I am in charge here; but why kill people for killing people?_6153
Found below at
campaign.matadordesignstudio.com/viewEmail.aspx?cID=648D4...
Re: Rhode Island and West Hollywood International Film Festivals
During the last few years DNA evidence has cleared 400+ condemned prisoners in the United States. This irrefutable scientific evidence has caused many Americans to consider the probability that the “system” has been executing the innocent. The Last Word is the first documentary to dig deeper than exoneration and prove beyond any doubt a case of wrongful execution. Most scholars, attorneys, religious leaders and politicians agree that proving a wrongful execution is the most important step toward slowing if not banning capital punishment.
The Last Word is not only dramatically captivating but also possesses high educational and motivational value for Americans (potential jurors) who presently support the death penalty. Through interviews and investigation this documentary unravels the complexity of our criminal justice system and demonstrates how we (society) built and continue to perpetuate a seriously flawed “machine” void of constitutionally guaranteed safety nets for the innocent. Equally inspirational is the film’s powerful message to Christians who have been misled by extremists to misinterpret the Bible as supportive of the death penalty.
The purpose of this email is to request your help by spreading the word about The Last Word (e.g. festival attendance; public screenings; classroom instruction; email forwards; home/church discussion groups; online chatter; etc.) The film is currently weaving across America on the film festival circuit. DVD copies are available at thelastworddocumentary.com and Amazon.com. Educational and library distribution is being handled by National Film Network- - nationalfilmnetwork.com.
EXECUTIONS FOR JULY/AUGUST
Click here to view details on seven executions scheduled in Texas within the next few weeks!
REVIEWS
REVIEWS
“Unique, intriguing and dramatic as it leads to a heart breaking conclusion. One of America’s greatest miscarriages of justice!”
Millard Farmer
Death Row Attorney
Atlanta, GA
[Mr. Farmer was Louisiana Death Row inmate Patrick Sonnier’s appellate attorney. Sean Penn portrayed Mr. Sonnier in Dead Man Walking.]
“A must see for every Christian who has an opinion about capital punishment.”
Bishop Emeritus Leroy Matthieson
“This film should be required viewing for every high school and college student in America.”
Bonita Gunden
United States Public Defender
“A perfect example of how lazy lawyers, crooked politicians and asinine laws caused the system to fail. In Garrett’s case, the match got thrown early on. His own lawyers threw the case!”
Jeff Blackburn
Texas Director,
The Innocence Project
“Had I known then what I know now I never would have voted to convict the boy. He’d still be alive today. We trusted in the doctors and the lawyers and the system. Unfortunately, we trusted too much.”
Nathan Shackleford
Juror #12
“Powerful! Eye opening and informative. The Last Word is a valuable educational resource which will inspire my students in many ways.”
Claudia Stuart
Professor Criminal Justice
Texas A&M University
“I’ve watched the film (three times) and enjoyed it immensely!”
Aaron Phillips
Travel & Entertainment Reporter
Amarillo Globe News
MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT
Attorney and Documentarian Jesse Quackenbush has been notified that his feature documentary, The Last Word is an “Official Selection” of the West Hollywood and Rhode Island International Film Festivals.
According to Quackenbush The Last Word has been recognized as the first documentary in America to establish convincingly that a criminally accused man has been executed for a crime he didn’t commit. The film re-examines the case of Johnny Frank Garrett, a mentally retarded teenage boy who was arrested, convicted and ultimately executed for the rape, mutilation and murder of a 76 year old nun on Halloween night 1981. Sister Tadea Benz was brutally attacked as she slept in her room at the St. Francis Convent in Amarillo, Texas. Garrett claimed his innocence from the moment of his arrest until his dying breath. DNA evidence and admissions from the actual killer are revealed for the first time in the film. Adding a twist of horror, this documentary also reveals a curse Garrett cast on those responsible for his murder. The curse was written by Garrett in his final letter to “society.” The untimely and sometimes violent deaths of 20 people directly associated with Garrett’s case (including 5 suicides, 6 freak accidents and 7 rare cancers) are documented in the film. Quackenbush, who served as the films Writer, Director and Producer believes “the curse” is real and provides his reasons in Producer Comments at the film’s website.
The Last Word previously premiered at the Buffalo and Seattle International Film Festivals. The film is also an “Official Selection” at the Scottsdale & Eugene International Film Festivals in October. Discounted educational distribution is provided through National Film Network. DVD copies of the film are available through Amazon.com or at www.thelastworddocumentary.com.
Contact Info: Cinco Rosas Productions 512-963-0475
NEWS COVERAGE FROM DEATH ROW
The next victim of the Texas “Death Machine” will be Larry Donell Davis, scheduled for execution on July 31, 2008. I was actually present at Mr. Davis’ trial in Amarillo when his Prosecutor committed an egregious mistake jeopardizing Mr. Davis’ chance for a fair trial. The Prosecutor, during closing argument, stalked over to Mr. Davis who was seated at counsel table and screamed “How can you find for this man who sits . . . silently . . . hiding behind his lawyer!” This was a direct attack on Mr. Davis’ 5th Amendment right to remain silent and not have his silence counted against him. I testified at the Motion for New Trial about the reaction from three of the jurors, ranging from nodding heads of approval to gasps for air. The jury was clearly affected by the Prosecutor’s actions. The hang-em-high Judge, Sam Kaiser denied the Motion for New Trial in spite of his in chambers oral admonishment to the Prosecutor for potentially causing reversible error. I will learn soon if Mr. Davis has placed me on his witness list. If he decides to have me, I will attend and witness my first execution. I am also hoping to film Mr. Davis’ family as they prepare for and experience the execution. I hope to bring their misery to viewers in a future project.
Jesse Quackenbush
Director, The Last Word
FESTIVAL DETAILS
The Last Word is an "Official Selection" of the following upcoming film festivals.
West Hollywood International Film Festival
Regency Theatre
7907 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048
July 29, 2008 @ 2:30 p.m.
website
Rhode Island International Film Festival
Bell Street Chapel
5 Bell Street
Providence, RI 02903
August 10, 2008 @ noon
website
Eugene International Film Festival
October 3-5, 2008
website
Scottsdale International Film Festival
October 3-7, 2008
website
The Last Word has participated in the following film festivals in 2008.
Buffalo Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
QUICK FACTS
Legality
1. Is the Death Penalty Legal in the United States?
After being suspended in 1972 because of a lack of national standards, the death penalty was declared constitutional (legal) again in 1976 with the provision that rigid statutes be used as a guide. Each state determines whether to permit the sentence of the death penalty. Thirty-six states currently have the death penalty. New Jersey became the first state in 40 years to abolish the death penalty in 2007. (DPIC)
2. Is it legal to execute juveniles or the mentally ill in the United States?
The Supreme Court struck down the death penalty for juveniles in 2005 and declared it illegal to execute defendants with mental retardation in 2002. (DPIC)
3. Is the Supreme Court currently considering the legality of the death penalty?
No, the Supreme Court is currently considering a very specific issue of whether the “3-drug cocktail” method of lethal injection constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment” and would thus be unconstitutional. The Court held a hearing in January 2008 and is expected to make a ruling in spring 2008. (DPIC)
4. What is a moratorium?
A moratorium is a halt on executions for a certain time period. During a moratorium, detailed examinations of capital punishment laws and processes can take place. In a 2007 opinion poll by RT Strategies, 58% of respondents believed it was time for a moratorium on the death penalty, many of those supporting a moratorium also being supporters of the death penalty. (DPIC)
Death Row Executions
5. How many inmates are on Death Row?
In 2008 there are 3,263 inmates on Death Row, with the largest rows in California (609), Florida (388) and Texas (370). (DPIC)
6. How many people have been executed in the United States?
There have been 1,099 executions in the US since 1976, with a peak in 1999 of 98 executions. The largest number of executions since 1976, 405, took place in Texas, with 26 of those occurring in 2007. (DPIC)
