I read with interest
this article about an Anti-Death Penalty activity in Oregon on Friday 31 August
2012. I would like to answer their questions, although I am not able to see all
their questions, I will answer those that were shown in this article and I will
also debunk what they say. Please read the article first.
8/31/2012
2:56:00 PM
Rally asks for
end to capital punishment
Fifty questions
marked 50 years since the last non-volunteer execution of a Death Row inmate in
Oregon.
People who
attended a rally coordinated by Amnesty International and Oregonians for
Alternatives to the death penalty circled Pioneer Courthouse Square Aug. 31.
Each person held a placard with a question mark and, one by one, rally-goers
stepped out into the center of the circle to voice inquiries penned on the flip
side of the boards.
“How does the
death penalty make us safer?”
“Do we want to
be Texas?”
“Seventeen
states have abolished the death penalty. Why not Oregon?”
Following the rally, Regal Fox Tower 10 Theater presented Portland’s premier showing of Incendiary, a documentary about the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, who many forensic experts claim was innocent of the killings of which he was accused.
Following the rally, Regal Fox Tower 10 Theater presented Portland’s premier showing of Incendiary, a documentary about the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, who many forensic experts claim was innocent of the killings of which he was accused.
“This is a
public education event,” said Terrie Rodello, Oregon State Death Penalty
Abolition coordinator. “Many people don’t even know there is a death penalty in
Oregon.”
It is estimated that Oregon taxpayers are spending in excess of $20 million in each of the two years of the current bi-annum budget cycle on death penalty cases and related expenses.
When Gov. John
Kitzhaber declared a moratorium on executions Nov. 22, 2011, stopping the
planned execution of Gary Haugen, he called for “a long overdue debate on the
death penalty.”
Fifty years ago,
in August 1962, Leeroy McGahuey was put to death by lethal gas, for the murder
of a Junction City woman and her child. McGahuey had exhausted his appeals.
Conversely, Douglas Wright was executed by lethal injection in 1996 and Harry Charles Moore died in a similar fashion in 1997. Both men gave up their right of appeal and chose to die.
Among the rally
goers was Jake Ehers, 13, and his sister Emily, 13.
“It [the death
penalty] hasn’t done anything good and it’s taking money that could be going to
our education,” Jake said. “Some of my favorite teachers have been cut.”
Cindy Tyler, a
member of St. André Bessette Church, attended the rally, as did seven other
members of her parish.
“If you value
the sanctity of life, you cannot agree to the barbarism of murder in the name
of so-called justice,” Tyler said. “That’s just as much an oxymoron as the term
Holy War.”
Jeff Ellis,
Oregon Capital Resource council, provides assistance to lawyers and individuals
who are facing or are under a death sentence. He helped organize the rally in
response to the governor’s call to engage in debate about the effectiveness of
Oregon’s capital punishment system.
“There’s this
argument out there that the majority of people support the death penalty in
Oregon so why should we have this discussion?” Ellis said. “But the majority of
people supported a system that was promoted in 1978 as cheap and effective, and
today we know it’s neither.”
In November,
Californians will vote on a measure to abolish the state’s death penalty. If
the measure passes, 725 inmates on Death Row in that state will have their
sentences converted to life in prison.
“That will be
something that we in Oregon ought to pay attention because it will be helpful
in guiding our discussion about the death penalty,” Ellis said.
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Jake Ehers,
13, believes Oregon should outlaw the death penalty.
|
 |
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Rally
goers ask why Oregon has not yet banned the death penalty like many countries
in the world.
|
Question: “How does
the death penalty make us safer?”
Answer: No
executed murderer killed again. Richard Laurence Marquette was paroled for one
murder in Oregon and went on to kill again (Please see other examples of repeat offenders). Lord Chief Justice Rayner Goddard, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, Alex Kozinski, Chalerm Ubumrung, Lech Aleksander Kaczyński, Lynne Abraham, ,
Tariq A. Al Maeena and Joseph de Maistre will tell explain how the
death penalty saves lives.
Question: “Seventeen
states have abolished the death penalty. Why not Oregon?”
Answer: The
District of Columbia is one of such states and they also have a very strict gun
law. They are also No. 1 in the country in firearm murders. Or look at Michigan
who has no death penalty as well. They are No. 1 in violent crimes. West Virginia has no death penalty and there are murders committed by people who
come from states with the death penalty. When Governor Pat Quinn signed the
bill which abolished the death penalty in Illinois on Wednesday 9 March 2011,
some Death Penalty Abolitionists claim that Illinois will be a safer and more
civilized and humane place to live. But early this year (2012) prove them
wrong, homicides in Chicago soared by 60 percent in the first three months of
2012, continuing a troublesome trend that began late last year.
Following
the rally, Regal Fox Tower 10 Theater presented Portland’s premier showing of
Incendiary, a documentary about the conviction and execution of Cameron Todd
Willingham, who many forensic experts claim was innocent of the killings of
which he was accused.
If Cameron Todd
Willingham was alive today, I will keep my children away from him, no way am I
going to let him babysit them.
It is
estimated that Oregon taxpayers are spending in excess of $20 million in each
of the two years of the current bi-annum budget cycle on death penalty cases
and related expenses.
Among the rally goers
was Jake Ehers, 13, and his sister Emily, 13.
“It [the
death penalty] hasn’t done anything good and it’s taking money that could be
going to our education,” Jake said. “Some of my favorite teachers have been
cut.”
Rebuttal: U.S.
states that repeal death penalty laws do not see a significant savings in trial
costs. In states where the death penalty is the maximum punishment, a larger
number of defendants are willing to plead guilty and receive a life sentence.
The greater cost of trials where the prosecution does seek the death penalty is
offset, at least in part, by the savings from avoiding trial altogether in
cases where the defendant pleads guilty. You can find out more here.
Cindy Tyler, a member
of St. André Bessette Church, attended the rally, as did seven other members of
her parish.
“If you
value the sanctity of life, you cannot agree to the barbarism of murder in the
name of so-called justice,” Tyler said. “That’s
just as much an oxymoron as the term Holy War.”
Rebuttal: Christians
and Roman Catholics like Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Peter Hitchens, John Murray, St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Matthew Henry acknowledge that the
death penalty is the affirming of life.
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