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10 things you should know About the death penalty . #1 There are no rich people on death row. Approximately 85-90% of people on death row were financially unable to hire attorneys to represent them at trial . (TADP) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE DEATH PENALTY
#1THERE ARE NO RICH PEOPLE ON DEATH ROW
- Approximately 85-90% of people on death row were financially unable to hire attorneys to represent them at trial. (TADP)
- They are assigned public defenders who typically have much higher caseloads and fewer resources than private law firms.
- In Shelby County, where 1/3 of death penalty convictions arise, public defenders have caseloads that are 3 to 4 times larger than the national average.
- In 2012, Shelby County Public Defender Stephen Bush argued that his office had been underfunded by $28.4 million for the past 20 years, due to calculation errors (Memphis Commercial Appeal).
- In December 2013, the Nashville Public Defender’s office reported that it was unable to take on a new death penalty case due to chronic underfunding and understaffing (TBA).
CONTEXT: GIDEON V WAINWRIGHT- The Supreme Court case, Gideon v. Wainwright (1963),
ruled that “lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries,” and that the state is required to provide legal representation for those who cannot afford to hire their own.
- Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black added in 1964: “There can be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has.”
- If Tennessee’s public defenders are overworked and underfunded, what chance do poor people have of equal justice?
#2THERE ARE RACIAL BIASES IN THE SYSTEM
- A 2007 study of capital sentencing in Tennessee from 1981 to 2000 found that defendants with white victims were 4.75 times more likely to receive the death penalty than defendants with black victims (ABA report, p 284).
- Even when other aggravating factors were present, such as multiple victims or multiple felony convictions, defendants with white victims were 3.15 times more likely to receive the death penalty than defendants with black victims (ABA report, p 284).
- More than 1 in 4 black inmates condemned to death in Tennessee from 1977 to 2001 were sentenced by all-white juries (15 out of 52 inmates, or 29%; Amnesty, p 40).
- African Americans make up 43% of Tennessee’s death row population but only 17% of its total population.
FOCUS: JURY SELECTION• A 2010 study by the Equal Justice Initiative showed that jury
selection procedures had been manipulated in Tennessee, as well as in other states, to eliminate black jurors without just cause (EJI Report). They cite two cases from Tennessee in detail:
• “In the 2007 case of State v. Hill, the prosecutor struck all but one African American, leaving a black man to be tried by a nearly all-white jury. The prosecutor claimed he struck one African-American man because he was “not very bright” and “went on some diatribe” during voir dire. The appellate court found no such “diatribe” in the record, but still upheld the case.”
• “In a similarly disturbing case from 2006, State v. Tyler, the prosecutor struck only African Americans, and both the trial and appellate courts accepted his explanation that he struck one black juror for being “tentative and timid” and another for wearing a large hat and sunglasses.”
#3THERE IS TOO LITTLE OVERSIGHT & ACCOUNTABILITY FOR JUDGES AND LAWYERS
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION REPORT (2007)The ABA’s Tennessee Death Penalty Assessment Report (2007) found that the TN death penalty system falls short on 10 key points, including the following procedural issues:
- Inadequate Procedures to Address Innocence Claims (including a failure to preserve DNA evidence in the post-conviction phase of capital trials)
- Inadequate Access to Experts and Investigators
- Inadequate Qualification and Performance Standards for Defense Counsel
- Lack of Meaningful Proportionality Review (between cases in which a death sentence or a life sentence is imposed for similar crimes)
- Lack of Transparency in the Clemency Process
- Significant Capital Juror Confusion
The report makes 14 recommendations to address these issues, but we need a follow-up report to assess whether the state has taken the necessary steps to ensure that everyone is granted a fair trial, especially when facing the irreversible punishment of death.
FOCUS: SHELBY COUNTY• Shelby County ranks #13 across the US for the highest number of death penalty
convictions (DPIC)
• In Shelby County, prosecutors have sent three times as many people to death row as prosecutors in any other county in the state (USA Today).
