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I ran across CUDADP's web site earlier today. Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty has soon good ideas.
I'd like to share their mission statement with you:
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP) recognizes and upholds the responsibility of society to protect everyone from people who are dangerous, in particular, those who are convicted murderers.
CUADP also understands the legitimate response of human nature to seek vengeance in the form of harsh punishment for persons who have committed violent crimes. CUADP believes that as a society we are obligated to do better than to respond with a gut primal response, regardless of how natural that response may feel.
CUADP is concerned that our justice system is currently a retributive justice system which only heightens the pain and deepens the wounds of the families of victims of murder, the families of perpetrators, and the perpetrators themselves. CUADP also recognizes the strong ability of human nature to change and heal.
CUADP is concerned about well-documented and indisputably persistent problems in the application of the death penalty and in the criminal justice system as a whole in the United States of America.
CUADP calls attention to politicians who perpetuate a myth through their advocacy of the death penalty to demonstrate a "tough on crime" position on matters of public policy. To suggest that the death penalty is a deterrent to violent criminals and is a vehicle to somehow grant relief to the suffering of victims families is to deceive the constituents they serve.
CUADP calls on all citizens to urge their elected representatives to work towards violence prevention programs which identify and help "at-risk" youth and adults.
CUADP calls on all citizens to look beyond emotions and to learn the facts about how our system actually functions before deciding for themselves where they stand on the question of empowering the government to kill in their name.
Morally, socially and economically, the death penalty is a bad public policy. There is a better way.
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty advocates the following as a viable alternative to the death penalty:
- Persons convicted of capital murder should serve a minimum of 25 years in prison before the possibility of consideration for parole. Please note: consideration for parole in no way suggests an inmate will receive parole. Parole boards must abide by strict but fair standards in deciding who should receive parole. The abolition of parole endangers prison workers.
- In certain cases, imprisonment should be for life, With no possibility of parole - ever.
- While in prison, prisoners should work in jobs which are not slave-like and allow for some dignity and purpose of life for the inmate. Such work situations create safer conditions for guards and others who work in prisons.
- A portion of the prisoners' earnings should go to pay for their incarceration, and a portion should go into a fund for the victims of violent crime and their survivors. This would allow for a restitution fund for social, psychological and religious help for victims and survivor families. Such funds could also provide financial help for families which have lost a wage earner to murder.
CUADP supports the concept of restorative justice, including the bringing together of perpetrators and victims family members by qualified professionals working with both, to help facilitate the process of reconciliation.
The following is a list of states which have the death penalty and which also offer life without parole as a sentencing option. Currently there are NO states with an integrated restorative justice program which would allow convicted murderers to pay for their own incarceration or even to make restitutions directly to the survivors of their victims.
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Federal Government, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,US Military, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wyoming.
Total: 34 states
States with the death penalty but no provision for life without parole are Kansas, New Jersey, New Mexico & Texas.
Total: 4 states
The people want alternatives. "Tough on crime" prosecutors do not.
To Wit:
"You're not going to find 12 people back-to-back on the same jury that are going to kill somebody when the alternative is throwing away the key."
Harris County District Attorney Johnny Holmes
I've long struggled with the ethics of the death penalty. I keep an eye on the Texas Death Row homepage, and I've seen that, over the years, the number of people being executed has risen, as has the number of people being sentenced to death.
How then, can we say that the death penalty is a deterrent? If more people are committing violent crimes and being sentenced to death, is that deterrent effective? I think not. I think that in order for us to be able to truthfully say that it's effective we'd have to see a decrease in the kind of crime that gets a person sentenced to death.
I think that when a person is sentenced to life in prison, it should mean just that - life. That person should NEVER be eligilble for parole. EVER. I think too that prisoners should be made to help pay for their incarceration.
Basically, I agree with pretty much everything this organization stands for.
There has to be a better way than the death penalty.
Executing criminals isn't solving, or even deterring anything.