Capital Punishment:
simply40 Deliberates Pros and Cons
by Nicole Galbreath
The capital punishment debate is an ongoing one, and
engaging this debate is simply40.com [sic].
A few days ago death row inmate Charles Thompson escaped
from a county jail in Houston, TX. A convicted killer,
Thompson had just been re-sentenced to death for the second
time. (Thompson has since been recaptured by authorities).
The capital punishment debate is an ongoing one, and
engaging this debate is simply40.com [sic]. Cher Gruener and
Doug Bird, simply40.com contributors, make valid cases both
for and against the death penalty.
Gruener gives her rationale for supporting the death
penalty: "Most people who are against capital punishment
tend to only think about the prisoner and how cruel this act
of capital punishment is to them, but they seem to forget
about the murderer's victim and the rest of their family
that is left behind to grieve with empty hearts." Another
reason she provides supporting capital punishment is that
once a person commits a murder, the chances of that person
committing another murder are high.
Bird thinks that wrongful convictions and executions are a
solid argument against the death penalty: "There have been
and continue to be numerous inmates freed from death row
over the past several years after further investigations
either found them to be innocent, or that their trial
verdict was seriously in doubt due to incompetent or corrupt
judges and district attorneys, incompetent defence council,
unqualified lab investigators or law enforcement officials
with an agenda.The elimination of the death penalty is the
only failsafe method."
This article, as well as links to other relevant resources
discussing capital punishment and important contemporary
news, is featured on simply40's web site.
Contact: Max Elliott
simply40, inc.
773.371.1522
http://www.simply40.com
http://www.simply40.com
What Happens to the
Family Members of Death Row Inmates?
by Kenya Henderson
Capital Consequences: Families of the Condemned Tell
Their Stories (Rutgers University Press) challenges readers
to question the morality of a punishment that devastates
innocent families.
Those who support capital punishment often claim they do
so because it provides justice and closure for the victims’
families. However, attorney Rachel King reminds us that
there are other victims who must be considered in the debate
over the death penalty – the families of the condemned.
Capital Consequences: Families of the Condemned Tell Their
Stories (Rutgers University Press) challenges readers to
question the morality of a punishment that devastates
innocent families. King tells the stories of families that
have lost life savings supporting an accused, endured
intense public and media scrutiny, and are struggling to
live with the inhumane treatment their loved ones receive on
death row. “This one-of-a-kind book is devoted solely to
giving voice to death row family members, the forgotten
victims of capital punishment,” says King, an attorney with
the Capital Punishment Project of the American Civil
Liberties Union.
Capital Consequences is a follow-up to King’s first book,
Don’t Kill in Our Names: Families of Murder Victims Speak
Out Against the Death Penalty (Rutgers University Press,
2003), in which members of the nationwide group, Murders
Victims’ Families for Reconciliation, encouraged an end to
capital punishment. In comparing both books, King contends
that families of death row inmates suffer a unique form of
grief. “Because their pain tends to elicit less attention
and empathy than that of crime victims’ families, it becomes
much more desperate and isolating.”
King’s latest book is a powerful reminder that tragic events
have tragic consequences that far outreach their immediate
victims. Capital Consequences also illustrates many flaws in
the judicial system. Innocent people were wrongfully
convicted, defense attorneys made mistakes, prosecutors
withheld evidence, and the mentally ill and juveniles were
sentenced to death.
Rachel King is an attorney with the Capital Punishment
Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. She is a
founding member of Alaskans Against the Death Penalty, and
was active in a successful campaign to oppose reinstatement
of the death penalty in Alaska. She has written on a variety
of topics concerned with crime and capital punishment, and
is author of Don’t Kill in Our Names: Families of Murder
Victims Speak Out Against the Death Penalty (Rutgers
University Press, 2003).
Capital Consequences: Families of the Condemned Tell Their
Stories
By Rachel King
Cloth, $24.95. ISBN: 0-8135-3504-2
310 pages, 16 photographs, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Publication Date: February 2005
For more information, or to arrange an interview with the
author, please contact Kenya Henderson at 732.445.7762, ext.
626, or e-mail protected from spam bots.
http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu |
