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The Death Penalty
in Virginia and
Meryarrm Catholic Social Teaching
Souacee February 26, 2013
Virginia Military Institute
Lexington
Historical Background on
Virginia & the Death Penalty
In 1892, after a white girl said she had been accosted by a
black man wearing rubber boots, a mob grabbed the first
black man they found with rubber boots on and hanged
him near Wasena Bridge.
The next year, Roanoke's mayor called in the state militia to
stop another mob from lynching a black man accused of
assault. Eight died in the ensuing gunfire. The clashes
continued until police handed Thomas Smith over to the
rabble. Smith was proved innocent after his death.
Horrors repeated in 1904, when a white woman and her daughter were brutally
attacked in their home by a black stranger. Whites believed black residents were
harboring the killer and went on rampages based on rumors, in one instance tying
an innocent black man to a telephone pole and lashing the screaming victim with
electric wires. The vitriol didn't subside until Henry Williams was arrested, convicted
and executed by hanging in the Roanoke jail yard.
Historical Background on
Virginia & the Death Penalty
Roanoke's racial climate was typical in the South.
"During this era, both lynchings and executions
typically drew large crowds of spectators," said
Ted DeLaney, associate professor of history at
Washington and Lee University. "There were
executions and lynchings in other parts of the
South that drew crowds as large as 3,000.
Sometimes public schools would close so children
could be present."
— "Roanoke's last public execution," Roanoke Times
(June 14, 2007)
Death Penalty States
~ 32
Alabama Louisiana South Carolina
Arizona Mississippi South Dakota
Arkansas Missouri Tennessee
California Montana Texas
Colorado Nebraska Utah
Delaware Nevada Virginia
Florida New Hampshire Washington
Georgia North Carolina Wyoming
Idaho Ohio
Indiana Oklahoma
Kansas Oregon U.S. Government
Kentucky Pennsylvania U.S. Military
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
Death Penalty States (blue)
Executions by State Since 1976
As of October 16, 2012
Mississippi 21
Indiana 20
Delaware 16
California 13
Illinois 12
Nevada 12
Utah 7
Tennessee 6
Maryland 5
Washington 5
Nebraska 3
Pennsylvania 3
Kentucky 3
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
States With Most Executions (red)
Death Row Prisoners by State
As of April 1, 2012
South Carolina 56
Mississippi 53
Missouri 47
Arkansas 40
Oregon 37
Kentucky 35
Delaware 18
Idaho 14
Indiana 14
Virginia 12
Nebraska 11
Connecticut 11
Kansas 10
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012] using data from
the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Death Row USA (April 1, 2012).
Complexity of the Death Penalty
e U.S. Supreme Court outlawed capital
punishment in 1972 (Furman v. Georgia)
— Inconsistent application of the DP
— Racial disparities in the DP
¢ Revised state laws approved by the U.S.
Supreme Court in 1976 (Gregg v. Georgia)
— Implemented two stage trail process
— Aggravating & mitigating factors
Procedural Safeguards in DP Cases
State Habeas Corpus
Petition to
Supreme Court
of Virginia
If granted (rare),
Hearing with the
Circuit Court
Decision by the
Virginia Supreme
Court
The Hebrew Scripture
Whoever takes the life of any human being
shall be put to death;
whoever takes the life of an animal shall
make restitution of another animal. A life
for a life! Anyone who inflicts an injury on
his neighbor shall receive the same in
return.
Limb for limb, eye for eye, tooth for tooth!
The same injury that a man gives another
shall be inflicted on him in return.
- Leviticus 24: 17-19
The Hebrew Scripture
Despite the Law’s insistence on
“plood for blood,” God
allowed Cain to live after
killing Abel and chose two
killers to play prominent roles
in salvation history:
— Moses (Exodus 2:12)
- David (2 Samuel 11: 14-15)
The New Testament
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a
woman who had been caught in adultery and
made her stand in the middle.
They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was
caught in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to
stone such women. So what do you say?”
They said this to test him, so that they could
have some charge to bring against him. Jesus
bent down and began to write on the ground
with his finger.
But when they continued asking him, he
straightened up and said to them, “Let the
one among you who is without sin be the first
to throw a stone at her.”
— John 8: 3-9
The New Testament
When they came to the place
called the Skull, they
crucified him and the
criminals there, one on his
right, the other on his left.
Then Jesus said, “Father,
forgive them, they know not
what they do.”