• Homicide rates are typically high in Shelby County (an average of 31% of all homicides in the state over the past ten years). But death penalty convictions are even higher (39% of current prisoners on death row are from Shelby County).
• In December 2013, Shelby County prosecutor Thomas Henderson was publically reprimanded by the TN Supreme Court for hiding exculpatory evidence in Michael Rimmer’s murder trial (Memphis Flyer). Rimmer’s conviction was overturned in 2013, but he is still sitting on death row pending an appeal from the state.
• Henderson is also facing a complaint to the state bar for “deliberate misconduct” (The Open File). But the District Attorney’s office is not planning any disciplinary action against Henderson, in spite of these issues (Memphis Flyer).
• Another Shelby County prosecutor, Jerry Harris, was found to have withheld evidence in Timothy McKinney’s murder trial (The Nation). Henderson was also involved in prosecuting this case. McKinney’s conviction was overturned in 2013 and he was released on an Alford plea after 11 years on death row (Democracy Now).
BUT IT’S NOT JUST SHELBY COUNTY!• Since 1977, 41 death sentences or capital convictions in
Tennessee have been vacated or reversed on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. This represents more than 20% of Tennessee death cases. If we include other problems in addition to ineffective assistance of counsel, courts have found reversible error in well over half of all Tennessee death cases.
• Federal judge Gilbert Merritt stated in 2009 that prosecutorial misconduct (such as withholding exculpatory evidence) poses the greatest threat to justice and Rule of Law in death penalty cases, and that it played a role in 7 of the 8 cases from Tennessee that he reviewed in his years on the bench (TN Law Review).
#4 INNOCENT PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN TN
NDUME OLATUSHANI: 20 YEARS ON DEATH ROW FOR A CRIME HE DID NOT COMMIT
OTHER WRONGFUL DEATH PENALTY CONVICTIONS IN TENNESSEE• Michael L. McCormick was exonerated in 2007, after 16
years on death row
• Paul House was exonerated in 2009, after 22 years on death row
• Gussie Vann was exonerated in 2011, after 17 years on death row
• Michael Rimmer’s conviction was overturned in October 2012 after 14 years, but he has still not been released from death row.
#5 DEATH SENTENCES ARE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN LIFE SENTENCES
DEATH AND TAXES- According to a 2004 study by the Tennessee Comptroller of the
Treasury, death penalty trials in TN cost an average of 48 percent more than the cost of trials in which prosecutors seek life imprisonment.
- In North Carolina, each execution costs $2.16 million more than the cost of sentencing murderers to life imprisonment.
- In Kansas, capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-capital cases, including the costs of incarceration.
- In Florida, the death penalty costs $51 million a year more than what it would cost to punish all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole.
- In Maryland, an average death penalty case resulting in a death sentence cost approximately $3 million. Maryland abolished the death penalty last year.
For more information on costs, see the TADP website.
#6 THE DEATH PENALTY IS NOT AN EFFECTIVE DETERRENT
THE MYTH OF DETERRANCE- 88% of the country’s top criminologists do not believe the death
penalty acts as a greater deterrent to homicide than long term imprisonment. (Radelet and Lacock, 2009).
- The murder rate in death penalty states is consistently higher than the murder rate in non-death penalty states (empirical research by Death Penalty Information Center).
- For this and other reasons, the American Society of Criminology takes a strong stand against capital punishment:
• "Be it resolved that because social science research has demonstrated the death penalty to be racist in application and social science research has found no consistent evidence of crime deterrence through execution, The American Society of Criminology publicly condemns this form of punishment, and urges its members to use their professional skills in legislatures and courts to seek a speedy abolition of this form of punishment."
#7EXECUTIONS CREATE MORE VICTIMS
THE MYTH OF CLOSURE• Many supporters of the death penalty argue that execution helps
the family members of murder victims find closure for their grief.
• And yet, some family members have found this to be false. Not only does execution fail to address the pain of their loss, but it may even compound their emotional trauma by expecting families to “move on” rather than engaging in a life-long process of healing and memory work.
