BROKEN JUSTICE: ACLU REPORT REVEALS WHAT WE ALREADY KNEW!!
Posted by caclarkfrieson on November 13, 2005
By Charlotte A. Clark- FriesonNov 13, 2005, 04:18
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has released a report that startles most, but according to many black leaders, merely confirms what most blacks in Alabama have always known. “Alabama Justice is broken and needs fixing.” This statement sums up the heart of this 32 page report, released by the ACLU just last month (October).
The report comes after an exhaustive study of the judicial system in Alabama, concerning the application of the death penalty. The death penalty, also referred to as Capital Punishment is the legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating criminal law.
Throughout history, people have been put to death for various forms of wrongdoing. Without question, the death penalty is the most controversial and debated penal practice in the modern world. Other harsh, physical forms of criminal punishment—referred to as corporal punishment—have generally been eliminated in modern times as uncivilized and unnecessary. In the majority of countries, contemporary methods of punishment—such as imprisonment or fines—no longer involve the infliction of physical pain. Although imprisonment and fines are universally recognized as necessary to the control of crime, the nations of the world are split on the issue of capital punishment.
Many hands were involved in the origination and completion of the ACLU study, which was sponsored by several organizations including: Alabama Arise, Alabama CURE, Alabama Committee to Abolish the Death Penalty, Alabama Democratic Conference, American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, Alabama New South Coalition, Alabama Prison Project, Amnesty International, Alabama State Conference of NAACP Branches, Project Hope To Abolish The Death Penalty (PHADP), and lastly the Restorative Justice Team, North Alabama Conference, United Methodist Church.
This ACLU study was authored by Rachael King, with the assistance of several ACLU Capital Punishment interns, most notably Katie Dahlen, Liza Grote, Katherine Grubbs, and Claire Lunman, and a long list of other individuals, who played various roles in conducting the study and compiling the report. Lucia Penland, of the Alabama Prison Project provided the majority of the data, which was expanded and improved upon by Olivia Turner, Kimberly Parker, and Kathanna Culp of the ACLU of Alabama. Also, Jim Carnes and Kimble Forrister of Alabama Arise contributed to the writing and editing.
In its opening statement the ACLU report states that “…Of all the actions carried out by the state, none warrants more cautious implementation and stringeht review than the imposition of the death penalty. Yet in Alabama, this most solemn responsibility remains fraught with inconsistencies and inequities….The structure of the state’s criminal justice system and the power given to its trial and appellate judges compromise and limit the ability of capital defendants to get a fair trial and appropriate sentencing..”
The report begins by giving an interesting overview of the history of the death penalty in the U.S. dating back to 1972, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all death penalty statues in the United States, citing their application as arbitrary, capricious, and discriminatory. As a result of the action by the Supreme Court, 629 death sentences were commuted. Then, the states scrambled to re-write their capital punishment laws. Four years later, the Supreme Court then re-instated the death penalty after states re-wrote their statutes, and executions resumed in 1977. Thus, the period after 1976 is now referred to as the modern death penalty era. So, this report mainly deals with the application of the death penalty since that time. Some of the more outstanding facts in the report include the following: As of August 2005, 981 people have been executed. During this same time period, Alabama has executed 33 individuals, including three in 2005. Seven people have died on Alabama’s death row before their scheduled execution date, three from suicide. According to this report, Alabama has the 6th highest execution rate in the country, as well as the 6th highest death-sentencing rate. In 1999, Alabama sentenced more people to death per capita than any other state. Yet, unlike many states, Alabama has no statewide public defender system. At least 30 current death row inmates have no lawyer. Alabama’s death row occupants are overwhelmingly poor—95% are indigent — and minority.”
The report clearly points out several of Alabama’s short comings in the application of the Death Penalty. There are several broad discussions of these short comings titled as follows:
1. The State of Alabama Does not Provide Adequate Indigent Defense
2. Innocent People have been Wrongfully Convicted and Possibly Executed
The report makes note that as of August of 2005, 121 prisoners throughout the country have been exonerated and released from death row during the modern era because they were innocent of the crime. During this same period, 972 people have been executed. This means that for every eight executions, one person is released from death row because they have been proven innocent. These people spent an average of 9 years in prison before their sentences were overturned. “This is a terrible tragedy for the person who was wrongfully convicted, but it also means the guilty person remained at large, perhaps harming others.”It was interesting to note that during this “modern era” Alabama has had five prisoners exonerated of all charges. Another, Daniel Wade Moore, was released from prison after the trial court dismissed all charges against him; but the state is appealing that dismissal.