— Luke 23: 33-34
The New Testament
Despite Saul’s murderous
persecution against the early
Christians, God chose him to
become the greatest
evangelist in church history,
St. Paul:
— Acts 22: 20
— Acts 26: 9-11
— Acts 9: 1-19
Church Teaching
¢ 1972: Catholic Bishops of Florida express
their opposition to the death penalty
¢ 1976: U.S. Catholic Conference declares its
opposition to capital punishment
¢ 1976: Pontifical Commission for Justice and
Peace opposes the death penalty
¢ 1980: U.S. Bishops adopt a Statement on
Capital Punishment
Pope John Paul Il,
Evangelium Vitae (1995)
Where life is involved, the service
of charity must be profoundly
consistent. It cannot tolerate
bias and discrimination, for
human life is sacred and
inviolable at every stage and
in every situation; it isan
indivisible good.
We need then to “show care” for
all life and for the life of
everyone.
Pope John Paul Il,
Evangelium Vitae (1995)
It is clear that, for these purposes to be
achieved, the nature and extent of the
punishment must be carefully
evaluated and decided upon, and ought
not go to the extreme of executing the
offender except in cases of absolute
necessity: in other words, when it
would not be possible otherwise to
defend society.
Today however, as a result of steady
improvements in the organization of
the penal system, such cases are very
rare, if not practically non-existent.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Assuming that the guilty party's identity and
responsibility have been fully determined,
the traditional teaching of the Church does
not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if
this is the only possible way of effectively
defending human lives against the unjust
aggressor.
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to
defend and protect people's safety from the
aggressor, authority will limit itself to such
means, as these are more in keeping with the
concrete conditions of the common good and
more in conformity with the dignity of the
human person.
Problems with the death penalty
DETERRENCE
STOP
e According to a survey of the former and present presidents of the
country’s top academic criminological societies, 88% of these experts
rejected the notion that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder.
(Radelet & Lacock, 2009)
« Areport by the National Research Council, titled Deterrence and the
Death Penalty, stated that studies claiming that the death penalty has a
deterrent effect on murder rates are “fundamentally flawed” and should
not be used when making policy decisions (2012).
¢ Consistent with previous years, the 2010 FBI Uniform Crime Report
showed that the South had the highest murder rate. The South accounts
for over 80% of executions. The Northeast, which has less than 1% of all
executions, tied with the West for the lowest murder rate.
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
Problems with the death penalty
COST
A study revealed that the cost of the death penalty in California
has been over $4 billion since 1978. Study considered pre-trial
and trial costs, costs of automatic appeals and state habeas
corpus petitions, costs of federal habeas corpus appeals, and
costs of incarceration on death row. (Alarcon & Mitchell, 2011).
¢ In Maryland, an average death penalty case resulting in a death sentence costs
approximately $3 million. The eventual costs to Maryland taxpayers for cases pursued
1978-1999 will be $186 million. Five executions have resulted. (Urban Institute, 2008).
¢ In Kansas, the costs of capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-
capital cases, including the costs of incarceration. (Kansas Performance Audit Report,
December 2003).
¢ Enforcing the death penalty costs Florida $51 million a year above what it would cost
to punish all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole. Based on the 44
executions Florida had carried out since 1976, that amounts to a cost of $24 million for
each execution. (Palm Beach Post, January 4, 2000).
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
Problems with the death penalty
GEOGRAPHIC DISPARITIES
@ South
m Midwest
m West
m Northeast
mTX&VA
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
Problems with the death penalty:
THE FACES OF INNOCENCE [AMI \\(@]@ 4 )\1 @
¢ Since 1973, 141 people
have been released from
death row with evidence
of their innocence.
¢ These innocents spent an
average of 9.8 years on
Bi 2 SRE Fae death row, for a total of
719, Sale Late (> 1,382 years.
D P DEATH PENALTY
I C INFORMATION CENTER
Problems with the death penalty
KILLERS AS STARS
¢ Capital cases put the focus on killers instead of
the friends & family members of their victims
¢ The mandatory appeals keep the killer’s photo
and story in front of the public for many years.
¢ The many appeals force family members of
victims to relive the trauma over & over again.
Daughter of a slain state trooper speaks
Having spent my entire life without my dad, I was
angry and had wanted his killers executed.
But over time, after | saw how the death penalty
system actually works, my feelings on the
issue changed.
What I’ve discovered is a legal process that no murder victim’s family
should have to endure. We already have been through enough.