• The national organization, Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, frames the death penalty as “both a victims’ issue and a human rights issue.” They support a policy of “Prevention, Not Execution” to address the grievous harm of murder and to stop the cycle of violence. http://www.mvfhr.org
• Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty have also argued that the death penalty fails victims’ families. http://conservativesconcerned.org/
STATEMENT BY NASHVILLE RESIDENT CLIFFORD O’SULLIVAN, WHOSE MOTHER WAS MURDERED WHEN HE WAS A CHILD
“There is not a life or a limb in this world that can replace the ones I have lost. My mother’s sight was sacred and, even if what I desired was an eye for an eye, I know I could never hope for more than 20/20 vision. Despite its extraordinary capacity for bias, I have doubts, untempered by contradiction, that the criminal-justice system is sensitive enough to appreciate the subtle qualities that endear one person to another. My mother had green eyes, one of which was lazy. Her murder’s eyes are blue. If I allow this cycle to continue, what color will my justice be?”
COOKSVILLE’S HECTOR BLACK, ON THE MURDER OF HIS DAUGHTER AND HIS OPPOSITION TO THE DEATH PENALTY
[In the trial for his daughter’s murder,] Black read a statement in court saying, "I don't hate you, Ivan Simpson, but I hate with all my soul what you did to my daughter." Black looked into Simpson's eyes. "The tears were streaming down his cheeks," Black says. Before he was led away, Simpson apologized twice for "the pain that I've caused," Black says. Black says he couldn't sleep that night "because I really felt as though a tremendous weight had been lifted from me ... and that I had forgiven him.”http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18791726
TRAUMATIC EFFECTS ON THE FAMILY AND COMMUNITY OF EXECUTED PRISONERS• Prisoners on death row have children, parents,
siblings, spouses, and friends. When a prisoner is executed, these people suffer an irreplaceable loss, too.
• Dr. Ann Charvat of Nashville explains: “Executions cause a breach in trust between citizens and authority. Punishment that exceeds the need to control the actions of the criminal can damage our ability to bond with society, and thus prevent future crime.” Dr. Charvat is a sociologist and has worked as the executive director of Reconciliation, Inc., which supports family members of people in prison.
#8MANY CONSERVATIVES AGREE THAT THE SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK.
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty is a network of political and social conservatives who question the alignment of capital punishment with conservative principles and values. They highlight several key issues:
• Some of us believe that small government and the death penalty don’t go together, especially when we compare the high costs of capital punishment to life without possibility of release.
• Some of us don’t trust the state to get it right. We already know that some innocent people have been sentenced to death, and for others it may already be too late.
• Some of us are disturbed by the roller coaster for family members of murder victims, or wonder why we’re investing so much in a system that doesn’t keep us any safer than the alternatives.
• Some of us believe that the death penalty contradicts our values about protecting life.
Marc Hyden in the Times Free Press:
“I am a law-and-order Republican who believes we need be tough on crime, but also smart on crime. No one in our growing network of conservatives concerned about the death penalty is interested in coddling criminals. However, as we can plainly see, the death penalty in Tennessee, as well as the rest of America, is neither swift nor sure.”
Drew Johnson in the Knoxville News-Sentinel:
“The truth is government is not perfect, far from it, and the death penalty runs a dangerously high probability of killing innocent people, siphons billions of dollars from the public, and gives the government power it cannot be trusted to carry out fairly…
“It’s time that conservative Tennesseans begin to look at the death penalty to consider whether it’s consistent with our view of the role of government and decide if retribution and revenge is worth sacrificing our principles, freedoms, and liberties.”
#9TENNESSEE DOES NOT CURRENTLY HAVE LEGAL ACCESS TO APPROVED EXECUTION DRUGS
LETHAL INJECTION AND ITS DISCONTENTS• In 2011, Tennessee and several other states had to turn
over their supplies of sodium thiopental, one of the drugs in the three-drug execution protocol, because of the way it was acquired (New York Times).
