CI: The Death Penalty Crumbles ~ Maryland and Beyond
† Criminal InJustice is a weekly series devoted to taking action against inequities in the U.S. criminal justice system. Nancy A. Heitzeg, Professor of Sociology and Race/Ethnicity, is the Editor of CI. Kay Whitlock, co-author of Queer (In)Justice, is contributing editor of CI. Criminal Injustice is published every Wednesday at 6 pm.
The Death Penalty Crumbles ~ Maryland and Beyond
by Emma Weisfeld-Adams for Equal Justice USA (EJUSA)
On Friday the State House in Maryland voted to pass legislation to repeal the death penalty with a vote of 82-56.
The State Senate already passed the legislation and the governor has promised to sign.
Maryland will become the sixth state in six years to end the death penalty.
Satirist Stephen Colbert called the death penalty “as American as killing someone with an apple pie,” but jokes like that might not work much longer.
America’s death penalty appears to be crumbling.
Delaware introduced repeal legislation last Tuesday. Colorado’s House judiciary committee debated repeal yesterday. Nebraska lawmakers held death penalty hearings the same day. Other states like Colorado, Kansas, and Montana have come close in the past and will consider it again in the next few years
Nationally, the number of executions and death sentences has continued to trend downward for the last decade. (see the Death Penalty Information Center) for more execution and sentencing statistics)
And in the wake of this latest development in Maryland, momentum away from the death penalty will likely accelerate.
Maryland tried everything to make the death penalty work: a moratorium, a large-scale study, and a set of sweeping reforms in 2009 that made their death penalty the narrowest in the nation.
After years of trying to make the death penalty work, Maryland finally threw up their hands and said ‘enough is enough’: The death penalty can’t be fixed.
Even the very man who led the charge for reforming the death penalty four years ago, now says it can’t be fixed. Maryland Senator Robert Zirkin, previously supported the death penalty but this year became a pivotal vote in favor of repeal. Zirkin said despite the reforms he designed Maryland still risked executing an innocent person.
Maryland proved a lot of the arguments for the death penalty just don’t hold water
One of my favorite moments during the campaign was during Maryland’s Senate debate when Sen. Jamie Raskin responded to opponents of repeal who argued that the death penalty is needed for the “worst of the worst.”
First Sen. Raskin he reminded everyone that the “worst of the worst” theory doesn’t make the death penalty any more accurate. He pointed to the horrendously heinous murder for which Kirk Bloodsworth was sentenced to death. Bloodsworth was later exonerated by DNA evidence.
Then Raskin said:
Every murder is the worst of the worst if it’s your loved one that was murdered.
That shut them down!
People often say that the death penalty is needed because of victims’ families. But in Maryland – and across the nation – it is precisely those families that have been driving the message that the death penalty is nothing but a cruel hoax that prolongs their pain.
Vivian Penda, whose son Dennis was murdered, testified before the Maryland Commission to Study the Death Penalty, saying:
The sad reality is that the death penalty handcuffs the surviving families of homicide victims to decades of legal procedures. In the end, the vast majority are re-sentenced to life without parole, which could have been sought at trial.
Bonnita Spikes, whose husband, Michael, was murdered also testified in Maryland, saying:
Over and over, I have found families in dire need of support and traumatic grief counseling services… Most don’t have any insurance. Nor are they resourceful in knowing who to go and beg for help. I have come to know people, young and old, who have little or no access to professional help coping with their overwhelming loss. For most of these families, the notion of a death sentence for their loved one’s murderer isn’t even a remote thought. They are struggling to hold their households together, to help their families grieve and survive the trauma one day at a time.
Many African American victims’ families spoke of how the death penalty showers resources on a few cherry-picked cases (almost always ones in which the victims were white) while ignoring the things that might actually help them address their trauma and rebuild their lives – things like help with funeral expenses, specialized grief counseling, help navigating the legal system, and time off from work.
They also need to be reminded that there’s more to do. Governor O’Malley has pledged to use some of the savings from ending the death penalty to improving services for people who have lost loved ones to murder.
You can help make that happen.
If you live in Maryland: Acknowledge how your state delegates voted on repeal. Thank them if they voted ‘yes,’ express your disappointment if they voted ‘no,’ and – however they voted on the death penalty – ask them to stand with Governor OThank some of the leading Maryland House delegates for standing up to end the death penalty but also ask that they do the same for victims’ families.
If you live anywhere else: Thank some of the key delegates in the State House for leading the cause of repealing the death penalty and ask them to keep stand with victims’ families in Maryland.
Maryland’s death penalty will be over. That is a triumph in itself. But justice is about more than just the absence of injustice.
Maryland has the opportunity to fill the space that the broken death penalty used to occupy with something that can actually work to make communities safer and healthier. And that should be way more American than killing someone with an apple pie.
Emma Weisfeld-Adams is Communications Manager with Equal Justice USA (EJUSA), a national, grassroots organization working to build a criminal justice system that is fair, effective, and responsive to everyone impacted by crime. Town by town and state by state, we cut through the polarization and find common ground for lasting, real-world solutions that prevent violence and rebuild people’s lives in its aftermath, so that all of us can be safer.
