New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty www.nyadp.org
Abolitionists! As if we needed another reason to oppose the death penalty in New York State…Please watch for coverage in your newspapers and get letters into the editor and to your State Senator/Assemblyperson! Go to http://capwiz.com/lwvny/state/main/?state=NY to find their contact information.
INNOCENCE PROJECT REPORT SHOWS NEW YORK LEADS NATION IN WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS (and your Senators have done nothing to prevent it)
By David Kaczynski:
Today’s report by The Innocence Project detailing New York’s shameful record as a national leader in wrongful convictions must give pause to anyone who thinks our state should reinstate the death penalty.
We are the national leader in DNA-based exonerations of people convicted of murders they did not commit in this decade. Worse than Texas. If that doesn’t give us pause, what will?
Six of the seven wrongfully convicted in this decade could have faced the death penalty were it in effect at the time the crimes were committed, and he seventh was originally charged with a capital offense. If we restore the death penalty, the question is when - not if - an innocent person will be executed in New York.
Wrongful convictions have for a long time been among the major reasons that growing majorities of New Yorkers now support life without parole as the maximum sentence for those convicted of the most serious crimes.
Capital punishment is a system that buries its worst mistakes. You can’t correct a mistake after someone is executed.
And the fact remains that five of every six homicide cases do not yield any biological and DNA evidence. If the problems of mistaken eyewitness testimony, false confessions, forensic errors, inadequate legal defense and mishandling of evidence - or worse - by law enforcement officials marks cases where at least DNA evidence was able to establish innocence, how many other people languish in prison and potentially face capital punishment despite their innocence?
At a minimum, the Innocence Project report highlights a series of reforms to improve criminal procedures and guarantee the right of all defendants to an effective defense that must be enacted before any consideration can be given to restoring the death penalty.
Governor Spitzer and state legislators should read the Innocence Project report carefully. Worst in the nation is not where we want to be.
They should learn what all New Yorkers have learned. We can live without the death penalty.
Showing posts with label new yorkers against the death penalty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new yorkers against the death penalty. Show all posts
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Death Penalty Not Cheaper Than Life In Prison
According to New Yorkers Against The Death Penalty, The Death Penalty cost a great deal more than life in prison.
"Elimination of the death penalty [in California] would result in a net savings to the state of at least tens of millions of dollars annually, and a net savings to local governments in the millions to tens of millions of dollars on a statewide basis." (Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the California Legislature, 09/9/99)
Total cost of death penalty is 38% greater than total cost of life without parole sentences. (Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, January 10, 2002)
Since its return to New York in 1995, $160 million has been spent. The New York Daily News estimates that before the first execution takes place, $238 million will be spent.
In addition to the funds required to try death penalty cases, the New York Department of Correctional Services spent $1.3 million to construct New York's 12-inmate death row and pays nearly $300,000 per year to guard the unit. (New York Law Journal, April 30, 2002)
NYADP advocates that the money spent on the death penalty should be spent on crime prevention programs and victims’ assistance programs, both of which are severely under-funded.
"Elimination of the death penalty [in California] would result in a net savings to the state of at least tens of millions of dollars annually, and a net savings to local governments in the millions to tens of millions of dollars on a statewide basis." (Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the California Legislature, 09/9/99)
Total cost of death penalty is 38% greater than total cost of life without parole sentences. (Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, January 10, 2002)
Since its return to New York in 1995, $160 million has been spent. The New York Daily News estimates that before the first execution takes place, $238 million will be spent.
In addition to the funds required to try death penalty cases, the New York Department of Correctional Services spent $1.3 million to construct New York's 12-inmate death row and pays nearly $300,000 per year to guard the unit. (New York Law Journal, April 30, 2002)
NYADP advocates that the money spent on the death penalty should be spent on crime prevention programs and victims’ assistance programs, both of which are severely under-funded.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty A Message to Long Islanders
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.
Join us at our events, letter writing campaigns, or just receive our newsletter FOR FREE
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
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.
Join us at our events, letter writing campaigns, or just receive our newsletter FOR FREE
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
Saturday, August 4, 2007
New Yorkers Have Learned We Can Live Without The Death Penalty
Passage of Yet Another Death Penalty Bill Called Cynical
On July 16, the New York State legislature responded to the tragic death of a police officer shot in the line of duty by passing its third death penalty bill this year. Below is a statement on the Senate’s action by David Kaczynski, Executive Director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty.
July 16 2007 - “We join all New Yorkers in grieving for the recent loss of Police Officer Timoshenko, and other officers and troopers who have died in the service of all of us.
“But State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno knows that today’s passage of a death penalty bill all but identical to one passed earlier this year is a cynical and empty gesture that has no chance of becoming law.
“He knows, as New Yorkers have learned, that the death penalty does not represent swift or sure punishment. No one has been executed in New York in 44 years.
“It is unconscionable that Senator Bruno has led his chamber in this cynical exercise without addressing the plague of wrongful convictions that has seen 26 New Yorkers exonerated and freed after serving long sentences for murders or rapes they did not commit.
“The principal effect of the death penalty is to create a lot more work for lawyers at the taxpayer’s expense without any public benefit. A mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole for those who murder police is a tough sentence fully enforceable in New York State. It protects those who protect us without wasting untold millions of dollars on a decades-long appeals process and without risking the execution of an innocent person.
“The death penalty is a system that buries its worst mistakes. Trying to reinstate the death penalty before tackling the plague of wrongful convictions is a cynical gesture aimed at diverting attention from other issues before the legislature.
“Senator Bruno knows the measure will not become law, no matter how many times he gets his conference to pass it..
“New Yorkers have learned we can live without the death penalty. It is time for Senator Bruno to catch up with the people he represents.”
On July 16, the New York State legislature responded to the tragic death of a police officer shot in the line of duty by passing its third death penalty bill this year. Below is a statement on the Senate’s action by David Kaczynski, Executive Director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty.
July 16 2007 - “We join all New Yorkers in grieving for the recent loss of Police Officer Timoshenko, and other officers and troopers who have died in the service of all of us.
“But State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno knows that today’s passage of a death penalty bill all but identical to one passed earlier this year is a cynical and empty gesture that has no chance of becoming law.
“He knows, as New Yorkers have learned, that the death penalty does not represent swift or sure punishment. No one has been executed in New York in 44 years.
“It is unconscionable that Senator Bruno has led his chamber in this cynical exercise without addressing the plague of wrongful convictions that has seen 26 New Yorkers exonerated and freed after serving long sentences for murders or rapes they did not commit.
“The principal effect of the death penalty is to create a lot more work for lawyers at the taxpayer’s expense without any public benefit. A mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole for those who murder police is a tough sentence fully enforceable in New York State. It protects those who protect us without wasting untold millions of dollars on a decades-long appeals process and without risking the execution of an innocent person.
“The death penalty is a system that buries its worst mistakes. Trying to reinstate the death penalty before tackling the plague of wrongful convictions is a cynical gesture aimed at diverting attention from other issues before the legislature.
“Senator Bruno knows the measure will not become law, no matter how many times he gets his conference to pass it..
“New Yorkers have learned we can live without the death penalty. It is time for Senator Bruno to catch up with the people he represents.”
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