• A lawsuit was brought against the FDA for allowing the drug to be imported by state corrections departments without proper inspection and approval (Death Penalty Info).
• In 2013, Tennessee switched from a three-drug protocol (involving sodium thiopental) to a new one-drug protocol (pentobarbital). But the European manufacturers of the drugs have banned their use for state execution (The Tennessean).
• Last year, Tennessee legislators passed a law that allows compounding pharmacies to mix drugs without a prescription (NPR). This law would permit the state to order execution drugs directly from a compounding pharmacy in Tennessee, bypassing EU trade restrictions.
• In April 2013, Tennessee legislators amended a law guaranteeing confidentiality to any “person or entity involved in the procurement or provision of chemicals, equipment, supplies and other items for use in carrying out a sentence of death” (TCA Section 10-7-504(h)(1)).
• This means that a compounding pharmacy in Tennessee could accept a contract to produce execution drugs without disclosing its name to the public.
• Why are we suddenly rushing to execute 10 people in TN? And why all the secrecy?
#10TENNESSEE HAS A STRONG ABOLITIONIST HISTORY
TN’S ABOLITIONIST LEGACY• Tennessee was the only former Confederate
state to abolish capital punishment (from 1915 to 1919).
• In 1965, Governor Clement granted clemency to everyone on death row, after a death penalty abolition bill was defeated by one vote.
• Tennessee was the last state in the South to resume executions after capital punishment was suspended across the US from 1972-1976.
• We have executed 6 people since 1976. Texas has executed over 500 in the same time period.
THESE 10 POINTS ARE IMPORTANT.
BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT DEATH ROW IS A REAL PLACE, NOT FAR FROM WHERE YOU LIVE.
THIS IS TENNESSEE’S DEATH ROW UNIT
AT RIVERBEND MAXIMUM SECURITY INSTITUTION (RMSI)
JUST A 15 MINUTE DRIVE FROM DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE
REAL PEOPLE LIVE ON DEATH ROW – AND DIE THERE.
PEOPLE ON DEATH ROW CREATE ART…
THEY WRITE BOOKS…
Available at East Side Story Bookstore and on Amazon.com
http://rethinkingprisons.wordpress.com/art-from-tennessees-death-row/music-from-death-row/
THEY SING…
AND THEY HAVE FAMILIES WHO LOVE THEM
We asked men on death row to name the ten issues that concern them most, the first thing they said was:
“We need to find a way of keeping kids out of the prison system.”
TOGETHER,WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
TAKE ACTION TO STOP EXECUTIONS IN TENNESSEE• Sign and share this open letter calling for a moratorium
on the death penalty in TN:tnsocialjustice.wordpress.com
• Sign these online clemency petitions for prisoners on death row:
• Abu Ali Abdur’Rahman: http://www.abu-ali.org/ • Olen Hutchison: http://www.change.org/petitions/equal-
justice-for-olen-hutchison • Join Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(TADP) at http://www.tennesseedeathpenalty.org/
• Attend the TADP Student Conference on the death penalty on Feb. 22, 2014 at TSU (see the TADP website for more details)
BUILD COMMUNITY WITH PEOPLE ON DEATH ROW• Follow the REACH Coalition blog:
www.reachcoalition.wordpress.com
• Send a postcard to death row (contact [email protected])
• Become a penpal of someone on death row (contact [email protected])
• Volunteer to visit someone on death row (contact Joe Ingle at [email protected])
• Sign a Declaration of Life form: http://www.quaker.org/declaration-of-life.html
CONNECT THE DOTS• Share what you have learned about the death penalty
with your friends, family, and colleagues• Host a presentation on the death penalty at your
educational institution, church, or community group. Contact Stacy Rector at [email protected] or Lisa Guenther at [email protected] for support materials
• The death penalty is part of a larger pattern of mass incarceration and harsh punishment
• Join the Vanderbilt Prison Project: [email protected]
• Contact Janet Wolf of the Children’s Defense Fund campaign to stop the School to Prison Pipeline at [email protected]
PRESENTATION BY TENNESSEE STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
