The Death Penalty in
Virginia and Religious
Teachings on
Capital Punishment
May 14, 2013
Charlottesville Clergy & Laity
United for Justice & Peace
By Michael Stone National Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty
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.
cash — in the ensuing gunfire. iia
ere til police ha
Horrors repeated He aia iy
daughter were bru pO
stranger. Whites belte Beat Be ae sS AD oe ack 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)
Ss
“eath Penalty States
“
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
32
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New
Hampshire
North
Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
vania
Penn f
SOURCE: Death Penalty ieey enter Fact
South
Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Wyoming
U.S.
Government
sheet epeMl lita ry
Death Penalty
States (blue)
Executions by State Since 1976
Texas
Virginia
Oklahoma
Florida
Missouri
Alabama
Georgia
Ohio
North
Carolina
South
Carolina
Arizona
Louisiana
Arkansas
As of October 16, 2012
Mississipp
i
Indiana
Delaware
California
Illinois
Nevada
Utah
Tennessee
Maryland
Washingto
n
Nebraska
Pennsylva
hia
Montana
U.S.
Government
Idaho
Oregon
South
Dakota
New Mexico
Colorado
Wyoming
Connecticut
TOTAL
PREP NN WWW
=
Ww
°
ie)
SOURCE: Death PenKigmtenoktyn Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
Death Row Prisoners by State
As of April 1, 2012
California 724 South 56 Utah 9
Florida 407 Carolina 53 Washington 9
Texas 308 Mississippi 47 U.S. 6
Pennsylvania 204 Missouri 40 Military 5
Alabama 200 Arkansas 37 Maryland 5
N. Carolina 165 Oregon 35 South 4
Ohio 150 Kentucky 18 Dakota 2
Arizona 132 Delaware 14 Colorado 2
Georgia 100 Idaho 14 Montana 1
Louisiana 90 Indiana 12 New Mexico 1
Tennessee 88 Virginia 11 Wyoming
Nevada 80 Nebraska 11 New 3,17
U.S. 60 Connecticu.§ 10 Hampshire (0)
Government t
SOURCE: Death PendtASABtion Center Fact shIATAber 16, 2012]
using data from
the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Death Row USA (April 1, 2012).
Complexity of the Death
Penalty
° 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
ABP Cacecae
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 “blood 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 4 Ks
chose him to become the |
greatest evangelist in
church history, St. Paul:
- Acts 22: 20
- Acts 26: 9-11
- Acts 9: 1-19
{pes Religious Teachings on
Go Capital Punishment
OPPOSE
“Roman Catholic Church
«American Baptist Church
“United Methodist Church
“Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America
«Presbyterian Church USA
“Episcopal Church
“*Reformed Church in America
“*United Church of Christ
“*Eastern Orthodox Churches
* Conservative, Reform &
Reconstructionist Jewish
movements (Orthodox:
SUPPORT
" Southern Baptist Church
* Lutheran Church - MO
Synod
" National Assembly of
Evangelicals
* Islam (though strong strain of
mercy)
MIXED/NEUTRAL
¢« Assemblies of God
¢ Church of Latter Day
Saints
¢ Jehovah’s Witnesses
¢ Buddhism
moratonyy cs. The Pew Forum on Rekojama Gaeta Life and
Religious Tolerance.org
Problems with the death penalty
DETERRENCE
STOP
* 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.
(Ala reanida Mite beurat{tlddath 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
m= South
m Midwest
m West
m Northeast
eTX&VA
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
GEOGRAPHIC DISPARITIES
Top 16 Counties by Executions Since 1976,
Not Including Texas >
ann an
#11 Prince William County - 9 ae
= cal scree County - 8) #11 New Castle - 9
i] #4 St. Louis City 7 <a - og
#3 St. Louis County - 13
> S
A =
#13 Clark County - 8 m County - 13 Se ‘
#1 Oklahoma County - 38 "2
a: nn mel =< #13 Va. Beach City- 8
oK
#4 Maricopa County - 11
‘<7 #2 Tulsa County - 14 / / #13 Charleston County - 8
#4 Pima County - 11 #7 Jefferson County - 10
EN,
#7 Mobile County - 10
#7 Miami-Dade County - 10
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center web site
Problems with the death penalty
GEOGRAPHIC DISPARITIES
The Commonwealth of
Virginia is divided into 95
counties and 39 independent
cities.
* Just three of the state’s 134
political
jurisdictions account for 23%
of the
Commonwealth’s 110
executions:
> Prince William County
9
= i . =e. ..4 .§ 9 .'* JF oe
Problems with the death penalty:
E FACES i eo cee
* Since 1973, 142 people
have been released
from death row with
evidence of their
innocence.
* These innocents spent
an average of 9.8
years on death row, for
a total of 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.
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)
Daughter of a slain state trooper
speaks
Having spent my entire life without
my dad, | 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
What I’ve discoygyeshiece 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
umanrtlA hana GF nanntla lila mis matrhar ann mar
Former Georgia death row guard
reflects
| 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
[Déser Péuh hate Rd oSa f (d en stuck his hand
Ce a
Bae, during his time at the
on. 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: I don’t believe that when we execute a
person that it’s the same person who committed that
rrimoQq t+&f An halinava nannila Fan rhanna
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
if PREC ee! SAT BEERE S9%8,8' 1m, no better than the
BUsHRS Si GASeRGBL/Man to death..
The people who pass these [death penalty] bills, they
don’t have to do it. 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 I executed. The only thing I can do is pray
to God to forgive me if | did. But 1 do know this — I
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 aE
LiVghd vie thesagrans Le R2e6hAhing that we know
POH ERBEACEX WU SA2Mas 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
_ , oe ee Oy) eee ee ee eee a a, a ee a a a a ae
But the tide
is turning
against the >
death |
penalty.
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
cal
68
an 65
59 60
56
= 52
45 46
42
38 37
31 31
25
23
a
18 18
16
14
"
5
oto Bet é
a~ceinieioelese Gee eee eeeneeezeezee eS Ss S_E YS eye ype yp
SS SS 888888 88 BRBBBBEBEEBEEBEEEBEBEBEBESEBSSSSSSE
etes S28 828 FSS SSBESLSSRERSUS SSLISSRREVSBES
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
1102
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.
States with Most Death
Sentences in 2012
Florida 22
California
Texas
Pennsylvani
a
Alabama
Nevada
Ohio
Arizona
Georgia
Mississippi
NNNWWONOD
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center web site
Number of Sentences
12
10
Virginia Death Sentences, 1994 - 2012
0 v
1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center web site
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
ot ath penalty for murder.
Life without parole
plus restitution
m& Death penalty
m Life without parole
Life with parole
= No opinion
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
Virginians for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty
http://www.vadp.org/
Ending the Death
/ Penalty through
Education,
Organizing &
VIRGINIANS FOR
ALTERNATIVES
TO THE DEATH PENALTY Advocacy
VADP leaders work closely with the
Virginia Catholic Conference &
Virginia Interfaith Center on Public Policy
TX How You Can Get Involved
Gy
“Join VADP as an individual
member.
“*Ask your congregation to
support the VADP 50 for $50K
Campaign.
“*Get your faith community
involved in legislative advocacy
again the DP.
“Join the NCADP National Action
—_— @8€=—_ _