7. What countries are responsible for the most executions worldwide?
In 2006 91% of all known executions took place in six countries: China (1,010), Iran (177), Pakistan (82), Iraq (65+), Sudan (65+), U.S. (53). American and Japan are the only post- industrial nations that impose the death penalty. (DPIC)
8. Don’t most people in the U.S. support the Death Penalty?
The percentage of Americans in support of the death penalty peaked in the mid-1990s. According to Pew Research Center surveys, support for the death penalty for persons convicted of murder has fluctuated within a relatively narrow range of 62% of 68% since 2001, while opposition has ranged from 24% to 32% during this time. A Pew survey from August 2007 finds that 62% of Americans favor the death penalty, while 32% oppose it and 6% are unsure. (DPIC)
9. How much does the death penalty cost tax payers?
According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, the estimated cost of single death penalty cases from arrest to execution ranges from $1 to $3 million, compared to an estimated cost of life imprisonment, including incarceration cost of $500,000. The estimated average cost of a death penalty case in TX, according to The Dallas Morning News is $2.3 million. (DPIC)
Methods
10. What methods of execution are currently used in the United States?
36 of the states with the death penalty use lethal injection for executions. In 2008 Nebraska, the only state that used the electric chair as the exclusive form of execution, outlawed the use of the electric chair. Some states utilizing lethal injection have other methods available as back-ups. (DPIC)
11. What is the “3-drug cocktail”?
A form of execution by lethal injection that involves three separate injections. The inmate is injected with sodium thiopental – an anesthetic, which puts the inmate to sleep. Next flows pavulon or pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the entire muscle system and stops the inmate’s breathing. Finally, the flow of potassium chloride stops the heart. Death results from anesthetic overdose and respiratory and cardiac arrest while the condemned person is unconscious. (DPIC)
Wrongful Convictions and Exonerations
12. How many people have been released from death row?
Since 1973 over 120 people were released from death row with evidence of their innocence. From 1973-1999, there was an average of 3.1 exonerations per year. From 2000- 2007, there has been an average of 5 exonerations per year. (DPIC)
13. Is there any proof that an innocent person has been executed?
Until now, there has never been "uncontroverted proof" that an innocent person has been executed. No forum or legal standard exists for establishing such proof. However there is considerable evidence that other innocent persons have been executed. Cameron Willingham, executed in 2004 in Texas, is one such case. After examining evidence from Willingham’s prosecution, four national arson experts concluded that fire that Willingham was convicted of starting, was accidental. There are many other cases where significant doubts about guilt arose after a person’s execution, such as the case of Carlos DeLuna.
14. Do Americans believe those killed are guilty?
Three-quarters of Americans believe that an innocent person has been executed within recent years and that convictions is resulting in lower levels of support for the death penalty, according to a 2005 study by the University of Cincinnati and Radford University. When life in prison without the possibility of parole was offered as an alternative sentence for capital murder, less than half of all Americans who believe an innocent person has been executed supported the death penalty.
Religion
15. Do most Christians support the death penalty?
Some of the most recent data focusing on religion and the death penalty has looked at the views of Christians, a group that comprises over three quarters of the American population. According to a 2004 Gallop Poll, individuals who self-identify as Protestants are somewhat more likely to endorse capital punishment that are Catholics and far more likely than those with no religious preference. The poll found that more than 7 of 10 Protestants (71%) support the death penalty, while 66% of Catholics support it and that 57% of those with no religious preference favor the death penalty for murder. A 2005 Zogby poll revealed that only 48% of Catholics now support the death penalty. A recent poll by NationalChristianPoll.com found that two thirds of active Christians who oppose the death penalty are concerned about judicial error that could lead to an innocent person being executed. The poll also found that of Christians who support the death penalty, 60% do so because of biblical teachings. According to a 2007 Pew Forum poll, the strongest supporters of the death penalty are white evangelicals, with 74% approval.
