god that must be respected from conception to natural death,” Rosazza said. “Our profound respect for human life also explains why we are opposed to any attack against human life, including abortion and euthanasia.”

Rosazza noted that Connecticut was the last state in New England to abolish slavery, adding “we hope it is not the last state to abolish the death penalty.”

Rabbi Donna Berman said that the death penalty went against the Jewish tradition and was not an effective deterrent.

“Even in ancient times there were those who felt that capital punishment was a deterrent to crime, but they represented the minority opinion,” Berman said. “In our own day, studies show that capital punishment is in fact not a deterrent. The truth is we can deter crime and protect society just as effectively, more effectively, with life imprisonment without the possibility of release. In this way we can avoid the very real risk of taking an innocent life.”

The death penalty has always been a hot button issue in Connecticut, but has risen in prominence the past several years due to a brutal 2007 Cheshire home invasion. Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were sexually assaulted and murdered in their home after a failed robbery attempt. One man, Steven Hayes, 47, was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to death, while another, Joshua Komisarjevsky, is currently on trial for the crime. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Komisarjevsky.

Both houses of the legislature approved a bill to veto the death penalty in 2009, but then governor vetoed the bill, citing the Cheshire home invasion.

Holder-Winfield said he expected the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee to vote on the current bill within a week. He said he expected the bill to pass, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to sign it into law.

“The work that I’m doing on the death penalty comes out of both my religious faith and my sense for justice,” Holder-Winfield said.

During his campaign, Malloy, a former federal prosecutor, repeatedly stated he was opposed to the death penalty.

In the most recent Quinnipiac University Poll on the subject, released March 10, 67 percent of Connecticut residents said they supported the death penalty, compared to 28 percent who said they opposed it.

The event was originally intended to be held on the steps of the state capitol, but was moved indoors because of the weather.

Source: Montville Patch, April 6, 2011

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La peine de mort selon Saint François Mitterrand

François Mitterrand

L’élection présidentielle de 1981

La campagne officielle n’avait pas encore commencé mais les différents candidats étaient déjà "en place". Il y en avait dix. (...)

L’émission "Cartes sur table" sur Antenne 2 (...) invitait le lundi 16 mars 1981 dans la soirée l’un des deux principaux candidats, François Mitterrand. (...)

L’atmosphère de l’émission était à la fois sobre (les décors étaient noirs et le public était silencieux) et intimiste : les trois intervenants étant très près l’un des autres. (...)

L’émission se terminait. Le générique allait être lancé. Après une courte hésitation, [le journaliste] Alain Duhamel s’est jeté à l’eau et a posé à François Mitterrand la fameuse question sur la peine de mort.

Cette question de la peine de mort revenait souvent depuis plusieurs années. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing et son Ministre de la Justice Alain Peyrefitte y étaient défavorables mais se refusaient à l’abolir dans les circonstances de l’époque faites d’insécurité.

Une fois n’était pas coutume, François Mitterrand avait été clair et franc : « Pas plus sur cette question que sur les autres je ne cacherai ma pensée. Et je n'ai pas du tout l'intention de mener ce combat à la face du pays en faisant semblant d'être ce que je ne suis pas. Dans ma conscience profonde, qui rejoint celle des églises, l'église catholique, les églises réformées, la religion juive, la totalité des grandes associations humanitaires, internationales et nationales, dans ma conscience, dans le for de ma conscience, je suis contre la peine de mort. ».

Il ne cachait pas les sondages qui étaient hostiles à cette prise de position : « Et je n'ai pas besoin de lire les sondages, qui disent le contraire, une opinion majoritaire est pour la peine de mort. Eh bien moi, je suis candidat à la présidence de la République et je demande une majorité de suffrages aux Français et je ne la demande pas dans le secret de ma pensée. Je dis ce que je pense, ce à quoi j'adhère, ce à quoi je crois, ce à quoi se rattachent mes adhésions spirituelles, ma croyance, mon souci de la civilisation, je ne suis pas favorable à la peine de mort. ». (...)