3. The High Cost of the Death Penalty
4. Prosecutorial Misconduct
5. Judicial Overrides and Death Sentencing
6. Mentally Retarded Defendants and the Death Penalty
7. Juveniles and the Death Penalty
8. Race and the Death Penalty
The report concludes that “The people of Alabama want a criminal justice system that is fair and effective. We remain skeptical that the unfairness that has plagued the death penalty in Alabama and other death penalty states for so long can ever be completely eliminated. But as long as the death penalty remains public policy, basic decency requires that all citizens of good will to try.
The ACLU study concludes with 11 strong recommendations which include ways that the process can be made fairer. It urges the Alabama Legislature, the courts and the Governor to consider the following action:
1. Impose a moratorium – a temporary freeze – on all executions in Alabama, at least until the recommendations of this report are in effect. During this moratorium, the State should undertake an exhaustive study of the death penalty in Alabama, conducted by an independent commission appointed by the Legislature, with members from the Legislative, executive and judicial branches, in addition to criminal justice experts. Defense attorneys, prosecutors, members of non-governmental organizations, and family members of murder victims and of people on death row should also take part in this study.
2. Establish a statewide public defender system, insuring that all defendants are represented by qualified attorneys at trial, appeal, and post-conviction proceedings.
3. Improve the quality of capital representation.
4. Institute meaningful checks on prosecutorial power.
5. Alabama Court System should begin
6. Establish a process for reviewing claims of mental retardation
7. Establish a post-conviction DNA testing procedure.
9. Abolish judicial override in capital cases
10. Recruit, retain and promote minority personnel to create a more diverse group of judges and prosecutors. Judges should make efforts to appoint people of color to represent indigent defendants in court-appointed cases.
11. Institute a meaningful review process to ensure that death sentences are meted out in a fair, rational and non-discriminatory way.
Right on the heels of the ACLU report, on Sunday, November 7, the Editorial Board of The Birmingham News, Alabama’s largest newspaper, also came out publicly against the Death Penalty, which has certainly affirmed the position of those who have long been proponents of abolishing the Death Penalty.
In it’s November 7th Editorial entitled “A Death Penalty Conversion,” The Editorial Board Of The Birmingham News writes: “It’s a matter of law that deeply troubles The News’ editorial board. After decades of supporting the death penalty, the editorial board no longer can do so. Today and over the next five days, we will explain our change of mind and heart.”
Just what does this ACLU report mean for the State Of Alabama? What does it mean for those who are fighting to abolish the death penalty?
Esther Brown serves as the Executive Secretary of Project Hope To Abolish The Death Penalty (PHADP). In an interview, Brown stated: “There have been several positive developments recently. First there was the independent opinion poll conducted by Dr. Gerald Johnson that found that 57% of Alabamians are in favor of a moratorium. This was followed by the ACLU report, Broken Justice, the Death Penalty in Alabama which explored the issues of unfairness that surround the application of the death penalty. To quote attorney Richard Jaffe of Birmingham, it is better to be guilty and rich than innocent and poor. And to that statement I would like to add that it is a whole lot better if you are white and your victim was black! And now this week the Birmingham News has come out against the death penalty in a series of articles. We are delighted, and when I say we, I was just on the phone with my board, I mean the board of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty and myself. We salute the B’ham News for its courage and the painstaking research that went in to their stand. They talk about a conversion, may there be many more in Alabama! And, while I have a chance to say this, the support of the Peoples’ Voice is one of the other very positive developments that gives us hope.
Judith Collins Cumbee of Lanett who is the first vice-president of Alabama New South Coalition was reached by phone and when asked for her reaction to the Birmingham News stated, “I think it is one of the most positive things that has happened in all the years that Alabama New South Coalition has been lifting up the issues of injustice in Alabama’s administration of the death penalty.”
The American Civil Liberties Union is the nation’s premier guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of the United States.
Any individual or group interested in obtaining a copy of “Broken Justice: The Death Penalty in Alabama” is welcome to contact the writer of this article and a copy will gladly be forwarded to you.
This article has been posted on all of the following sites:
http://www.axisoflogic.com
http://realcostofprisons.org/blog/archives/2005/11/broken_justice.html
http://www.phadp.org
Copyright 2005 by Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson
This article was composed and written by Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson, and appeared in the The People’s Voice African American Weekly News (http://www.peoplesvoiceonline.com/). This article may be reprinted with permission from the author:
Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson
email: caclarkfrieson@msn.com
322 Wilkie Clark Drive
Roanoke, Alabama 36274
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