16. What are the official stances of religious organizations on the death penalty?
According to the American Friends Service Committee’s Criminal Justice Program, which maintains a list of faith and ethical group that are opposed to the death penalty, many groups are officially opposed to capital punishment, including American Baptists, American Ethical Union, American Friends Service Committee, America Jewish Committee, The Bruderhof Communities, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Disciples of Christ, Church of the Brethren, Church Women United, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Friends United Meeting, General Conference of General Baptists, General Conference of Mennonite Church, Mennonite Church, Moravian Church in America, Orthodox Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), The Rabbinical Assembly, Reformed Church in America, Reorganized Church, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Unitarian Universalist Association, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, and the United States Catholic Conference. The Southern Baptists and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have not taken a public position on the issue of capital punishment. The Qur’an supports the death penalty, but there is a strong tradition of mercy within the faith.
Comments and faves
ccindigirard (47 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Adorable Critters (Invite Only), and we'd love to have this added to the group!
What a GORGEOUS cat!!!!!! Beautiful colors!!!!
KM&G-Morris (47 months ago | reply)
Pretty cat - lovely markings.
lixuva (47 months ago | reply)
lovely cat
aloveletteraway ♥ (47 months ago | reply)
Adorable photo! I thought it was a puppy in the thumbnail!
nayfusty [deleted] (47 months ago | reply)
q bonitoo !!! ^^
curious_spider added this photo to his favorites. (47 months ago)
dudleysharp (47 months ago | reply)
6 death row inmates have been excluded because of DNA results, not 400+ - Gig differece.
In addition:
The Death Penalty: More Protection for Innocents
Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters, contact info below
Often, the death penalty dialogue gravitates to the subject of innocents at risk of execution. Seldom is a more common problem reviewed. That is, how innocents are more at risk without the death penalty.
Living murderers, in prison, after release or escape or after our failures to incarcerate them, are much more likely to harm and murder, again, than are executed murderers.
Although this is, obviously a truism, it is surprising how often folks overlook the enhanced incapacitation benefits of the death penalty over incarceration.
No knowledgeable and honest party questions that the death penalty has the most extensive due process protections in US criminal law.
Therefore, actual innocents are more likely to be sentenced to life imprisonment and more likely to die in prison serving under that sentence, that it is that an actual innocent will be executed.
That is. logically, conclusive.
16 recent studies, inclusive of their defenses, find for death penalty deterrence.
A surprise? No.
Life is preferred over death. Death is feared more than life.
Some believe that all studies with contrary findings negate those 16 studies. They don't. Studies which don't find for deterrence don't say no one is deterred, but that they couldn't measure those deterred.
What prospect of a negative outcome doesn't deter some? There isn't one . . . although committed anti death penalty folk may say the death penalty is the only one.
However, the premier anti death penalty scholar accepts it as a given that the death penalty is a deterrent, but does not believe it to be a greater deterrent than a life sentence. Yet, the evidence is compelling and un refuted that death is feared more than life.
Some death penalty opponents argue against death penalty deterrence, stating that it's a harsher penalty to be locked up without any possibility of getting out.
Reality paints a very different picture.
What percentage of capital murderers seek a plea bargain to a death sentence? Zero or close to it. They prefer long term imprisonment.
What percentage of convicted capital??murderers argue for execution in the penalty phase of their capital trial? Zero or close to it. They prefer long term imprisonment.
What percentage of death row inmates waive their appeals and speed up the execution process? Nearly zero. They prefer long term imprisonment.
This is not, even remotely, in dispute.
Life is preferred over death. Death is feared more than life.
Furthermore, history tells us that lifers have many ways to get out: Pardon, commutation, escape, clerical error, change in the law, etc.
In choosing to end the death penalty, or in choosing not implement it, some have chosen to spare murderers at the cost of sacrificing more innocent lives.
Furthermore, possibly we have sentenced 20-25 actually innocent people to death since 1973, or 0.3% of those so sentenced. Those have all been released upon post conviction review. The anti death penalty claims, that the numbers are significantly higher,are a fraud, easily discoverable by fact checking.