François Mitterrand fut investi quatrième Président de la Ve République le 21 mai 1981. (...)

Au cours d’une session extraordinaire, le 17 septembre 1981, le Ministre de la Justice Robert Badinter entama la discussion parlementaire par ces mots émouvants : « J’ai l’honneur au nom du gouvernement de la République de demander à l’Assemblée Nationale l’abolition de la peine de mort en France. ».

Robert Badinter

Et il termina son plaidoyer ainsi : « Demain, grâce à vous, la justice française ne sera plus une justice qui tue. Demain, grâce à vous, il n’y aura plus, pour notre honte commune, d’exécutions furtives, à l’aube, sous le dais noir, dans les prisons françaises. Demain, les pages sanglantes de notre justice seront tournées. À cet instant plus qu’à aucun autre, j’ai le sentiment d’assumer mon ministère au sens ancien, au sens noble, le plus noble qui soit, c’est-à-dire au sens de service. Demain, vous voterez l’abolition de la peine de mort. Législateur français, de tout mon cœur, je vous en remercie. ».

L’abolition de la peine de mort fut votée le 18 septembre 1981 à l’Assemblée Nationale par 369 voix (...) contre 113.

La polémique récemment initiée par la publication du livre "François Mitterrand et la guerre d’Algérie" (de Benjamin Stora et François Malye, éd. Calmann-Lévy, 2010) pourrait remettre en cause la sincérité de François Mitterrand. Il aurait en effet demandé la plus grande sévérité contre des terroristes du FLN lorsqu’il était Ministre de la Justice dans le gouvernement de Guy Mollet. Quarante-cinq personnes auraient été guillotinées alors que François Mitterrand avait recommandé au Président René Coty de ne pas user de son droit de grâce. (...)

Robert Badinter a expliqué en février 2011 que François Mitterrand n’était pas contre la peine de mort dans les années 1950 comme la plupart des hommes politiques de cette époque mais que son évolution personnelle l’a fait changer sincèrement d’idée dans les années 1970.

Cliquez ici pour lire cet article dans son intégralité/Click here to read the full article.

Source: agoravox, Sylvain Rakotoarison, March 16, 2011

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Sri Lankans want the death penalty reinstated

Sri Lanka's state owned The Dinamina newspaper reported today that a recent survey pointed to the fact that 88% of the Sri Lankans want the death penalty enacted.

Sri Lankan courts deliver death sentences but the President as the head of the state traditionally does not consent to the implementation of the death sentence.

However, with the recent spate of violence, there is a public opinion that the death penalty must be enacted to arrest it.

The Ministry of Prisons and Rehabilitation conducted the survey among a sample of people selected from various social strata, the Ministry sources said.

The report of the survey has been handed over to the President who is the ultimate competent authority to implement the death penalty.

Source: Colombo Page, February 24, 2011

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Executions decline by 12 percent in US

Washington D.C. - The number of executions carried out in the United States dropped by 12 percent in 2010. Commentators attributed the decline to changing attitudes on the practice but also cited problems with the availability of lethal injection chemicals and lengthy appeals processes.

The anti-execution Death Penalty Information Center has issued a report counting 46 executions in Texas, Ohio, Alabama, Virginia, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Arizona, Utah and Washington in 2010.

In 2009 there were 52 executions in 16 states.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the organization, told the Associated Press that the nation “continued to move away from the death penalty in 2010.” He noted concerns about the high financial costs of the death penalty at a time of budget cuts, concerns about executing the innocent and concerns about unfairness in application.

Scott Burns, executive director of the National Association of District Attorneys, said that appeals have added so much time between sentence and execution that some families are asking prosecutors to accept life in prison without parole. The certainty of that sentence is “sometimes more palpable to them,” he told the AP.

