Abolish the Death Penalty

There are many Death Penalty articles now in the news from Illinois, Texas, Maryland, and Florida. In Florida Rudolph Holton was exonerated after spending 16 years on Death Row. He is the 23rd Death Row inmate to be released in Florida since 1973.

Governor Jeb Bush needs to put in place a moratorium on executions and set in motion a blue ribbon commission to study Florida's failed Death Penalty sentencing system as was done in Illinois and Maryland. However, Bush, a staunch Death Penalty backer, has so far rejected such a study and has tried, in fact, to reduce the time between appeals and executions to 10 years. If this had happened, six released Death Row inmates would be Dead! Bush's latest idea is to eliminate the state agency that provides lawyers for Death Row inmates which he claims would save four million dollars. Actually, there would be no real savings, and ,if history is correct, the end cost would be greater. This is partly why the state agency was created in 1985. Such action could also raise serious constitutional questions about adequate representation.

Any progress in Florida will be difficult as the Death Penalty is viewed as politically correct by both the Republican state government and by much of the general public. There are12 states and, Washington D.C., that have abolished the Death Penalty. They are Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, West Virginia, Hawaii, Alaska, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. At the other end of the scale we find the Sunshine State among the leading executioners (1977-99): Texas 199, Virginia 73, and Florida 44. Currently Florida has 366 prisoners on Death Row awaiting execution.

The amount of known error rate in Death Penalty cases is 42% nationally and is 1 in 9 in federal cases. When this is explained by geographic bias, racial bias, untrained public defenders, withheld evidence, prosecutors trying to make a name for themselves, media feeding frenzies, public pressures and fears, and a frequent bias against the defense, we should abolish this unworkable and unjust system NOW. There is hope. Attitudes are changing. A January,2003 Poll by ABC News and the Washington Post showed a public split for of 49% for death and 45% for life in prison for convicted murders.

Internationally our record is no better. The U.S. is the only Western Democracy that has not abolished the Death Penalty. Canada and Mexico and most Latin America countries have abolished capital punishment as has our new friend Russia. Yet we have three times as many murders as Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France combined, all of whom have no Death Penalty. Over 73 nations have abolished the Death Penalty. Instead , we find ourselves in a "Quintuple of Evil" (Mr. President) as one of the five nations that carry out 85% of all executions:

Quintuple of Evil

China 1077
Congo 100
USA 68
Saudi Arabia 67
Iran 66

The United States was extremely slow to abolish the great evil of slavery in a nation that called itself Christian and Democratic. It is slow, also, in abolishing the great evil of the Death Penalty. Let us look forward to the day when we abolish the Death Penalty, let us work for that day, and let us hope that we and our children may see that day soon.

Dr. Curtis L. Hamilton