Please archive under: DEATH-P INSTITUT Short description: " "Common Misconceptions about DP" pamphlet " (I am still officially not here; especially in light of the uncertain future, I am spending a few minutes here and there to format the files which have been sitting around but were all but ready to be archived) ################################################################## ********************************************* C o m m o n M i s c o n c e p t i o n s A b o u t t h e D e a t h P e n a l t y ********************************************* -------------------------------------------------------- From a pamphlet by the Institute for Southern Studies P.O. Box 531, Durham, NC 27702 -- (919) 688-8167 -------------------------------------------------------- [Send the 1-line message GET DEATH-P INSTITUT ACTIV-L to: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET for a copy of this file] ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE DEATH PENALTY IS A DETERRENT Since about three-fourths of all murders involve family members or close acquaintances who are killed out of anger or passion, the threat of the electric chair has little effect on these spontaneous, unpremeditated acts. On the other hand, premeditated murders are committed by people who do not expect to be caught: They are no more deterred by the death penalty than they would be by life imprisonment. Statistically, it is impossible to prove that capital punishment has any effect upon violent crime. In 1974, death penalty states had an average murder rate of 9.3 per 100,000 population, whereas abolition states had an average rate of 5.8. The states with the six lowest murder rates are all abolition states [clearly *part* of the reason is that when crime is low, politicians can't capitalize by proposing more death penalties, but these stats are still interesting -HB] EXECUTION IS CHEAPER THAN INCARCERATION. When a life is at stake, the legal costs are exorbitant. The money spent on public defenders, district attorneys, judges, court paperwork and segregation of prisoners on Death Row would easily cover the costs of life imprisonment. Time magazine in 1971 reported that the commutation of death sentences of 15 Arkansas prisoners saved the state an estimated $1.5 million. THE DEATH PENALTY IS A NECESSARY EVIL, THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE. America is one of the few industrialized nations of the world to continue the practice of capital punishment. Great Britain abolished the death penalty in 1965. Canada abolished capital punishment in 1976. Only a few countries in Latin America and some emerging Third World nations continue the practice of legal execution. The alternative to capital punishment is a capital life sentence. A capital life sentence would require a mandatory *minimum* sentence before an individual could even be considered for parole. This does not mean that a murderer would be released after serving the minimum time: Dangerous people, such as Charles Manson, could be segregated from society indefinitely. ONLY THE GUILTY ARE EXECUTED. In New Jersey in 1918, George Brandon was executed for a murder which another man confessed to months later. Frank Smith was executed in Connecticut in 1949, only to be proven innocent minutes after the execution took place. In 1963, the state of Florida sentenced two men, Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee, to the electric chair; in 1975 their innocence was proven and Pitts and Lee were released after 12 years in prison. If the death penalty had been legal during that time, Pitts and Lee would be dead. These are only a few of the many known instances where the death penalty was used on an innocent victim. Capital punishment is irrevocable. A MURDERER WILL KILL AGAIN Prison and parole officials generally agree, particularly in abolitionist states, that people convicted of homicide are typically more successful parolees and make the "least troublesome, most helpful" prisoners. This is consistent with the fact that the majority of murders are "acts of passion" between family members and acquaintances. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IS EQUITABLY ADMINISTERED. Justice William O. Douglas, of the United States Supreme Court, once commented, "One searches in vain for the execution of any member of the affluent strata of our society." Without exception, those who are on Death Row across the U.S. are the defendants who were too poor to afford experienced and effective counsel. Most were represented by court-appointed lawyers who were too inexperienced, unconcerned or overworked to argue effectively their client's case. Expensive private lawyers, on the other hand, have the resources and ability to obtain prison sentence or acquittal for their equally guilty clients. Likewise, the death penalty is inequitably administered in relation to race. In Florida, where John Spenkelink was recently executed, an individual is seven times more likely to be executed if the victim is white than if the victim is black. THE BIBLE SUPPORTS THE DEATH PENALTY. It is generally recognized that the Bible required the death penalty for acts of murder. The bible also calls for death in cases of adultery (Lev. 20:10), blasphemy (Lev. 24:15), working on the sabbath (Ex. 35:2), refusing to obey a priest or judge (Deut. 17:12), disobedient children (Deut. 21:18), fornication (Deut. 22:23) and 16 other offenses. In reality, the Bible when taken as a whole is more concerned with mercy and forgiveness than with judgment and condemnation. Such a perspective has led nearly all major religious organizations to adopt formal statement against capital punishment. ELECTROCUTION IS QUICK AND HUMANE One need only read the Associated Press account of John Spenkelink's execution to realize that electrocution is neither quick nor humane: "The first surge (which was administered at 10:12) singed the skin off his right calf, sending smoke into the death chamber. He clenched his left fist, then his hands began to curl and blacken. "The doctor unbuttoned his white shirt, pulled up the T-shirt underneath and placed a stethoscope on his chest. The doctor stepped back and another surge of electricity was sent through the body by two anonymous executioners in black hoods. There was another stethoscope check, another surge, the third, the doctor checked the pulse and nodded to the warden that Spenkelink was dead. It was 10:18. "The impact came when the doctor lifted the black death mask: The lower part of Spenkelink's face was swollen and blackened by the three 2,500 volt surges that ended his life." It had taken six minutes and three 2,500 volt surges of electricity to kill John Spenkelink. He was literally cooked alive. ################################################################## ################################################################## # Harel Barzilai for Activists Mailing List (AML) # ################################################################## To join AML, just send the 1-line message "SUB ACTIV-L " to the address: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET; you should receive a message confirming that you have been added to the list. An alternate address is: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU [If you have problems/questions, contact the list Administrator: Rich Winkel at MATHRICH@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU or MATHRICH%UMCVMB.BITNET]