Lengthy sentences for violent criminals and programs to reduce recidivism could also have contributed to a decline in death sentences.

Thirty-five U.S. states have the death penalty. Texas had 17 executions in 2010, the most of any state. However, this figure was a drop from the state’s 24 executions in 2009. The Death Penalty Information Center attributed this drop to the state’s adoption of a sentence of life without parole in 2005, new district attorneys in prominent jurisdictions like Houston and Dallas, and “the ongoing residue of past mistakes.”

Twelve death row inmates in Texas have been exonerated since 1978.

About 114 new inmates will be added to death row in 2010, slightly above last year’s post-1976 record low of 112.

More than 3,000 criminals are on death row in the U.S.

Source: CNA, December 22, 2010

Poll: Americans Ready to Deep Six the Death Penalty?

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A recent poll by the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) suggests voters prefer that murderers serve a life sentence rather than idle on death row. The nationwide survey of 1,500 registered voters found most prefer life without parole over the death penalty for murderers.

DPIC Executive Director Richard Dieter says concerns about fairness, executing the innocent and cost are changing minds.

"About 60 percent of the public is ready. They may still support the death penalty, but they are willing to replace it because of the problems that exist with capital punishment."

Dieter says voters ranked capital punishment the lowest among budget priorities. And, a majority of those polled favor replacing the death penalty with life without parole, if the money saved were used to fund crime-prevention programs.

"What we are finding is that people may support the death penalty in theory, but they are willing to support their legislator if he or she votes against the death penalty. They have high concerns about the cost, which is a particular concern in states facing budget crises this year."

A global movement against the death penalty is growing, according to Dieter. And, as capital punishment is exercised less and less in the U.S., Dieter sees a repeal of the practice looming.

"For some people this is a moral issue. But the majority of people have other concerns, like innocence and fairness, and even that it doesn't serve victims very well."

Dieter says of the 35 states with the death penalty, 12 carried out executions in 2010, and 82 percent of those executions were in the South. Dieter says a death penalty case carries a $3 million price tag, compared to imposing a life sentence, which costs $1 million.

The entire DPIC poll results are available at www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.

Source: Public News Service, December 22, 2010

1,800 gather for anti-death penalty rally in Tokyo

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- More than 1,800 people called for the abolition of the death penalty at a rally in Tokyo on Sunday, at a time when ordinary citizens are involved in sentencing under the lay judge trial system.

In the keynote speech, Yo Hemmi, an award-winning writer, said, "Are we able to tolerate binding the neck of a person with rope and hanging him or her? Are we able to pass on such a scene to our children?"

"I'm going to continue seeking its abolition as I cannot tolerate it and it makes our hearts destructive," said Hemmi, a former Kyodo News reporter. "I hope Dec. 19, 2010, will become the starting point for the suspension of executions forever. I don't want to see them anymore."

The rally marked the 20th anniversary of the foundation of Forum 90, Japan's major anti-death penalty group, which has actively campaigned for abolition by visiting the constituencies of newly appointed justice ministers, who are authorized to order executions, to press them not to issue such orders and has released statements of protest when inmates are hanged.

Since the introduction of the lay judge trial system last year, death sentences have been given in three murder cases, including one sentence imposed on a minor accused of killing two women in Miyagi Prefecture.

Osamu Kobayashi, a lawyer who heads a Japan Federation of Bar Associations panel working for the suspension of executions, told the rally, "Ordinary people have to face up to the death penalty now whether they like it or not, but the details of punishments, including capital punishment, have not been fully disclosed."

"I will work to build a consensus in the JFBA so that we aim to achieve a society that does not need the death penalty," he said.

Among the speakers at the rally was Toshikazu Sugaya, who was acquitted in a retrial earlier this year over a high-profile 1990 murder case in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, after spending more than 17 years in prison.

"There must be more people who are falsely accused as I was," he said. "When I think about such people, I have to say capital punishment must be abolished."

