YOU can help bin the death penalty!

I was recently emailed something very interesting from a friend which I thought you may or may not be interested in. Death Watch International is a fantastic organization aiming to make the death penalty history, and they are running a 'Bin it!' campaign designed to put pressure on countries which retain the death penalty to consign it to the trashcan of history.

So every month the Bin it! campaign spotlights a particular country, and this month the focus is on the UAE.

The UAE executed just one person last year (which is still one too many). Many offences are capital (punishable by death) there, including adultery, apostasy and drug trafficking.

The Bin It! campaign encourages ordinary people - not politicians and world leaders, but you and me - to email or write to the country's ambassador. If emailing, they suggest you attach a picture of some trash, like a trashcan full of junk or something, to encourage them to Bin It! along with the death penalty! If you're writing a letter, why not stick a bit of REAL trash in the letter (nothing hazardous or offensive though, that'll not do you or the cause any good!). This is not essential - the piece of trash is at your discretion. What's important is that lots and lots of people write or email the ambassador to let him know how we all feel! So why not you? Why not now?!

So, I thought that the followers of this blog might be interested in helping out! If you want more information, visit their website: www.deathwatchinternational.org/do_something.php

Here is an example of something you could write. If you're out of ideas, just copy and paste this, fill in your details and send it! Simple!

Dear Mr Ambassador,
I am of the opinion that the death penalty is an outdated and barbaric practice which belongs in the past. In retaining it, your country is in an increasingly small minority in the world. Please, make the death penalty history - bin it along with the enclosed/attached piece of trash!
Yours sincerely,
Tiffany

Keep your letter/email simple, short and - most importantly - polite. Whatever you do, DON'T BE OFFENSIVE! You'll just hurt the cause.

Here are the Ambassador's details if you want to help out:

His Excellency Mr Ahmed Al-Jarman
mbassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary
Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations
3 Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, 305 East 47th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10017
USA


You can email him at: uae@un.int
[NOTE: If you send an email please put the Ambassador's name in the subject line so he gets it!]


So what are you waiting for? This is a really simple, easy way to help the cause and make your mark! Think about it - YOU could help end the death penalty in a country, for nothing more than the cost of a stamp! Please help out Death Watch International by supporting this campaign!

And if you're feeling particularly radical today and that wasn't enough for you, a full list of the contact details for every UN leader is available on the death watch international website. Why stop at one?!

- Tiffany

INNOCENT AND EXECUTED: EXACTLY WHY THE DEATH PENALTY CAN'T WORK

Innocent people could be executed.

Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, people who protest its use have cried these immortal words in their fierce arguments. And, ultimately, their cries have been ignored. Police, prosecutors, federal judges and lawmakers all swear that the system will not allow an innocent person to be executed.

Well, we all know that’s a load of rubbish, isn’t it?

The system always has, and always will have, flaws. No system can ever be perfect. Human nature will always mean that so called ‘evidence’ is lied about, exaggerated, fabricated or just ignored completely in the hunt for justice. And where the death penalty is applied, this presents a deadly problem. What if we kill the wrong guy…?

In an earlier post, ‘The Innocence Appeal’, I have already given you indisputable proof that mistakes can and do happen. Remember, if you will, the case of Ron Williamson, who came within 5 days of execution at one point during his wrongful stint on death row in the infamous McAlester prison in Oklahoma. Outside of the US (and I apologize that most of my attention focuses on this country), think about a man called Kravchenko in Russia, who was executed in 1984 for a crime committed by another man, who by this point had killed at least 16 more times. Mistakes happen. Even the most adamant supporter can’t deny this when the facts are right in front of them. Right?

So why do we still take the chance?

Let’s step back for a second. Both of those cases are from the ‘80’s, when forensics was nowhere near the standard it is today. DNA testing was practically unheard of.
So today, in this age when TV shows like CSI make it look so very easy, it’s less likely we’ll make mistakes. You’d think, wouldn’t you? But that nasty little thing called Human Error still applies. Even if every responsible party tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (and how often does that happen?), things can still take a wrong turn in the course of justice, and turn they do.

Thus was the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. He had been found guilty of starting the fire which killed his 3 daughters in his home in Corsicana, Texas, in 1991, and was subsequently executed on February 17th 2004. This case is very important to me because my group, along with activists all over the US, screamed from early on he was innocent, as has now been proven. Willingham was not guilty of the arson for which he was put to death for.

