Last
week the NH Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty had a press conference to
announce the kick-off of their new campaign to repeal the death penalty in New
Hampshire. There was a large bi-partisan group of legislators and community
leaders on hand to show their support for the measure. Repeal bills have been
tried before. In 2000, both the Republican controlled House and Senate voted to
repeal the death penalty, but Governor Jeanne Shaheen vetoed the bill. This
year, it seems that the planets may be in the proper alignment. The repeal bill
has the support of the faith community, some Democrats, some Republicans, and
much of the libertarian crowd. It’s a strong group of supporters.
There
are 32 states that still have the death penalty. Eighteen states have abolished
it. Alaska abolished the death penalty in 1957, before they officially became a
state in 1959. New Hampshire is the only remaining New England state that has
not abolished capital punishment.
NH
has a long and convoluted relationship with the death penalty. We’ve mostly been
squeamish about it, about using it, which is a good thing. In 1834, Governor William Badger was
the first to ask for a repeal. In 1972, a US Supreme Court decision voided the
NH death penalty. In 1974 the legislature passed a new statute. In 1976 the US
Supreme Court reaffirmed the use of the death penalty. In 1977 the NH statute
was changed to make execution an option not a mandate. In 1984, Governor
Meldrim Thomson called a special legislative session to enact new legislation.
In 1986, the law was changed to make lethal injection the primary method of
execution, leaving hanging as an option.
Every two or four years some kind of tinkering with the statute takes
place.
New
Hampshire may be stubbornly clinging to the option, but we’ve never been
vigorous practitioners. The first recorded execution was in 1739 and the last
was in 1939. NH hanged 22 people in all, and one, Ruth Blay, is now regarded as
having been executed wrongly. She was hanged in Portsmouth in 1768 for
allegedly killing and concealing the body of her illegitimate infant. She hid
the baby under the floorboards of a barn. At the time, concealment of the birth
of an illegitimate child was a capital offense.
That’s
the thing. Long before DNA, we were executing the wrong people some of the
time. Since 1973 some 140 innocent people on death row have been exonerated.
There have been many problems with capital cases over the years, including
mistaken eyewitnesses, incompetent lawyers, unreliable informants, and coerced
confessions. The very possibility of executing an innocent person should be enough
to deter us. Unfortunately the moral high ground isn’t usually persuasive.
Money usually is.
In
2009, the legislature established a Death Penalty Study Commission. A year
later the majority voted to retain but not expand the death penalty. The
committee agreed that the death penalty is more expensive than the
alternatives. That has proven to be true. A death penalty sentence costs 3-5
times as much as life without parole. The state of NH has already spent about
$5 million on the Addison case. That amount is expected to at least double by
the time appeals are exhausted. At the press conference, retired Superior Court
Chief Justice Walter Murphy wondered what sort of reaction legislators would
get if they explained to constituents that there was a NH program that cost
$1-2 million per year and the only people who get anything out of it are lawyers.
The last budget passed delivered a $10 million cut to the judicial branch.
That’s as much money for the whole state as the prosecution of just one case is
expected to cost. So much for Yankee thrift.
Justice Walter Murphy
There
is no proof that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. Few criminals
consider the consequences before committing any crime, preferring to think that
they’re too smart to get caught. Or in the heat of the moment the consequences
don’t even occur to them.
The
death penalty is presented to us as justice. An eye for an eye, a way of
families getting closure. A case that drags on for years and years doesn’t
allow for closure or healing. Some of the most eloquent speakers against
capital punishment are family members of murder victims. Lead sponsor of the current
repeal bill, Rep. Renny Cushing, is one of those eloquent speakers. (see below)
His father was murdered in 1988. A
sentence of life without parole doesn’t disrespect the memory of murder
victims. It protects the public while preventing any possibility of a mistake.
It is a sentence that prevents the state from using violence in an attempt to
prevent violent crime, which is as unsuccessful as killing for peace has proven
to be. Or, as Justice Murphy put
it, “The Constitution of NH says nothing about retribution. It’s the Department
of Corrections, not retribution.”
The
bulk of executions in the United States take place in the south. Texas leads
the way, having executed over 500 people since 1976. During that same time
period there was precisely one execution in New England. It was in Connecticut.
Yet despite this execution zeal, any one of the New England states have far
less violent crime than any of the top execution states.
NH
is consistently ranked as one of the safest states to live in. Given that we
haven’t executed anyone since 1939, it’s safe to say that the death penalty
isn’t what makes us safer. The group that has come together in opposition to
capital punishment is impressively diverse. It’s time for NH to join the rest
of our civilized New England brethren, and repeal the death penalty.
“Before my father’s murder I had
evolved a set of values that included a respect for life and an opposition to
the death penalty. For me to change my beliefs because my father was murdered
would only give more power to his killers, for they would then take not only
his life but also his main legacy to me: the values he instilled. The same is
true for society. If we let murderers turn us to murder, we give them too much
power. They succeed in bringing us to their way of thinking and acting, and we
become what we say we abhor.” ~
Renny Cushing
Resources:
© sbruce 2013 Photos from October 24 press conference by sbruce
Also published as a bi-weekly oped column in the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.
1 comment:
Social evolution should be ongoing and progressive. Abolishing the death penalty is a fine start. We also desperately need effective dialogue on improving the way we try individuals accused of crimes, their imprisonment as well as the real lack of rehabilitation. We have no social services structure in place to really improve the lives of those facing release from confinement. Our prisons are full to overflowing for a reason. There is no prevention. Without these stop gap measures in place, individuals will continue to wallow in the prison system with no hope for a crimeless future after release (for non lifers).
Post a Comment