Another speaker was Chinatsu Nakayama, a writer who won a House of Councillors seat in 1980 by making the abolition of capital punishment a campaign promise. She served one term.

"Execution as well as war is murder under the name of justice and I believe a murder should not be justified as an act of righteousness," she said. "I have worked for the abolition of the death penalty for 30 years, but it still exists. It's quite regrettable."

After the first death sentence under the lay judge system was handed down last month at the Yokohama District Court, Tokyo-based lawyer Yoshihiro Yasuda said at another occasion, "I'm deeply concerned that passing the death penalty would be considered a lofty mission if it is handed down successively by lay judges," according to a newsletter issued by Forum 90.

"Moreover, it would accelerate executions as a justice minister would follow the decision of lay judges on the grounds that they reached it after much agonizing," the leader of the anti-death penalty campaigners was quoted as saying in the newsletter.

According to Amnesty International Japan, 139 countries, or more than two-thirds, had abolished the death penalty in law or in practice as of the end of last year. In 2009, 18 countries, including Japan, carried out executions.

This year, Japan hanged two death row inmates in July on the instruction of then Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, a former member of the Japan Parliamentary League against the Death Penalty.

Japan has been urged to consider abolition of the death penalty, regardless of domestic public opinion supporting it, with the Geneva-based Human Rights Committee saying in 2008, "Regardless of opinion polls, the state party (Japan) should favorably consider abolishing the death penalty and inform the public, as necessary, about the desirability of abolition."

Source: Mainichi Japan, December 19, 2010

Missouri: The future of the death penalty

Missouri has executed 67 people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Only Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Florida have carried out more death sentences since that time.

Missouri did not put anyone to death until 1989, but executions reached an all time high in the state from 1990 to 1999. During that time, 40 prisoners were executed by lethal injection. Texas and Virginia were the only states to execute more prisoners in those 10 years.

Death sentences reached their highest peak in Missouri in 1988, when 17 prisoners were condemned to die after being found guilty of 1st degree murder. In 1999, the state carried out nine executions, the most in Missouri since the death penalty was reinstated.

"That is a reflection of where the death penalty was in the 90s," said Corinne Farrell, Communications and Education Director at the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. "Tons of people were being sentenced to death, and it was very popular."

A stall in the process

While Missouri has been a leader in executions over the past 2 decades, 15 other states have conducted more executions between 2009-2010.

Since 2005, the state has carried out one death sentence. The decline stems from a 2006 case regarding the constitutionality of lethal injection, and a national moratorium, which put all executions on hold in 2008.

In January 2006, a decision by the US District Court, based on the constitutionality of Missouri's execution procedure, placed a moratorium on all executions in the state.

The case was filed by Michael Taylor who was to be put to death in 2006, but was given a stay of execution just minutes before the sentence was carried out.

The decision by the court came after the surgeon, who prepared the three drugs for the lethal injection process, admitted to only using half of the set dosage of Thiopental, the first drug injected in the three-drug protocol, which puts the inmate to sleep.

Doctors at the trial testified that without the proper dosage of Thiopental, the third drug, Potassium Chloride, would result in a painful death.

Because the Department of Corrections did not have a written protocol for executions, Dr. "Doe 1" as he was referred to in the 2006 court document, felt he could use his own judgment for the execution procedure. Dr. "Doe 1" also admitted to being dyslexic.

During the Taylor litigation, the district court determined Missouri's unwritten method of execution subjected condemned prisoners to an unconstitutional risk of pain and suffering and ordered the state to prepare a written protocol, according to the 2006 document.

After the Missouri Department of Corrections installed a written protocol for its execution process in July 2006, the 8th Circuit Courts of the Appeals vacated their previous decision in June 2007.

Shortly after, the US Supreme Court ordered a national moratorium, which put all executions on hold, to examine the three drug protocol in Kentucky.

