Activists see chance to end death penalty

Opponents of capital punishment are rejoicing at a "window of opportunity" provided by the current suspension of the death penalty law in New York.

"I feel energized," reported Kathleen Gallagher, director of pro-life activities for the New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the state's bishops to lobby on legislative concerns.

When Gov. George Pataki was elected in 1995, Mrs. Gallagher noted, "we worked very hard to prevent the inevitable [passage of the death penalty] from happening; but once it was passed, I don't think any of us envisioned that nine years later, we would have this window of opportunity. We essentially don't have a death penalty in New York State right now."

Court decision

That's because the Court of Appeals, New York's highest court, ruled June 24 that a major provision of the state's death penalty law was unconstitutional.

The provision read that when a jury on a capital case became deadlocked during the trial's penalty phase, the judge had to inform them that if they did not reach a verdict, he or she would impose a sentence that could include parole after 20 to 25 years.

The Appeals Court ruled that the provision could coerce jurors to vote for execution rather than allow murderers to eventually be paroled -- thus rendering the entire law unenforceable.

Shaky law

This isn't the first time that New York's capital punishment law has come under fire. Mrs. Gallagher pointed out that Sen. Richard Dollinger (D-Rochester) predicted back in 1995 that juries would be coerced to vote for death under the law. (The jury deadlock provision is unique to New York State's death penalty law.)

In 2001, the Court of Appeals also ruled that the plea bargaining provisions of the law were unconstitutional, because defendants were forced to either waive their right to a jury trial or face capital punishment.

Death penalty opponents are hammering home points like those as they try to stop an amendment from being passed that would reinstate the death penalty. The proposed amendment might allow judges to tell juries that a prison sentence other than death could result in a life sentence without parole, but "there are so many flaws left" in the law that Mrs. Gallagher said her organization would not support it.

No quick fix

Nor will New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, said that organization's executive director, David Kaczynski. He told The Evangelist that there "shouldn't be a quick political fix" to the capital punishment law.

"If politics were a rational process, I think this would be the end of the death penalty -- but politics is not a rational process," he added.

Opponents have banded together to remind state lawmakers and the public of the other reasons to fight capital punishment. For example, Mr. Kaczynski asserted that New York has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on enforcing the law. The costs that add up to that total, he said, include a longer process of choosing a jury, employing full-time clerks for each of the seven Appeals Court judges to do nothing but study death penalty appeals, and the appeals themselves (at least two appeals are mandatory when a death sentence is imposed).

Moreover, "the death penalty creates a legal thicket," he said. "It's the only prosecution where the jury is doing something besides fact-finding: They're playing God, determining whether someone should live or die."

Papal view

Mr. Kaczynski noted that Pope John Paul II has called capital punishment "cruel and unnecessary" -- particularly since a sentence of life without parole can be imposed instead.

Mr. Kaczynski approved of this "alternative sentence that protects the public," and said that more and more New Yorkers -- 53 percent at last count -- have told pollsters that they prefer life without parole to the death penalty.

"We attribute this to stories about innocent people being convicted of crimes they didn't commit," Mrs. Gallagher said.

Hesitation

According to Mrs. Gallagher, New York's senators and assembly members have begun to balk at passing an amendment to restore capital punishment.

Lawmakers have given her many reasons for their hesitance: They are personally against the death penalty; they feel that passing a state budget is more crucial; they prefer to see murderers spend their lives in prison, rather than being granted a quick and painless death.

Even proponents of capital punishment, she said, have argued that the state should step back and evaluate whether the law has actually deterred crime before reinstating it.

Mr. Kaczynski said that he would be urging lawmakers not to try a "quick fix" to the problems with the death penalty. "You've got to decide whether this is wise public policy or not," he stated.

[Anti-death penalty lobbyists urge Catholics who want to learn more or get involved to visit their websites. At www.nyscatholic.org, visitors can click on the "take action" button to reach a ready-made letter to their legislators; and www.nyadp.org has a host of information on the death penalty, including a statement by religious leaders (among them, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard) on opposing capital punishment.]

(8/5/04)