Colleen Eren, Organizer, New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty is a friend of mine and we keep in constant contact. She would like to get more Suffolk County, Long Islanders on board. I told her I will try to help her any way I can. If you live in Suffolk County, Long Island and would like to become a member, contact Colleen Eren at www.nyadp.org. Here is something Colleen wrote.
As a woman living in Brooklyn, trust me, I care about reducing violence in New York. Who wouldn't fully support the idea of lowering crime rates, making the streets safer, having fewer murders against civilians and police officers? Even if it takes some of my hard-earned taxpayer dollars, I consider it a worthwhile investment if these dollars went to improving DNA data bases so we could find repeat offenders. I would consider it worthwhile if these dollars went to funding domestic violence services, to better police training and resources, to gang interdiction programs, to resources for victims of violence.
But, as a New Yorker, I oppose the use of 10 million dollars of my taxpayer money a year to reinstate the death penalty.
Why? Am I a bleeding heart who does not want to see that potentially dangerous criminals are prevented from harming others?
Absolutely not. But we HAVE the cheaper option of the harsh punishment of life without parole on the books, and it is proven that the death penalty does not deter homicide against civilians nor police officers.
Furthermore, New York has the dubious distinction of ranking among the nation's worst offenders as far as imprisoning innocent people. In the past year alone, EIGHT innocent men have been released from New York prisons. On of the eight exonerated is Doug Warney of Rochester, the first man charged capitally under New York's 1995 death penalty statute.
Do I want my tax dollars funding the execution of innocents? Thank you, but no.
Do I want to make victims' families suffer through the years of excruciating appeals it takes for a capital case to be prosecuted?
Do I want to see a disproportionate number of poor minorities be executed due to the inherently biased nature of the criminal justice system.
Do I want the government to decide who lives and who dies?
Thank you, but no.
As a New Yorker, I oppose capital punishment.
And I oppose the incomprehensible movement every year by attention-seeking politicians to bring back the death penalty.
~Colleen Eren, Organizer, New Yorkers Vs. Death Penalty
As an organizer for New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty www.nyadp.org I can tell you that although a majority of New Yorkers oppose the death penalty when presented with the alternative of life without parole, we need your voice to make our demands known.
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Contact Information:
Colleen Eren
New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty
Amnesty International PADP Steering Committee
Email: colleen.eren at yahoo. com (replace at with @ and no spaces)
cell: 516-849-2363
fax: 516-352-7815
www.nyadp.org
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1 comment:
Despite being a Republican, I completely agree-- then again, from my POV, it's a matter of the death penalty being run by the same people who bring you all sorts of government disasters-- oops, I mean agencies.
I just have one slight problem. Really, just one. How can you guarantee that some of the more malevolent won't be released? For example, there was the one prisoner released under Mike Dukakas who went on a little spree after his released. And Norman Mailer's pet convict who went out and shanked a busboy for laughs.
And both of these people were sentenced with "no possibility of parole."
How do you keep them locked up?
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