And, as we all know and hate, the death penalty means that this horrendous miscarriage of justice can never be put right.

The New Yorker magazine ran an in-depth article on the case on September 7th of this year, written by journalist David Grann. The article quoted 3 separate reports from fire experts. All the evidence that was used to support the arson case was flawed.

Willingham was put to death in February of 2004, but as early as January of that year a fire scientist had examined the evidence and written a report concluding that the investigation was based on the old favorite, ‘junk science’. He concluded Willingham was innocent a month before he was executed. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles didn’t even look at the report. The Governor, Rick Perry, later rejected the inmate’s application for clemency. The judge, the Board, and Governor had all been presented the report, but it did not change a damn thing. Even though everybody thought he was possibly, even probably, innocent, he was nonetheless executed.

Barry Scheck, the co-director of Innocence Project, had this to say about the matter:

“There can no longer be any doubt that an innocent person has been executed. The
question now turns to how we can stop it from happening again.”

I’d like to mention something very interesting I just realized. Aforementioned Barry Scheck also had a hand in the exonerations of innocent men Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. It’s funny how things tie together like that sometimes. But back to the case at hand.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty has launched a campaign called Shouting from the Rooftops, aimed to inform the public that the existence of capital punishment can and does result in innocent citizens being put to death. The NCADP are calling on the public to get informed. If you’re reading this and understanding its message, I feel I have fulfilled some of that obligation. Now it’s your turn to get involved too. Spread the word. Shout Willingham’s name from the rooftops if that’s what it takes. Because the American justice system is, in my opinion, just as dangerous as the people it puts to death.

I realize this post has been a little exhaustive. But it’s a case I’m very passionate about because it’s the thing that many of us have been prophesying about for years. So I leave you now with two things, and I want you to think hard about the both of them. The first is the name Cameron Todd Willingham. Remember that name, because that man is dead, innocent, and nothing can ever change that.

The second thing is a number. 135 to be exact. As in the 135 American death row inmates who have been exonerated and freed since 1973. 135 who could possibly have been innocent and executed.

And if Cameron Todd Willingham was innocent when the state of Texas executed him, how many more have to die before we kill the death penalty for good?

THE LETHAL INJECTION LIE

Since 1977, lethal injection has increasingly become America’s favorite method of execution. Hailed by its supporters as ‘humane’ and supposedly such a cheap methodology of legal murder, it has made all other methods practically obsolete.

But is it so humane after all?

I, of course, am prone to disagree. The very idea of execution seems inhumane to me. Some people, though, don’t think this however.

But now I have science on my side.

First, let’s look at the electric chair. The chair was brought in because it was seen as more humane than existing methods. (Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?).

Over time, it became clear that the chair wasn’t humane at all. Fair enough, it’s not quite how it’s often portrayed in the movies. The fingers splay, the body bucks forward a little and strains against the restraints, and then the body slumps back and the inmate in question is dead.

However, things often went horribly wrong. The condemned would often receive severe burns on the skin around the straps. There are cases of flames erupting from the cap and of sudden nosebleeds sending blood spilling down the condemned man’s chest. Witnesses always commented on a distinct stench of burning flesh.

And so lethal injection gradually overtook the chair in the race to execute as many people as possible. In most states, the lethal injection is comprised of three chemicals injected in sequence to prevent precipitation. The first, sodium thiopental, is considered as an ultra-short-acting bromide and is effective as an anesthesia for just a few minutes. The next, pancuronium bromide (marketed as Pavulon), works by paralyzing the skeletal muscles without affecting the nerves or brain. This makes the individual unable to move or speak. (Note: in Tennessee, it’s actually a crime for veterinarians to use this drug to euthanize pets, because it does not actually cause unconsciousness but simply gives the impression of serenity). The final drug in the sequence, potassium chloride, stops the heart. Death is caused by cardiac arrest. However, this drug would cause excruciating pain if the individual was not properly anaesthetized.

But the lethal injection is human, right? Witnesses at an execution watch an inmate become drowsy, unconscious, stop moving and then stop living. They look peaceful, tranquil, serene. The witnesses leave thinking that the lethal injection was, indeed, just too good for them.

But is it?

