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MEDIA ADVISORY
27 February 2004
CONTACT:
Abe Bonowitz: 561-371-5204
DEATH PENALTY FOUNDATIONS CRUMBLING
Activists to Mark 157 Years Without Death Penalty
Dozens of anti-death penalty organizations throughout the United States are
organizing around Monday, March 1st, in celebration of International Death
Penalty Abolition Day, the 157th anniversary of the date in 1847 when the
State of Michigan officially became the first English-speaking territory in
the world to abolish the death penalty.
FOR A LISTING OF SOME OF THE EVENTS SCHEDULED ACROSS THE UNITED STATES, as
well as background information, please visit
http://www.cuadp.org and click on the Abolition Day
Banner.
"People in the United States are beginning to take a hard look at how our
criminal justice system is failing," said Abe Bonowitz, Director of
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "As a registered
Republican and a former supporter of the death penalty, it is clear to me
that anyone who examines the system from a non-emotional standpoint will
find that economically, socially and morally, the practice of the death
penalty is bad public policy. Billions of dollars have been spent on the
death penalty in this country since 1972, for a net result of 900 dead
bodies. This is hardly a good return on that investment. Alternatives to
the death penalty exist that punish severely while protecting society,
without more killing."
Even as we approach the 900th execution since 1977, Citizens United for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP) notes the following very current
events which point to a crumbling of the foundations of the death penalty
in the modern era:
- Conservative voices and policy makers continue to acknowledge at least
the need for a Time-Out on executions in the form of a moratorium on the
death penalty pending review and reform of legal systems throughout the
nation. For perhaps the first time ever, a viable presidential candidate
(John Kerry) is willing to state publicly that there are fundamental flaws
to be found in the way the death penalty is currently used in this country
and that there should be an immediate moratorium on executions.
- Error rates in death sentencing continue to be exposed as unusually high,
putting at risk all confidence in the accuracy and efficiency of our legal
systems.
- More than 114 prisoners have been exonerated and released from death rows
in the United States - SO FAR.
- The US Supreme Court has restricted the use of the death penalty against
those with diminished capacity (the mentally retarded) and will soon take
up the question of "evolving standards of decency" with regard to juvenile
offenders and the death penalty. Numerous states are this year considering
bills to ensure that no person under the age of 18 at the time of the crime
will face the death penalty.
- Mexico is taking steps toward total abolition of the death penalty, as
are a number of other countries. Countries normally allied with the United
States are unequivocal in their opposition to the death penalty, refusing
to extradite prisoners to the US without guarantees that those prisoners
will not face execution - even in the cases of terrorists and war criminals.
- Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder
yesterday launched a pressing appeal for the abolition of the death
penalty, saying "The abolition of the death penalty is one of our
Organisation's priorities, and any new member state must pledge to take
this step. We have succeeded in making the territory of our 45 member
states, with its 800 million inhabitants, a death-penalty-free zone. Our
ambition is to persuade Japan and the USA, who both hold observer status
with the
Council of Europe, to join us. Japan and the United States are leading
democracies which have been very vocal on their commitment to human rights.
We are calling on them to stand by their own standards of civilised
behaviour. My message on the eve of International Death Penalty Abolition
Day (1 March) is a call on states across the world to reject the use of
capital punishment. Death penalty is not justice. And as Martin Luther King
said: 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' "
Organizers of "Abolition Day" events point to the State of Michigan as an
example that viable alternatives to the death penalty exist. "They got rid
of the death penalty because they found that they could not trust
themselves to use it fairly, and they learned too late that they had killed
an innocent man," said Bonowitz. Michigan has been without the
death penalty for 157 years. The first act of their new legislature when
Michigan became a state was to abolish the death penalty.
"Politicians owe it to the people of this country to take a serious look at
the alternatives to the death penalty already in use across this country,"
said Bonowitz. "Violent criminals can be punished, and society protected,
through the use of long-term prison sentences before a convicted person can
be considered for parole. It works in Michigan and in other states like
California, which has the oldest 'Life Without Parole' (LWOP) statute in
the country. Not one of the people sentenced to LWOP has been
released. We are saying to the people our country, 'Don't make us become
that which we deplore. Don't kill in our names. We can do better.'"
FOR DETAILS ON THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION
DAY, PLEASE VISIT <http://www.cuadp.org> and click on
"Abolition Day."
*****
For more information, please contact Abe Bonowitz at 561-371-5204. Free
information is available to the public from Citizens United for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP), a Florida-based national
organization working to increase the level of informed dialogue about
viable alternatives to the death penalty. CUADP may be reached toll-free
at 800-973-6548 or on the internet at
<http://www.cuadp.org>.
POSTED BY:
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Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP)
PMB 335, 2603 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy, Gainesville, FL 32609
800-973-6548 <<http://www.cuadp.org> <abe@cuadp.org>
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