Thank you guys so much for the lively conversation. Let's do it again the next time a state ends the death penalty!
@EmmaWA thanks so much, Emma!
@EmmaWA thank you Emma!
Way to go Maryland , it's about time! Hope the rest are not far behind.
@Domino14 Hey, Domino! Yes! Good news. And once the DP is down, forward we go to the rest of the brutality in the criminal legal system.
@Domino14 yes!
What's especially interesting about the death penalty issue in particular is that it's one of the few issues that I'm aware of where we find genuine bi-partisan support. So much so that we started a project Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty (conservativesconcerned.org) that launched last week at CPAC, with backers from Richard Viguerie to Jay Sekulow. And they're about as conservative as you get! We find so much common ground around the dp's flaws like the risk to executing an innocent person and the way the dp fails victims families. And for conservatives that don't trust the government to run, for example, healthcare, the idea of trusting them to execute citizens is beyond terrifying.
@EmmaWA Also, Emma, I appreciate that EJUSA's funding will expand with conservative support. And I personally know a couple of conservative folks here in Montana who are against the DP. And I'm glad we call all work to try to convince the state legislature to repeal it here. Every vote counts.
But that's not the same as making common cause and helping to create conservative infrastructure. You have to understand that my first encounter with Richard Viguerie was circa 1977, as he was creating his right-wing direct mail funding empire, and a bunch of us queers were feeling its impact in the first wave of right-wing anti-gay measures rolling through Florida and then other states.
I saw that guy's impact on many communities - people of color, queers, women, people with disabilities, political dissidents, poor people - from the beginning. And no. I can find no way to support infrastructure of which he is part.
that's just me.
@KayWhitlock @EmmaWA this is the crux of the matter :
"Every vote counts.
But that's not the same as making common cause and helping to create conservative infrastructure."
thank you Kay..Frankly i find this collusion stunningly short-sighted..
@nancy a heitzeg @KayWhitlock Hi you two, sorry I had to drop out of the conversation yesterday. My 15 month old was starting to forage for electrical wires. :)
I just wanted to respond a little bit to some of your points. I believe - and my personal experience is - that it is possible to work with people who are very different from you if there is some common ground.
My mom, a teacher and union steward in Right-to-Work Florida, taught me a lot about that. When she's recruiting someone to join the union she doesn't ask that they subscribe to her entire analysis of the class structure of society. She finds the areas of common ground and focuses on those. As a result of her approach, she's had tremendous success getting her colleagues to join the union.
EJUSA does not "support the infrastructure" of conservatives. Our work with conservatives has not resulted in them becoming any more conservative or any more politically powerful. Same goes for people on the left.
But as a result of EJUSA's approach of working with people across the political spectrum, we've come a long way in moving this country away from the death penalty.
@nancy a heitzeg I agree that ending the death penalty or improving support for victims' families will not - in and of itself - ameliorate structural racism or immediately transform the criminal justice paradigm - but that does not mean that they aren't worthy goals.
I've met a lot of families, particularly from underserved communities of color, who have been left struggling to pick up the pieces after losing someone they love to murder with absolutely no support whatsoever. It's almost as though, in their communities, it's supposed to be not such a big deal. But the truth is that there is a lot of unaddressed trauma and I feel really, really good about the work we are doing to try and get rid of the death penalty, which pretends to be the solution for victims' families, and shine some light on these real unmet needs.
Sorry this has turned into a novel. You guys had a lot of interesting things to say while I was giving my baby his bath and bedtime rituals and I so I had to catch up!
@EmmaWA Oope - meant "we all can work to try" not "we call all"--
@EmmaWA oh Emma -- i never trust "conservatives" on any issue involving cjs..
Ever..They have an entirely different "agenda" which may be convenient fo r an issue or two but long - run..No
you might be interested in this..
http://www.usprisonculture.com/blog/2013/03/18/guest-post-smoke-and-mirrors-2/
I believe that we will need conservative support if we are going to end the death penalty in the US. Also, I am about as far from identifying as "conservative" as you can get, but if Richard Viguerie and Jay Sekaluw want to spend their time working to end the death penalty, I say bring it on!
@EmmaWA @nancy a heitzeg But a fair, effective, and responsive criminal legal system depends on intentionally dismantling structural racism, doesn't it, Emma?
@nancy a heitzeg We already to more than just the DP. We also do work with victims' families to help them advocate for better responses in the aftermath of violence.
EJUSA's mission is to build a criminal justice system that is fair, effective, and responsive to everyone impacted by crime, to cut cut through the polarization and find common ground for lasting, real-world solutions that prevent violence and rebuild people’s lives in its aftermath, because we believe that makes everyone safer.
And anyone who's on board with that is welcome to join us!
@EmmaWA Onemore ??? -- when the death penalty is over -- what will be the focus of EJUSA on other cjs matters?? And how will that jive with agenda of the new conservative allies???