Let’s look back. The anesthetic, sodium thiopental, wears off after just a few minutes. On average, it takes several minutes to die from lethal injection – although in some cases it’s been known to take up to two hours, which only adds fuel to this fire. So when the sodium thiopental wears off, the inmate in question regains consciousness. However, by this point they have already been injected by pancuroniun bromide and are thus unable to move or speak at all! This means that they are PERFECTLY CONSCIOUS but UNABLE TO MOVE OR SPEAK AT ALL when they are injected by the final drug, which causes EXCRUCIATING PAIN!

According to the testimony of Dr. Mark J. S. Heath who teaches anesthesiology at Columbia, the effect of this ‘cocktail’ is “that the sodium thiopental can be inadequate or wear off…” leaving “ the prisoner conscious, paralyzed, suffocating and subject to extreme pain from the potassium chloride.”

And according to Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle “The subject gives all the appearances of a serene expiration when actually the subject is feeling and perceiving the excruciatingly painful ordeal of death by lethal injection… The Pavulon gives a false impression of serenity to viewers, making punishment by death more palatable and acceptable to society”.

To conclude, lethal injection looks a pleasant way to die for the viewers and the supporters but in reality it is a dreadfully painful experience which in no way can be perceived as ‘humane’.

Thus concludes the lethal injection lie. It looks pretty to society but is perhaps the most brutal thing that could be done to another human being.

Makes one wonder why the hell there are still men on death row right now in a country that forbids cruel and unusual punishment. Take a stand. Help stop this madness.

AN EYE FOR AN EYE?

The burning of the house of the offender is not a permissible punishment for arson. The rape of the offender is not a permissible punishment of a rapist. Why should murder be a permissible punishment for murder?
- Justice Ismail Mahomed, S v Makwanyane, 6 June 1995

There are a few things I’d like to talk about here so bear with me.

Okay. So, in theory, the death penalty is a just and accurate punishment for murder. The taking of a life results in the taking of the offender’s life. Fair, yeah?
So, by that logic, why don’t we rape the rapists then? Why don’t we take the arsonists out to their homes and watch them squirm as we set them alight? Why don’t we beat the living daylights out of people who commit assault, and why not take the kidnappers and lock them in the trunk of a car for a few weeks while we’re at it?
You see, that’s absurd. It’s unfeasible. It’s completely ridiculous.
Then why do we still murder the murderers???
Fair enough, murder is probably the worst crime you can possibly commit. So, supporters of it might say that it is the most extreme punishment for the most extreme of crimes. Okay, I’ll go along with that for the time being.
But by that logic, why are only some murders punished by death and others by life, or less, even? That doesn’t sound very fair to me. Who gets the honor of deciding who lives and who dies? (Again, we’re touching on hypocrisy here but I’ll let it pass – I’m hypothetically agreeing that it’s suitable for the time being).
Let me put this into a scenario that is easier to digest.
Okay, speeding. Let’s say that in one month the police caught 100 people going over the speed limit. But they only gave 50 of the people a ticket. The other fifty got prison time. All 100 were breaking the same law, doing something equally as wrong, but some were punished differently than others.
That’s not fair. But that’s how the death penalty works.
You see, the states couldn’t possibly execute every single murderer that walked through the prison doors. For one, there would be a nationwide outcry. Touching back on cost, it would just not be feasible.
So only some get death. Others don’t.
And it gets worse. You might say ‘okay, so punish the really bad murders with death and the not-so-bad ones with life’. But it doesn’t work like that.
One case that I was really fascinated by was the case of two men who broke into a house with the intent of robbing the place. Midway through the robbery, the owner of the house woke up and came to see what was happening. One of the burglars drew a gun and shot the man dead. When the case went to court, this man received a life sentence. The other man – the man who did not even touch the gun, and murdered nobody – received a death verdict and was executed. *
Ironic, huh?
What I’m trying to say here, and I know I reached this point through a lot of rambling and hypothetical’s, but the death penalty is not in the slightest bit ‘just’. We are not even just taking an eye for an eye, which is a hypocritical nightmare in itself – it’s more like we are taking one eye for every ten, and sometimes we’re even taking an eye for an eye taken by someone else.
I’ll end on a quote from Ghandi I think. ‘An eye for an eye makes us ALL blind’. If we just keep on gouging, then God help us all.

*Note: This was not a case of wrongful imprisonment; this was a true case tried under felony murder.

