Moratorium on the Death Penalty

Resolution Adopted by the Democratic State Committee --  May 4, 2001

 

            WHEREAS, in September 1995, New York re-instituted the death penalty as an

 appropriate punishment for certain homicide crimes; and 

            WHEREAS, since that time, many groups have identified serious flaws and  omissions in New York’s death penalty legislation and questioned whether the

 law could be administered with fairness and consistency and without risk to the innocent, and many other groups have called for the abolition of the death penalty; and 

            WHEREAS, events subsequent to the enactment of New York’s death penalty law, including developments in DNA testing which has called into question evidence used to convict defendants sentenced to death, have demonstrated clearly that the death penalty has been imposed on innocent people, minors, the developmentally disabled, and mentally ill individuals in other states; and 

            WHEREAS, in June 2000, a study entitled "A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases 1973-1995," authored by James S. Liebman, Jeffrey Fagan and Valerie West determined that appellate review of death sentences had found reversible error in 68% of these sentences; that in 82% of the cases re-tried after reversal, a death sentence was not issued, and that in 7% of the re-tried cases, the defendant was found not guilty; and 

            WHEREAS, a September 12, 2000 United States Department of Justice report entitled "The Federal Death Penalty System – A Statistical Survey (1998-2000)" determined that 72% of the defendants against whom the Attorney General approved the seeking of a death sentence were non-white, and that 80% of the federal defendants sentenced to death were non-white; and 

            WHEREAS, on January 31, 2000, the State of Illinois suspended executions

 because thirteen people on death row were been found to be actually innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted, due, in part, to recent developments in DNA testing; and 

            WHEREAS, on March 25, 2001, the Maryland House of Delegates voted to impose a two-year moratorium on executions while the State completed a study on

whether the death penalty was fairly imposed in Maryland; and 

            WHEREAS, on March 31, 2001, the New York State Bar Association House of

 Delegates — the governing body of the State Bar whose delegates reside throughout this State — approved a moratorium on executions pending further study of the processes by which the death penalty is implemented in New York and across the country, 

            IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED THAT, the New York State Democratic Committee calls upon the executive and legislative branches of New York State government to enact and adopt legislation imposing a moratorium on executions. 

            This resolution was written by Elizabeth Starkey & Jonathan Bing, adopted by the Manhattan Caucus and the Reform Caucus of the NY Democratic State Committee, and adopted at the meeting of the Democratic State Committee in Albany, NY on May 4, 2001.

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