LeNie A. Adolphson lenieadolphson@hotmail.com
Gov. George Ryan has been the target of much well-deserved criticism for his proposed budget cuts that will cause many people to lose jobs. Recently, The Southern Illinoisan featured an article that discussed the impact of budget cuts on nursing homes in the state. These cuts will be devastating to residents in nursing homes and the staff.
While I totally disagree with the slash-and-burn method of balancing the budget, I commend Gov. Ryan's decision to not allow any further executions while he is in office.
Nine death row inmates in Illinois were released from prison after DNA and other evidence revealed the men were innocent. It is probable that there are inmates on death row in other states that are innocent, and are victims of single eyewitness testimony; police corruption; overzealous prosecutors; incompetent defense attorneys; no alibis; or alibis that are not believed by prosecutors.
Currently a 10th man who was on death row in Illinois was found to be innocent, yet he is still incarcerated because prosecutors have not abandoned the case. Many may say that the fact that these men were found to be innocent prove that the system works.
However, it wasn't prosecutors and defense attorneys that found the evidence that exonerated these defendants. It was law students and journalists who worked tirelessly for these inmates.
Moreover, capital punishment has not proved to be a deterrent to crime. The United States, which has the death penalty, does not have lower rates of violent crime. All other western democracies have abolished capital punishment and have lower rates of violent crime.
Additionally, the imposition of the death penalty has resulted in racial bias. In fact, the race of the victim has proven to be the determining factor in deciding whether to prosecute capital cases. Of those executed, nearly 90 percent were convicted of killing whites, although people of color make up more than half of homicide victims in the United States.
Many cite the cost to taxpayers as a reason to keep an inmate in prison for life. However, Abolish Now, an organization that fights to eliminate the death penalty, reports that the cost to execute an inmate in Texas is $2.3 million compared to $400,000 to incarcerate a person for life.
Another concern of mine is the execution of individuals with developmental disabilities. Currently, there are approximately 400 developmentally disabled individuals on death row with very low IQs. Our legislature should adopt the recommendations of the commission that was formed to analyze the death penalty.
However, I fear that these proposals will meet the same fate as many on death row once Gov. Ryan leaves office - especially if Jim Ryan is elected. Defendants convicted on a single eyewitness testimony and witnesses who are testifying as a part of a plea bargain should not be candidates for capital punishment.
Overall, the death penalty should be abolished for the following reasons:
First, there are measures that can be taken to ensure that violent offenders be permanently removed from society by lifetime prison sentences without the possibility of parole.
Second, innocent people have been executed.
As we discovered here in Illinois, innocent people were very close to death. Once a person is dead, there isn't a way to resurrect the individual and apologize. All we can do is apologize to the family, which is of little consolation.
Finally, the fact that the death penalty is biased and has no uniformity is troubling. There are states that don't have the death penalty, such as Wisconsin and Massachusetts. Wealthy defendants rarely receive the death penalty because of their ability to hire a dream team.
In contrast, most poor defendants have public defenders who are overworked and underpaid and often are swamped with other cases. In one case, a public defender slept through a large portion of the murder trial of a defendant. The defendant was convicted.
For these and other reasons that are too numerous for this column, I overwhelmingly support ending the death penalty in the United States. We should join the rest of the Western world in abolishing this archaic form of punishment.
Raising Eyebrows appears on Monday. LeNie is a sophomore in social work. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