6 inmates have been released from death row because of DNA evidence. An additional 9 were released from prison, because of DNA exclusion, who had previously been sentenced to death.
The innocents deception of death penalty opponents has been getting exposure for many years. Even the behemoth of anti death penalty newspapers, The New York Times, has recognized that deception.
To be sure, 30 or 40 categorically innocent people have been released from death row . . . (1) This when death penalty opponents were claiming the release of 119 "innocents" from death row. Death penalty opponents never required actual innocence in order for cases to be added to their "exonerated" or "innocents" list. They simply invented their own definitions for exonerated and innocent and deceptively shoe horned large numbers of inmates into those definitions - something easily discovered with fact checking.
There is no proof of an innocent executed in the US, at least since 1900.
If we accept that the best predictor of future performance is past performance, we can reasonable conclude that the DNA cases will be excluded prior to trial, and that for the next 8000 death sentences, that we will experience a 99.8% accuracy rate in actual guilt convictions. This improved accuracy rate does not include the many additional safeguards that have been added to the system, over and above DNA testing.
Of all the government programs in the world, that put innocents at risk, is there one with a safer record and with greater protections than the US death penalty?
Unlikely.
Full report -All Innocence Issues: The Death Penalty, upon request.
Full report - The Death Penalty as a Deterrent, upon request
(1) The Death of Innocents: A Reasonable Doubt,
New York Times Book Review, p 29, 1/23/05, Adam Liptak,
national legal correspondent for The NY Times
copyright 2007-2008, Dudley Sharp
Permission for distribution of this document, in whole or in part, is approved with proper attribution.
Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters
e-mail sharpjfa@aol.com 713-622-5491,
Houston, Texas
Mr. Sharp has appeared on ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, FOX, NBC, NPR, PBS, VOA and many other TV and radio networks, on such programs as Nightline, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, The O'Reilly Factor, etc., has been quoted in newspapers throughout the world and is a published author.
A former opponent of capital punishment, he has written and granted interviews about, testified on and debated the subject of the death penalty, extensively and internationally.
Pro death penalty sites
homicidesurvivors(dot)com/categories/Dudley%2 0Sharp%20-%20Justice%20Matters.aspx
www(dot)dpinfo.com
www(dot)cjlf.org/deathpenalty/DPinformation.h tm
www(dot)clarkprosecutor.org/html/links/dplink s.htm
www(dot)coastda.com/archives.html
www(dot)lexingtonprosecutor.com/death_penalty _debate.htm
www(dot)prodeathpenalty.com
www(dot)yesdeathpenalty.com/deathpenalty_com
yesdeathpenalty.googlepages.com/home2 (Sweden)
www(dot)wesleylowe.com/cp.html
dudleysharp (47 months ago | reply)
The Real Death Penalty in the US: A Review
Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters, contact info below
NOTE: Detailed review of any of the below topics, or others, is available upon request
In this brief format, the reality of the death penalty in the United States, is presented, with the hope that the media, public policy makers and others will make an effort to present a balanced view on this sanction.
Innocence Issues
Death Penalty opponents have proclaimed that 129 inmates have been "released from death row with evidence of their innocence", in the US, since the modern death penalty era began, post Furman v Georgia (1972).
The number is a fraud.
Those opponents have intentionally included both the factually innocent (the "I truly had nothing to do with the murder" cases) and the legally innocent (the "I got off because of legal errors" cases), thereby fraudulently raising the "innocent" numbers. This is easily confirmed by fact checking.
Death penalty opponents claim that 24 such innocence cases are in Florida. The Florida Commission on Capital Cases found that 4 of those 24 MIGHT be innocent -- an 83% error rate in for the claims of death penalty opponents. Other studies show their error rate to be about 70%. The totality of reviews points to an 80% error/fraud rate in these claims, or about 26 cases - a 0.3% actual guilt error rate for the nearly 8000 sentenced to death since 1973.
The actual innocents were all freed.
