Cites Pennsylvania racism
Panel urges death penalty moratorium
By Betsey Piette
Philadelphia
A committee of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court released a
549-page report on March 5 calling on the governor, the
legislature and the high court to impose a moratorium on
executions in the state. The report from the Committee on
Racial and Gender Bias found serious questions exist about the
fairness and even handedness of the present system of capital
litigation and sentencing, and called for the undertaking of a
thorough and comprehensive study on the impact of race.
The study also makes numerous sweeping recommendations for
death penalty reform, including hiring more courtroom
interpreters for those with limited English skills. Jeff Garis,
executive director of the Pennsylvania Abolitionists, hailed
the report as a "shot in the arm" for the moratorium
movement.
"The committee stated what we've been saying for years:
Pennsyl vania's death penalty system is biased, broken and
needs to be halted," said Garis. "Penn syl vania's death row
looks disturbingly like South Africa's under apartheid."
Racial bias in the system is obvious, according to the
Pennsylvania Aboli tion ists. Nearly 70 percent of the 242
inmates on death row in Pennsylvania are Black, Latino or
Asian, groups that combined make up less than 11 percent of the
state's general population. A stunning 84 percent of those from
Philadelphia who have been sentenced to death are African
American.
Pennsylvania is one of 38 states with a death penalty, and
one of 11 in which reports have been commissioned to study
racial bias within the system. Studies conducted on a federal
level mirror the same conclusion. Illinois and Maryland are the
only two states that have enacted moratoriums. However,
Maryland's new governor, Robert Ehrlich Jr., lifted that
state's moratorium upon assuming office in January.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a former prosecutor in
Philadelphia, is opposed to halting executions. He has already
signed two death warrants after little over a month in office.
Rendell's wife, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Marjorie O.
Rendell, is the chair of one of two task forces set up to
consider the Committee on Racial and Gender Bias report.
During his gubernatorial campaign, Rendell said he would try
to reinstate the death penalty for political prisoner and
journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal. A federal judge overturned his
death penalty sentence in December 2001, but Abu-Jamal remains
on Pennsyl vania's death row. He has been denied due process
despite evidence of his innocence, including a taped confession
by Arnold Beverly that he committed the murder for which
Abu-Jamal was sentenced.
Garis urged death penalty opponents to seize the momentum
and demand that officials at all levels of state government
abide by the recommendations of the report. "Remind Governor
Rendell of his campaign promise: He stated that while he
supported the death penalty, he would support a moratorium if
there was evidence to suggest that it was warranted. At the
time, he said that he didn't see any evidence--well, here's the
evidence!"
Garis also noted that a poll conducted by Madonna Yost
Opinion Research in Feb ruary 2001 showed that 72 percent of
Pennsylvanians support a moratorium on executions in order to
study issues of fairness.
The complete Racial and Gender Bias Committee report is
available on the Pennsylvania Judiciary's Web site:
www.courts.state.pa.us. Letters, calls and faxes supporting the
death penalty moratorium can be sent to Gov. Edward Rendell,
225 Main Capitol Building, Harrisburg, PA 17120; telephone
(717) 787-2500; fax (717) 772-8284.
Reprinted from the March 20, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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