THE COST OF LIFE

‘The California death penalty system costs taxpayers $114 million per year beyond the costs of keeping convicts locked up for life.
Taxpayers have paid more than $250 million for each of the state’s executions.’
- L.A. Times, March 6, 2005

It is complete fiction that executing a criminal is cheaper than life imprisonment. In Texas alone, a death penalty case costs on average $2.3 MILLION – about THREE TIMES MORE than the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 YEARS.
With the economy the way it is at the moment, we have better things to spend our money on than legal murder. Our taxes should be being spent on more important things, like education, crime prevention, victim services... All of these things compete with death penalty cases for funds.

So why is capital punishment so damn expensive?

Most people who are facing the death penalty can’t afford their own attorney and so the state must assign them public defenders, which costs money. And that’s on top of the costs of the prosecution. There are also pre-trial costs because capital cases are way more complicated than normal cases so a lot of the time experts have to be hired to testify about things like forensic evidence and mental health issues in defendants. Experts costs money. And then there is the jury selection. Jury selection takes a lot more time and money in capital cases due to the death penalty question.

All of this is on top of the trial itself! Death Penalty trials often last a very long time, sometimes up to 4 times longer than normal trials and so jury members and attorneys must be compensated. And, of course, court personal must be paid, and so on.

And the costs keep building up once the inmate is handed his death sentence. The death row unit of a prison involve solitary confinement in a special facility which requires more security, etc. as inmates are in the cells for 23 hours of the day.

Perhaps most expensive is the appeals. Every inmate is entitled to a series of appeals. They are really important because some inmates have come within hours of execution before evidence was uncovered proving their innocence. Very few wave this right. Taxpayers pay for these appeals.

In conclusion, the death penalty costs the taxpayers a fortune! So why are we paying for the state to commit legal murder? SAY NO TO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT!

Thanks to ScofieldBurrows for researching this article

New Jersey murder rates drop after abolition of death penalty

I just got sent some really interesting info that I hope you enjoy.

The state of New Jersey instituted a moratorium abolishing the death penalty in that state in 2006. The next year, the murder rate had dropped by 11%. The rate continued to decline in 2008, making it the first time that New Jersey had seen a drop in murders for two consecutive years since 1999. And in the first six months of this year, 2009, the number of murders declined by 24% compared to the same period last year.

New Jersey was the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty since the 1960’s. In the first six months of this year, the overall statewide homicide rate was down every month as compared to the same month in ’08 and the broader category of violent crime also went down in the last 2 years.

In my opinion, this proves that the death penalty doesn’t work as a deterrent and that its abolition can be exceedingly beneficial to the people.

THE INNOCENCE APPEAL

Dennis Fritz and Ron Williamson, innocent men exonerated in 1999

The most prominent arguement that I can think of against the death penalty is that, should an innocent person be executed, that mistake can never be made right.

Supporters of the death penalty will say that, what with forensic science the way it is now, the likelihood of this happening is not even worth bothering about. But I tell you this is WRONG!

There are documented cases of such mistakes.



Case 1: On December 22nd 1978, a young girl was murdered in Russia. She would become the first victim of Andrei Chikatilo, the infamous ‘red ripper’. However, an innocent man called Kravchenko was found guilty of the murder – despite being only twenty-five when a witness to the murder reported the suspect as being ‘middle-aged’. Kravchenko was executed in 1984. By this point, the real murderer had killed at least sixteen more times.



Case 2: In 1982, a 21 year old cocktail waitress was abused and murdered in the town of Ada, Oklahoma. After five years, the police were no closer to solving the case so, for reasons that are still not clear, they suspected two men – Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. The two men were charged with capital murder in 1987. A case was built against them based on junk science and the phony testimonies of crooks and jailhouse snitches. Somehow, miraculously, the prosecution gained two guilty verdicts. Fritz – whose guilt was even less fathomable than Williamson’s – received a life sentence. Williamson was sent to death row.

Luckily, in this case, justice prevailed – however, it did not happen nearly as fast as it should have. Both men spent about ten years in prison for another man’s murder! At one point, Williamson came within 5 days of the needle! What’s worse is that the state of Oklahoma even attempted to execute a man as insane as Ron. The good news is that both men were exonerated in 1999, but this case demonstrates perfectly that we have a flawed system, and a flawed system will kill innocent men!

(Thank you to ScofieldBurrows for her tireless effort in researching and writing up these case files!)

Hey there and welcome to the official blogspot of Death Watch; Stardoll. Together we can stop this dangerous and cruel act from continuing!