@EmmaWA you can certainly elected Dem Presidents and representatives
@nancy a heitzeg The problem is you can't do grassroots organization and advocacy to get the justices you want. If you get enough people speaking with one voice about something, however, it is possible to influence elected officials.
@EmmaWA make that 2 good SCOTUS justices
@EmmaWA Honestly i believe that we need 2 good SCOTUS justices and that is enough
Please keep your eyes wide open -- they will never care about racial disparity and will attempt to coopt the agenda on other cjs issues.
Already happening
@EmmaWA Emmas, what happens then, as we expand to address other questions about structural racism in the criminal legal system, and its ties to crumbling social infrastructure in the United States? CPAC is nothing if not filled with celebration of white nationalism.
I would appreciate your thoughts and those of EJUSA.
@KayWhitlock My group works with conservatives and liberals, Rs and Ds, to end the death penalty. We also do a lot of public education around race and the death penalty.
And of course race is a factor - especially the race of the victim. We have found that there are plenty of conservatives for whom this issue resonates.
In general, of course, there are individuals with whom we agree about some things and disagree about others. We don't have to agree on everything in order to work together. That being said, myself, and my group, have a mission and a set of values that does not accommodate racism or bigotry of any kind.
@nancy a heitzeg @EmmaWA Yes, and publicly-funded "ex-gay" ministries for queer victims of hate violence. And "slut reform" education for women who have been raped, especially by popular athletes.
@KayWhitlock @EmmaWA ^^^^THIS^^^^^
maybe the RW social service plan will involve funding "faith-based" prayer circles???
@EmmaWA @nancy a heitzegEmma, realistically, do conservatives support social service/human needs spending for anyone? Rape victims? Victims of "hate" crimes?
@EmmaWA @nancy a heitzeg Yes, but the deeper solutions to criminalization (a deep, broad, more historically rooted phenomenon that is raced, gendered, and classed) do not lie in just helping victims of crime rebuild their lives.
Entire communities are devastated by the race-and class-based processes of criminalization, resulting in oppressive patterns of policing, prosecution, and punishment.
I wonder now many nonprofits, urged by foundations to work with "unexpected partners," will be motivated to take on that issue.
@nancy a heitzeg @KayWhitlock I agree that one of the reasons the death penalty is such a disaster is because it siphons resources away from the type of support and services that would actually serve to address trauma in victims' families, and help them rebuild their lives. The death penalty is just posturing.
We've been working with a lot of victims' families who are challenging the old narrative that victims' needs = punishment for the offender.
@EmmaWA
I think restorative/transformative justice at its very best - not in its conservative iterations - addresses victimization without going to the historical well of "victims rights." Political Research Associates has an excellent bunch of material on the rise of the victim rights movements in the U.S. - which is quite different from a view that suggests that real support for those harmed by violence and other forms of abuse rests only/primarily in the criminal legal system.
PRA has revamped its website, but you'll find references and links to their Victim Rights Movement analysis in this paper I did for them on "reconsidering hate."
http://www.politicalresearch.org/reconsidering-hate-a-forum-on-the-hate-frame-in-policy-politics-and-organizing/
@EmmaWA @KayWhitlock "race is a factor - especially the race of the victim. We have found that there are plenty of conservatives for whom this issue resonates."
How?? to the extent they offer a critique of structural racism??? Challenge racial profiling and all the practices that produce disparity at the end of the road??
Thanks to all who fight to abolish the death penalty with such relentless resistance.
As the DP continues to fall, let's redouble efforts to abolish the entire prison industrial complex.
@KayWhitlock absolutely Kay.. this is only the beginning
Thanks so much Emma and EJUSA!
Appreciate all your efforts here..
Yes the Death Penalty is crumbling -- the recent report from DPIC illustrates just how much
http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/2012YearEnd.pdf
@nancy a heitzeg Thank you, Nancy for the opportunity to share with the CI community!
@EmmaWA always grateful Emma -- we have missed you!
what's next?/ who is next to repeal??
@EmmaWA good!
@nancy a heitzegWell I wouldn't exactly call Oklahoma and Texas "low hanging fruit" but things are changing there, too. Sentences and executions are down in those places, just like they are everywhere else.
@EmmaWA thank you -- it will be the old south +Oklahoma then.. Pretty much the way it is now in terms of sentences and actual executions
@nancy a heitzeg There are lots of states that we expect to end the death penalty within the next few years.
For one, Deleware is currently considering repeal legislation. Their Senate just held a hearing this week: http://delaware.newszap.com/centraldelaware/120900-70/video-death-penalty-bill-senate-discussion.
Colorado held a powerful 10 hour hearing on the death penalty yesterday in which corrections officers and victims' families talked about the death penalty's harmful effects: http://coloradoindependent.com/127362/colorado-death-penalty-repeal-hearing-marked-by-emotional-testimony
Nebraska's Jud Cmte on Tuesday voted 7-0 to pass repeal legislation: http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/Nebraska-Death-Penalty-Bill-Advances-In-Unicam-199129001.html?ref=001
And other states - like New Hampshire, Montana, and Kansas - are also likely to repeal in the next few years.