It is often claimed that 23 innocents have been executed in the US since 1900. Nonsense. Even the authors of that "23 innocents executed" study proclaimed "We agree with our critics, we never proved those (23) executed to be innocent; we never claimed that we had." While no one would claim that an innocent has never been executed, there is no proof of an innocent executed in the US, at least since 1900.
No one disputes that innocents are found guilty, within all countries. However, when scrutinizing death penalty opponents claims, we find that when reviewing the accuracy of verdicts and the post conviction thoroughness of discovering those actually innocent incarcerated, that the US death penalty process may be one of the most accurate criminal justice sanctions in the world.
Under real world scenarios, not executing murderers will always put many more innocents at risk, than will ever be put at risk of execution.
Deterrence Issues
16 recent US studies, inclusive of their defenses, find a deterrent effect of the death penalty.
All the studies which have not found a deterrent effect of the death penalty have refused to say that it does not deter some. The studies finding for deterrence state such. Confusion arises when people think that a simple comparison of murder rates and executions, or the lack thereof, can tell the tale of deterrence. It cannot.
Both high and low murder rates are found within death penalty and non death penalty jurisdictions, be it Singapore, South Africa, Sweden or Japan, or the US states of Michigan and Delaware. Many factors are involved in such evaluations. Reason and common sense tell us that it would be remarkable to find that the most severe criminal sanction -- execution -- deterred none. No one is foolish enough to suggest that the potential for negative consequences does not deter the behavior of some. Therefore, regardless of jurisdiction, having the death penalty will always be an added deterrent to murders, over and above any lesser punishments.
Racial issues
White murderers are twice as likely to be executed in the US as are black murderers and are executed, on average, 12 months more quickly than are black death row inmates.
It is often stated that it is the race of the victim which decides who is prosecuted in death penalty cases. Although blacks and whites make up about an equal number of murder victims, capital cases are 6 times more likely to involve white victim murders than black victim murders. This, so the logic goes, is proof that the US only cares about white victims.
Hardly. Only capital murders, not all murders, are subject to a capital indictment. Generally, a capital murder is limited to murders plus secondary aggravating factors, such as murders involving burglary, carjacking, rape, and additional murders, such as police murders, serial and multiple murders. White victims are, overwhelmingly, the victims under those circumstances, in ratios nearly identical to the cases found on death row.
Any other racial combinations of defendants and/or their victims in death penalty cases, is a reflection of the crimes committed and not any racial bias within the system, as confirmed by studies from the Rand Corporation (1991), Smith College (1994), U of Maryland (2002), New Jersey Supreme Court (2003) and by a view of criminal justice statistics, within a framework of the secondary aggravating factors necessary for capital indictments.
Class issues
No one disputes that wealthier defendants can hire better lawyers and, therefore, should have a legal advantage over their poorer counterparts. The US has executed about 0.15% of all murderers since new death penalty statutes were enacted in 1973. Is there evidence that wealthier capital murderers are less likely to be executed than their poorer ilk, based upon the proportion of capital murders committed by different those different economic groups? Not to my knowledge.
Arbitrary and capricious
About 10% of all murders within the US might qualify for a death penalty eligible trial. That would be about 64,000 murders since 1973. We have sentenced 8000 murderers to death since then, or 13% of those eligible. I doubt that there is any other crime which receives a higher percentage of maximum sentences, when mandatory sentences are not available. Based upon that, as well as pre trial, trial, appellate and clemency/commutation realities, the US death penalty is likely the least arbitrary and capricious criminal sanctions in the US.
Christianity and the death penalty
The two most authoritative New Testament scholars, Saints Augustine and Aquinas, provide substantial biblical and theological support for the death penalty. Even the most well known anti death penalty personality in the US, Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, states that "It is abundantly clear that the Bible depicts murder as a capital crime for which death is considered the appropriate punishment, and one is hard pressed to find a biblical 'proof text' in either the Hebrew Testament or the New Testament which unequivocally refutes this. Even Jesus' admonition 'Let him without sin cast the first stone,' when He was asked the appropriate punishment for an adulteress (John 8:7) -- the Mosaic Law prescribed death -- should be read in its proper context. This passage is an 'entrapment' story, which sought to show Jesus' wisdom in besting His adversaries. It is not an ethical pronouncement about capital punishment." A thorough review of Pope John Paul II's position, reflects a reasoning that should be recommending more executions.
