The Death Penalty is Losing

J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 0 8 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 43 A t this year’s annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics and Society of Jewish Ethics, WilliamMontrossoftheSouthernCenterforHuman Rights received a long, sustained, and enthusiastic applause—longer than for any plenary address I can remember. This year we met in Atlanta, Georgia, where Montross isapublicdefender.Hegaveusachallengeforallspiritualprogressives ,andformyparticularChristiantraditionaswell. Racial Injustice Montrossobservedthatthe“Deathbelt”states(Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) have executed 90%ofthehumanbeingswhowerelegallyputtodeathintheUnitedStatesinthelasttwenty years—and these are the states where most lynchings took place. Indeed, “Many say that today’sexecutionsarenothingmorethanyesterday’slynchings.” In Georgia, you are 4.3 times more likely to be sentenced to death for killing a white personthanforkillingablack .SimilarlyinOklahoma,Illinois,Florida,Mississippi,NorthCarolina , and Alabama. Since 1976, fifteen whites have been executed for killing a black person in the United States; 283 blacks for killing a white victim. A Stanford University study concludedthattheblackeryoulookthemorelikelyyouaretobeexecuted . Montrosstestified:“IsawatrialofablackmaninAlabama.Thewholejurywaswhitemen overforty;thejurywaschoseninthemorning,withnochallenges;everyoneinthecourtroom was white. The prosecution put on its case. The defense attorney made no defense, but just saidtothejury,‘ifyoucanshowthismanmercy,youarebettermenthanIam.’Hegotdeath.” African Americans comprise 26% of Alabama’s population, yet only one of the forty-two elected district attorneys is black, and not one of the judges on Alabama’s appellate court is black. Of all the states that have the death penalty, 98% of all U.S. chief district attorneys are white,andonly1%areblack. The criminal justice system as a whole is grossly biased against blacks and against the poor.Youngblackshaveahigherchanceofgoingtoprisonthantocollege.In2002,approximately791 ,600AfricanAmericanmenwereinprison,andonly603,000wereinhighereducation .TheU.S.makesup5%oftheworld’spopulation,butithas25%oftheworld’sprison population.48%ofthoseinprisonareblack.Theycomeoutofprisonwithpoorprospectsfor jobs, or for education. One-third of all African American men in Alabama have lost their right to vote. With the death penalty, once a person is executed, there is no way to correct a wrongsentence.Thisisagrossviolationofthehumanrightsofpersonscreatedintheimage ofGod. The Death Penalty is Losing by Glen Stassen JOHN C. GOODWIN Gov. Corzine signs the bill abolishing the death penalty in New Jersey—the first state to do so in forty years. John Goodwin, a photographer and activist with the New Jersey Anti-Death Penalty Executive Committee , documented the effort in pictures (on this and next four pages) and words (sidebar, next page). 44 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 0 8 Classism Theglaringinjusticeisnotonlythesystemicracial bias, but also the bias against whoever cannot afford an expensivedefenselawyer.Arguingforthedeathpenaltyin his book, For Capital Punishment, Walter Berns admits thatnoonewithmoneyhasevergottenthedeathpenalty inU.S.history. GaryRidgwaymurderedatleastforty-eightwomenin Seattle. Eric Rudolph detonated a bomb at the Olympics in Atlanta, murdering two and injuring a hundred. Terry NicholshelpedTimothyMcVeighkill168peoplebyblowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City. McVeigh was executed but neither Gary, Eric, nor Terry got the deathpenalty.Why?Theywereofhugepublicinterest,so theywererepresentedbycompetentlawyers. Churches and Synagogues Montross challenged us: “I want to remind you how powerful your voice once was, and to inspire you to find that voice again.” The churches led the movement to abolish slavery, the anti-war movements, and the Civil Rightsmovement.“Adelegationofrabbis,withmembers fromplacesasfarapartasMemphisandNovaScotia,who traveled to Birmingham in 1963, [came to] a mass meeting at the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church to proclaim their support for the movement.” The churches (and synagogues ) contributed leaders, symbols, inspiration, meeting places, organizers, and the troops. They contributed the moral voice that declared the criminal justice system that was enforcing segregation morally wrong. (My own Jewishbrother-in-law,MartinBerger,camewithhislegal talents to Mississippi, where he got to know Marian Wright Edelman, similarly volunteering her talents.) “Thinkback—whodoyouseeatthefrontofthecivilrights movement?YouseeblackpastorsandCatholicpriestsand Jewish rabbis—walking arm in arm, down the street— facing racism and hatred and violence as one.” We need thatleadershipnow. In my own books, Capital Punishment: A Reader and Kingdom Ethics, I point out: “The Mishnah. . . makes the ENDINGTHEDEATHPENALTYINNEWJERSEY BYJOHNGOODWIN LorryPost,founderofNewJerseyansforAlternativestotheDeathPenalty(NJADP)summed it up, “Faith was the foundation of the group.” Lorry’s 29-year-old daughter had been murderedbyherhusbandbutLorryhadpushedforimprisonmentratherthanexecution .Later,his Presbyterian pastor asked him to become involved in a campaign to attempt to prevent the FloridaexecutionofPedroMedinawhomaywellhavebeeninnocentofthemurderforwhichhe wasexecuted,abotchedelectrocutionduringwhichhisheadcaughtfire. TheU.S.SupremeCourthaltedexecutionsin1972findingcapitalconvictionstobe...