On April 16, 2008, the supreme court ruled that Kentucky's three-drug protocol for carrying out lethal injection did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. As a result, the national moratorium was lifted.

Only five states issued more death sentences than Missouri, which imposed 6 that year. Across the country there were only 111, bringing death sentences to an all time low.

Missouri only issued one death sentence in 2007, during which the Taylor case was still going on.

The Supreme Court decision did not bring the debate over lethal injection in Missouri to a close. Taylor and 7 other inmates appealed to the courts again.

According to the 2009 8th circuit court document, the inmates contended that Missouri's current execution protocol violated the 8th Amendment because the substantial risk of the protocol, and that it may be improperly administered by incompetent, or unqualified medical personnel.

While a final decision was still being made in the case, Missouri executed its first inmate since 2005. Dennis Skillicorn became the 67th inmate to be put to death on May 20, 2009. Because Skillicorn was not a part of the current lawsuit, the process was allowed to take place.

Reginald Clemens was scheduled to be executed in June 2009, but was given a stay because he was part of the case.

On Nov. 10, 2009 the federal appeals court ruled against the inmates. Taylor said they would appeal that decision as well.

While 61 inmates remain on Missouri death row, the state has not scheduled any executions for 2011, but Farrell believes its just a matter of time before executions resume in Missouri.

Roderick Nunley was scheduled to die by lethal injection late last month but a Federal District Court issued a stay on Oct. 20 to decide if Nunley was entitled to a jury for sentencing. Missouri is appealing that stay.

The Missouri Supreme Court says it will look into the case again in January.

Jacquline Lapine, the Chief Public Information Officer at the Missouri Department of corrections, said the department would resume executions as soon as directed by the courts.

Where the trend is heading

The lethal injection debate has given anti death penalty supporters more reason for opposition, and public opinion polls show that there are less people in favor of the death penalty than there was in the mid-90s.

A 2006 Gallup Poll found that the overall support for the death penalty was 65%, down from 80% in 1994.

"We are seeing a diminishment in practice across the country on the death penalty," Sister Helen Prejean said. "I have not found in the last 20 years, that the American public is wedded to it."

Prejean has accompanied 16 prisoners to their execution over the past two decades. For 20 years, her goal has been to get people to reflect on the death penalty, and ultimately, see it eliminated.

Source: Daily Mirror, November 30, 2010

Sweden enjoys 100 years without executions

Johan Alfred Andersson Ander
was the last person executed in Sweden.

The guillotine has only been used once in Sweden: exactly 100 years ago. It was the last time a person was executed in the Scandinavian.

At the time most countries still practiced the capital punishment. Only four countries had abolished it: Colombia, Costa Rica, San Marino and Venezuela.

Today still 58 nations, such as the United States, China and Saudi Arabia, actively practice “the ultimate denial of Human Rights”, as Amnesty International calls it.

The last person to be executed in Sweden was Johan Alfred Andersson Ander, who was sentenced to death for a murder during the course of a robbery. The execution took place at Långholmen prison in Stockholm on November 23, 1910.

He was the only person in Sweden to have been executed by the guillotine. Previous decapitations were made with an axe.

Until the beginning of the 19th century hanging by the neck was reserved for commoners and beheadings reserved for nobles.

The support for the capital punishment is low in Sweden; a 2006 study shows that only 36 percent of the population believes that there are crimes that should be punished by death. Penalty by death was officially abolished in Sweden for crimes committed in peacetime in 1921 and all crime in 1976.

More than two-thirds of the countries of the world have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. While 58 countries retained the death penalty in 2009, most did not use it. The only European country that still has the capital punishment is Belarus. The USA is the only country in the Americas to carry out executions.

“More and more countries have realized that the death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment that belongs in history books - not in a modern society, " said Lise Bergh, Swedish Secretary General of Amnesty International.

The guillotine can be seen at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm.

Source: The Swedish Wire, November 24, 2010