Christian Science Monitor Op-Ed: A pragmatic case for repeal

Opinion

Death penalty: A pragmatic case for repeal

Momentum in the states is shifting toward the repeal of the death penalty. There are practical reasons for this: The death penalty is expensive, it does not work, and it is administered with a clear racial bias. Repealing it is a matter of justice, public safety, and effective governance.

By Benjamin Todd Jealous, Martin O’Malley / April 24, 2013

Kirk Bloodsworth, left, the first American sentenced to death row who was exonerated by DNA, and NAACP President Ben Jealous celebrate in the House gallery after the Maryland General Assembly approved the repeal of the death penalty in Annapolis, Md., March 15. Op-ed contributors Mr. Jealous and Gov. Martin O’Malley write: ‘Most troubling is the very real possibility that an innocent person can be put to death.’

Patrick Semansky/AP/file

Annapolis, Md.

Next month Maryland will become the sixth state in six years to abolish the death penalty. The Free State is the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to repeal capital punishment, and we believe that other states will soon follow.

There are practical reasons why momentum is steadily shifting toward repeal: The death penalty is expensive, it does not work, and it is administered with a clear racial bias. Repealing it is a matter of justice, a matter of public safety, and a matter of effective governance.

VADP Exec. Dir., Steve Northup, Letter to the Editor in Times-Disp.

Death penalty should be abolished

Sunday, April 21, 2013 12:00 am

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

In his Op/Ed column about the documentary “The Central Park Five,” George Will accurately described it as a “meticulous narrative of a gross miscarriage of justice.” The film tells the story of zealous police and prosecutors who, determined to solve the high-profile rape and savage beating of a young Central Park jogger in April 1989, induced false confessions implicating five young men of color which lead to their convictions and lengthy prison sentences. The convictions were vacated in 2002 when a man serving a life sentence for other crimes said he committed the crime alone and DNA evidence confirmed his involvement in the rape.

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Amnesty Int. – Death penalty 2012: Despite setbacks, a death penalty-free world came closer

Despite some disappointing setbacks in 2012, the global trend towards ending the death penalty continued, Amnesty International found in its annual review of death sentences and executions.

2012 saw the resumption of executions in several countries that had not used the death penalty in some time, notably India, Japan, Pakistan and Gambia, as well as an alarming escalation in executions in Iraq.

But the use of the death penalty continues to be restricted to an isolated group of countries, and progress towards its abolition was seen in all regions of the world.