1. Staten Island Advance, August 3, 2007.

Our Civilized Society Ought To Reject Temptation to Impose Death Penalty

To the editor:

This is in response to the July 18 article by Advance staff writer John Annese on the pressure being brought to bear to reinstate the death penalty in New York state, or, alternatively, to have the federal government prosecute cases because it can impose the death penalty.

I have also read some of the pain-filled letters crying out for us to kill the killers of heroic loved ones. These feelings are understandable. One of the early stages of grief involves anger and the urge to lash out. We, as a civilized society, just can’t afford to give in to that urge. We, as Americans, still seem to admire the old Wild West, where justice was dispensed swiftly by vigilantes with bullets or a rope. That was a lawless society. We are supposed to be a nation ruled by laws.

I am not very religious, but I seem to recall that the man with whom God entrusted the Ten Commandments was a murderer. That was why he couldn’t enter the Promised Land, although he led his people to it. I am not a pacifist either, but except in very special cases, I think that life and death should be left to God. Human beings can’t be expected to put aside politics and judge dispassionately. Pain, rage and the desire for revenge can’t be kept out of the balance. It is considered self-defense to kill someone who is threatening your life, but apprehended prisoners are no longer a threat. That Sixth Commandment is still: “Thou shalt not kill.”

- Joy Robins

2. Poughkeepsie Journal, May 18, 2007

Death Penalty Won't Stop Officer Deaths

To the editor:

Several peace officers recently lost their lives in the line of duty. These were horrible crimes. The events anger and frustrate me, but a renewed proposal to bring back the death penalty in New York state is not the solution.

The death penalty is not a deterrent, as some people might think. It may have the opposite effect; it may actually influence a few to commit violent crimes.

I worked for the New York State Department of Correctional Services for 42 years, the last 20 as superintendent of several prisons, including Sing Sing and Downstate. My first job in New York was as a counselor at Sing Sing in 1953. During my first two-and-a-half years, there were 20 executions.

There are many factors related to what motivates a person to commit a horrible crime. One factor is that some offenders think they are insignificant; they are “nobodies.” But when they commit a horrible crime and receive the death penalty, and their names and pictures are on the front pages of all the newspapers, they become “somebodies.”

The criminal justice system is not perfect. Mistakes are made and innocent people have been sent to prison and even executed. The death penalty is barbaric and irreversible. It is also likely to affect a disproportionate number of minorities, who often lack legal representation. Twelve of the last 13 executions in New York involved black offenders.

The death penalty may satisfy a need for revenge; it does not prevent murders.

- Stephen Dalshelm, retired Superintendent
New York State Department of Correctional Services, Wappingers Falls

3. Original publication: May 20, 2007 The Journal News

Failing To Protect Wrongfully Convicted

To the editor:

Prior to the vote on the death penalty bill for cop-killers on Monday, the state Senate minority proposed an amendment to the bill that would improve the collection and retention of DNA evidence; provide access to testing of that evidence to those seeking to prove their innocence; require videotaping of all interrogations; and implement eyewitness identification reform. These are the minimal steps recommended by the Innocence Project to lessen the likelihood of wrongful convictions.

Every Senate member who voted for the bill voted against the amendment. New York has the dubious distinction of leading the nation, with Texas, in wrongful convictions. Almost all of the eight New York murder exonerations in the past two years were exposed years after the appeals had run out. When a death sentence is given, it carried out after the final appeal is denied. How dare our senators not protect their own constituents?

- Laura Porter
Chappaqua

4. New York Daily News, May 16, 2007

Kill The Death Penalty

To the editor:

The refusal of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to revive the death penalty is totally justified, after six innocent men in 13 months have been found in state prisons, some serving almost 20 years after their wrongful convictions. It is immoral that the Senate and Assembly would consider bills to restore capital punishment that do nothing to address the possibility of the death of innocents. Rather than seeking political points with the death penalty, why don't our representatives give cops higher salaries?

- Colleen Eren
New Hyde Park, L.I.

5. Albany Times-Union, Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Police Deaths Used As Excuse To Play Politics

To the editor:

I am writing in support of Fred LeBrun's column on the knee-jerk reaction to bring back the death penalty. It’s hard for me to comprehend the reasoning for bringing back the death penalty to coincide with the death of police officers. The timing can easily be interpreted to coincide more with politics than with actual issues, for if they were so important then why would it take a death to bring it to the table?

My 16-year-old nephew, Gerry Jones, was stabbed to death on the streets of Troy back in 1989 so I know full well the devastation that murder creates, the ripple effects of pain and suffering by collateral victims like my brother, myself and our entire family.

At the same time, I wonder how we as a society think that we have the power to place value on one person’s life over another. While my nephew was not a law enforcement officer, he was killed while he was trying to help someone else who had been a victim of crime. Again, who are we to try to place value on one life over another and then try to use that estimation of value to back up killing someone else?

- Sharon Witbeck
Nassau

6. Catholic Courier, Rochester, August 1, 2007

Fight Bill On Death Penalty

To the editor:

A legislative summer storm stirred up [when] New York State Senator Serphin Maltese of Queens managed to win a majority vote in the Senate for the restoration of the death penalty in the Empire State, especially to those who kill law enforcement officers. The Cherish Life Circle, an anti-death penalty group in Senator Maltese’s district has taken the Senator to task.

Senator Maltese’s proposal goes against the teachings of the Catholic Church and ignores the commandment: Thou shalt not kill. No one, neither individual nor state, has the right to kill. To deny this is to accept irrationality. Our laws do not allow us to rob the robber or rape the rapist. Why should they allow us to kill the killer? Are we not called to a higher standard of behavior than that of those whom we condemn?

The late Pope John Paul II clarified the Catholic Church’s official teaching by insisting that the only time the government can take a life is when there is no other way to prevent the killer from killing again. Life in prison without parole satisfies that condition insofar as it is humanly possible to do so. The European Union, composed of the nations from which many of our ancestors came, denies membership to any country that has a death penalty. It would exclude, for example, China, Iraq and the United States.

The struggle in New York state could erupt anywhere and so, The Cherish Life Circle urges prayer and conversation around this divisive issue. Those in agreement with their position would do well to let their elected representatives know that they want no killing done in their name and at taxpayers’ expense.

- Sister Camille D’Arienzo, RSM
NYS Steering Committee Against the Death Penalty

EDITOR’S NOTE: Sister D'Arienzo indicated that the letter also is supported by the following: John and Roseanne Cleary; Sister Colleen Colbert, OP; Robert Lohrey; Sister Mary O’Connor, RSM; Nancy Peck; Rev. Michael Perry; Sister Kathleen Quinn, RSM; Louise Simon; Jean Smith; and Rev. Joseph Towle.