Cost Issues
All studies finding the death penalty to be more expensive than life without parole exclude important factors, such as (1) geriatric care costs, recently found to be $69,0000/yr/inmate, (2) the death penalty cost benefit of providing for plea bargains to a maximum life sentence, a huge cost savings to the state, (3) the death penalty cost benefit of both enhanced deterrence and enhanced incapacitation, at $5 million per innocent life spared, and, furthermore, (4) many of the alleged cost comparison studies are highly deceptive.
Polling data
76% of Americans find that we should impose the death penalty more or that we impose it about right (Gallup, May 2006 - 51% that we should impose it more, 25% that we impose it about right)
71% find capital punishment morally acceptable - that was the highest percentage answer for all questions (Gallup, April 2006, moral values poll). In May, 2007, the percentage dropped to 66%, still the highest percentage answer, with 27% opposed. (Gallup, 5/29/07)
81% of the American people supported the execution of Timothy McVeigh, with only 16% opposed. "(T)his view appears to be the consensus of all major groups in society, including men, women, whites, nonwhites, "liberals" and "conservatives." (Gallup 5/2/01).
81% of Connecticut citizens supported the execution of serial rapist/murderer Michael Ross (Jan 2005).
While 81% gave specific case support for Timothy McVeigh's execution, Gallup also showed a 65% support AT THE SAME TIME when asked a general "do you support capital punishment for murderers?" question. (Gallup, 6/10/01).
22% of those supporting McVeigh's execution are, generally, against the death penalty (Gallup 5/02/01). That means that about half of those who say they oppose the death penalty, with the general question, actually support the death penalty under specific circumstances, just as it is imposed, judicially.
Further supporting the higher rates for specific cases, is this, from the French daily Le Monde December 2006 (1): Percentage of respondents in favor of executing Saddam Hussein:USA: 82%; Great Britain: 69%; France: 58%; Germany: 53%; Spain: 51%; Italy: 46%
Death penalty support is much deeper and much wider than we are often led to believe, with 50% of those who say they, generally, oppose the death penalty actually supporting it under specific circumstances, resulting in 80% death penalty support in the US, as recently as December 2006.
--------------------------------
Whatever your feelings are toward the death penalty, a fair accounting of how it is applied should be demanded.
copyright 1998-2008 Dudley Sharp
Permission for distribution of this document, in whole or in part, is approved with proper attribution.
Dudley Sharp, Justice Matters
e-mail sharpjfa@aol.com, 713-622-5491,
Houston, Texas
FleurFlower (47 months ago | reply)
Ooooh, what a little beauty this nice cat !!
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Maggie's World... (47 months ago | reply)
love your cat!!!
Steeena (47 months ago | reply)
aw cutie!
snowwhite0620 added this photo to her favorites. (46 months ago)
snowwhite0620 (46 months ago | reply)
This pussy cat is too adorable!!!!
oneiric imperium (46 months ago | reply)
Lex Talionis!
Roberta N M (46 months ago | reply)
Awwww!!!!
johnalanhall and bogdog Dan added this photo to their favorites.
bogdog Dan (46 months ago | reply)
what a great colored nose! white whispy whiskers!
Seen in!
katiequackenbush (45 months ago | reply)
My dad did a really good job on this film thanks for the words about it we appricate it alot!!
XOXOX
Katie Quackenbush
Violette79, jessica_roma, hamsamich08, and ♥ Pompitas de Algodón ♥ added this photo to their favorites.
RoxiRosita (38 months ago | reply)
Minino hermoso!!!
wiggiewormdog (37 months ago | reply)
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wiggiewormdog (37 months ago | reply)
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Elise chan added this photo to her favorites. (25 months ago)
AnnuskA - AnnA Theodora (14 months ago | reply)
really cute portrait of the kitty :)