We deserve better than a system that forces us to go through long
trials and endless appeals. The death penalty focuses an incredible
amount of attention on the killers, which makes victims’ families
relive the painful details of a murder over and over.
At one time | believed that the death penalty would benefit people
like my mother and me, but in reality nothing could be further
from the truth.
Problems with the death penalty
Collateral Damage
Few people consider the impact of capital punishment on
a wide range of people who are part of the system:
- Prosecutors
Defense attorneys
Judges and jurors
Family members of death row inmates
Wardens and corrections officers
Executioners (like Jerry Givens in the photo above)
Former Georgia death row guard reflects
I tried to be professional, but some officers didn't
do that or didn't care. ...
The coldness stuck with me throughout the years.
The state had a psychologist talk to the
inmates, but the staff didn't have anyone to
talk to. They didn't think it was an issue and |
still hold a grudge against them for that. .
[Death row inmate Roosevelt] Green stuck his hand through the jail bars,
shook my hand and apologized for any problems he’d caused during his
time at the prison. He looked right in my eyes.
Later, | saw the hearse go by and it was a strange feeling. | never got used to
it... taking the men to the holding cell, then seeing the hearse pass by
after that. In many ways, we were the only friends these men had in the
end. ...
| will say this: | don’t believe that when we execute a person that it’s the same
person who committed that crime. | do believe people can change.
Former Virginia Executioner
! 1 worked as a prison guard saving lives most of
the time. But when! took on the role of
executioner, | had to become a Killer. ...
The Earl Washington case [who was exonerated by
DNA evidence in 1993] shook my faith in the
justice system. | came within days of putting an
innocent man to death..
If | execute an innocent person, I’m no better than the people on death row.
The people who pass these [death penalty] bills, they don’t have to doit. The
people who do the executions, they’re the ones who suffer through it. ...
I still wonder whether there were any innocents among the 62 that | executed.
The only thing | can do is pray to God to forgive me if | did. But |do know
this — | will never do it again.
Six Former Executioners Speak Out
While most of the prisoners whose executions we
participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes
for which they were punished, some of us have also
executed prisoners who maintained their innocence
until the end. It is those cases that are most haunting
to an executioner.
Living with the nightmares is something that we know from experience. No one
has the right to ask a public servant to take on a lifelong sentence of nagging
doubt, and for some of us, shame and guilt.
Should our justice system be causing so much harm to so many people when
there is an alternative?
— Allen Ault — Retired Warden, Georgia Diagnostic & Classifications Prison
— Terry Collins — Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
— Ron McAndrew - Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
— Dennis O’Neill - Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
— Reginald Wilkinson — Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
— Jeanne Woodford — Retired Warden, San Quentin State Prison
But the tide is
turning against
the death
penalty.
More States Considering DP Abolition
Number of Executions Since 1976
Total of 1,309
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
Executions by Year Since 1976
98
85
74
7
68
66 65
60
2
| | Hl om
o Jo o °*
SSSSSRERRERRERRRBRBRESCRBRBERBSERBSERBBRBERBERBE
sleas8 2888 8888 28828 88288 8S SSscseserseeseesrsss
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
+102
Number of Death Sentences
By Year
Death Sentences in the U.S.
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012] based on data
from the Bureau of Justice Statistics: Capital Punishment, 2010” plus DPIC research.
Public Opinion on the Death Penalty
A 2010 poll by Lake Research Partners found that
a clear majority of voters (61%) would choose a punishment
other than the death penalty for murder.
@ Life without parole plus
restitution
m Death penalty
@ Life without parole
@ Life with parole
m= No opinion
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
Virginia Catholic Conference
http://www.vacatholic.org/
With Virginia’s life-without-parole
sentence and modern incarceration
system, that protection is provided.
The life-sentence alternative is
unique in its ability to protect state
residents while upholding the dignity
of every person, even the one
convicted of a brutal crime.
Accordingly, we are convinced that — in our time and place — the
death penalty is unnecessary and inappropriate, and that death
sentences should no longer be imposed or carried out in Virginia.
— Virginia Catholic Bishops (2007)
Virginians for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty
http://www.vadp.org/
Ending the Death
/ Penalty through
Education,
VIRGINIANS FOR Sraanicine
ALTERNATIVES rganizing
TO THE DEATH PENALTY Advocacy
VADP leaders work closely with the
Virginia Catholic Conference
