The Death Penalty Hearings in New York: The Second Half
My colleague, Ericka, stayed for the second half of the hearings. Here's her take:
Piggybacking on Angela's post from the Death Penalty Hearings in NYC yesterday, I thought the event was amazing. Particularly from someone who is not politically caught up, I found the hearings to be the best educational source on matters of the death penalty that I have ever encountered. As exhausting as it was to absorb so much information regarding such an intense topic, I managed to stay through the length of the hearings.
In order to not repeat from Angela's posting, I would just like to reenforce that I was surprisingly impressed by Robert Blecker's tesitmony. However much I may disagree with his ultimate opinion, I did walk away with new information and a better understanding of what DP supporters are thinking. Who knew that along with the DP, life wihout parole was also abolished in Europe - but on the other hand, would it really be so horrrible to abolish that statute in he US also - Shira reminded me of a very good point this morning, one that I find all too easy to forget: is the essence of our legal system to punish offenders or protect society; in that case, society would still be just as protected by the release of reformed ex-offenders. It was/is all a great deal to think about.
After Angela left, the panel continued. Three men shared their personal stories in dealing with the DP. One man in particular turned in his own mentally ill brother for the murder of an elderly women, under the premise that his brother would be admitted into a rehabilitation home, but was later disowned by half of his family when his brother received the death penalty in CA.
Three lawyers followed, making reccommendations and suggestions on how to improve and limit the death penalty. Soon after, a group of religious leaders (maybe 6) merged to condemn the DP b/c it 'denies the creation of God in the gift of life' and was, therefore, immoral - I found their arguments the least captivating and the most repetitive; but they win for using the word 'immoral' the most number of times.
And as I stood in front of the door with my coat on and bags ready to go, they announced Andrew Cuomo as the final witness, so I sat back down. Lucky for tired-little-old me, he was the quickest. Unfortunately, what I thought was going to be a great finale turned out to be a great speaker saying that, like his dad, he was against the DP and thought that most NYers were too. And, so what was truly a great day in my political life can be joined by others when the hearings are brought back to NYC on January 21, 2005 - hope to see lots more people there -
Posted by Angela at 12:40 PM
