"When Governments Kill: A Conservative Argues for Abolishing the Death Penalty"

Prominent conservative thinker Richard A. Viguerie advocates that more conservatives should be opposed to capital punishment citing it as inefficient, bureaucratic, and prone to human error at every level.

The fact is, I don’t understand why more conservatives don’t oppose the death penalty. It is, after all, a system set up under laws established by politicians (too many of whom lack principles); enforced by prosecutors (many of whom want to become politicians—perhaps a character flaw?—and who prefer wins over justice); and adjudicated by judges (too many of whom administer personal preference rather than the law).

Conservatives have every reason to believe the death penalty system is no different from any politicized, costly, inefficient, bureaucratic, government-run operation, which we conservatives know are rife with injustice. But here the end result is the end of someone’s life. In other words, it’s a government system that kills people.

Full Article Here

Newsletter Now Online

Our June 2009 newsletter is available online. Give it a read here!

New Death Penalty Documentary Proves to Be Thought-Provoking

The award-winning film "Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead" recounts the unlikely friendship of Robert Blecker, an advocate of capital punishment and Daryl Holton, a convicted murderer on death row.

While chatting with Holton in an impromptu interview, Blecker discovers to his shock that this multiple murderer not only possesses a keen legal mind and a wry sense of humor, but that Holton has declined to file any of his permitted appeals and seems to invite his own execution with a mixture of calm and even courage. The two men discover a strange philosophical kinship; the fact that Blecker fully approves of Holton’s impending death doesn’t seem to bother Holton at all.

So begins this puzzling and engrossing friendship. For the next year and a half – by phone, by mail and even the occasional visit – the condemned man who wants to die and the scholar who believes he should warily spar with one another through a roller-coaster of death-watches, postponements and court-ordered stays, all the while exploring together the meaning of mercy, justice, and the morality of the death penalty.

More about the documentary here.

New Study Says Capital Punishment Not A Deterrent

A recently published study by criminologists at Colorado-Boulder assert that executions do not produce lower homicide rates, as they shed light on the myth of capital punishment as a deterrent to crime.

The findings demonstrate an overwhelming consensus among these criminologists that the empirical research conducted on the deterrence question supports the conclusion that the death penalty does not add deterrent effects to those already achieved by long imprisonment.

Download the study here (.pdf)

DNA-Access Ruling May Have Limited Impact

The Thursday edition of the Indiana Lawyer Daily discussed the recent Supreme Court Decision of District Attorney's Office v. William G. Osborne. The 62 page opinion states that defendants do not have a constitutional right to post-conviction DNA testing. Executive Director of InCASE Will McAuliffe had this to say regarding the Supreme Court's decision:

"I look at this as a reminder to agencies and state legislatures that it's up to them to take the lead and to stay vigilant," said Will McAuliffe, executive director of the Indiana Coalition Acting to Suspend Executions. "Most states have some sort of provision allowing for defendants to petition for DNA access, so this really is reflective of the small number that don't."

Full Article Here

Indiana Execution Rate Lowest in 15 Years

One major misconception regarding capital punishment is that it represents a more affordable alternative to a life imprisonment sentence. A study commissioned by former Governor Frank O' Bannon in 2002 found, however that the exact opposite is true. The arduous time and legal proceedings associated with death penalty cases require vast financial resources from local and state government budgets.

Due to this fact, many analysts believe cost considerations are a major impetus behind Indiana's decline in executions as well as several other states. Considering the facts, is this an indication of a long-term trend or just a short term phenomenon?

Indiana has gone two years without an execution for the first time since the mid-1990s, when it put five inmates to death, and prosecutors say the decline could be a sign of things to come.

“We’re running out of death row inmates,” said Clark County Prosecutor Steven Stewart, who maintains a pro-death penalty Web site.

Full AP Article here.

2002 Columbia University Study Proves Relevant Today

In the Early Twentieth Century, the famous sociologist Max Weber devised a framework with which to view social structures and institutions. He called this process "ideal type analysis." According to Weber, this mode of thinking "is a methodological “utopia [that] cannot be found empirically anywhere in reality" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Max Weber). In the most abstract of ways, the death penalty seeks to provide retribution, serve as means of deterrence, and protect the lives of innocent bystanders. However, a 2002 study by Columbia Law Professor James Liebman and others may suggest the present system is not living up to these professed objectives. Check out the press release here at: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/00/06/lawStudy.html.

Also, check out these other websites pertaining to the issue of wrongful convictions:
http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=6&did=110
http://www.innocenceproject.org/
http://witnesstoinnocence.org/

Excited to Be A Part of the InCASE Team!

Hello,

My name is Eric Fritz and I will be the student intern here at InCASE this summer. Currently, I am a senior at Hanover College studying sociology and business. It gives me great pleasure to work with an organization seeking a reassessment of such a controversial part of our society. To help accomplish this overarching objective, I plan to utilize my business and sociological perspectives to understand both the rational and subjective considerations at play in this issue. This summer will be a very productive one as we plan to implement a strategic plan and disseminate the InCASE message to as many Hoosiers as possible. Through increased social networking, marketing, development, strategic, and educational initiatives: it is our hope that we can encourage thoughtful and collaborative discussion on the topic of capital punishment. Here's to a great summer and the continued growth of InCASE!



Eric

A Well-Spent Hour

This may be the best video I've found relating to the death penalty: Jeffrey Toobin interviewing Scott Turow about his experience on the Illinois Capital Punishment Commission. There are some brilliant points made as only a bestselling author could make them.

Death Row Exoneree Ron Keine Educates and Inspires

New Mexico Death Row exoneree Ron Keine held an audience spellbound last Thursday at First Mennonite Church as he told his story of wrongful conviction, eventual freedom, and his dedication to educating people about this cause.

He talked about his frustration with God and questioning how such a thing could happen until, that week, the true killer walked into a church and confessed to the crime of which Ron was accused.

With the belief that God gave him this experience so that he could share it with the world, Ron now travels around the country to tell his story. Through the organization Witness to Innocence, Ron joins a number of other death row exonerees to tell their story and work to educate about the realities of wrongful conviction and the practically unavoidable hazard of executing an innocent person.

As of the date of this post, 131 individuals have been wrongfully convicted and sent to death rows around the country.