New Jersey Abolishes Death Penalty:

When Will Pennsylvania Act for Justice?

15 petitioners gather at Bob Freeeman's office 

     It was a clear, cold day, but with the sun and the walk over the Free Bridge, we were not uncomfortable, as we waited for everyone to sign the petition in Bob's office.  It was written by David Rose, fashioned after the Declaration of Independence, and cited the moral and practical reasons for ending the death penalty in Pennsylvania. 

     The cruelty of the death penalty is profound, the possibilities for ending it in Pennsylvania not good.  The politics of the issue have been calcified into cowardice.   

     “Are you in favor of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder?” This is a standard Gallup polling question that results in approximately a two thirds “yes” vote on a nationwide basis. 

     “If you could choose between the following two approaches, which do you think is the better penalty for murder--the death penalty or life imprisonment, with absolutely no possibility of parole?” Just over 50% of those polled nationally choose the death penalty. 

     In Pennsylvania, a 2007 Penn State Poll, by the Center for Survey Research at the university's Harrisburg campus found that only 42.9% of respondents supported the death penalty when presented with alternative sentences. 45.1% of those surveyed supported either life without parole (35.5%) or life with parole (9.6%). The remainder of participants answered "don't know" or refused to answer. 

     The Pennsylvania legislature struggles to make any decisions on the death penalty. It is adrift in the politics of fear, as the population moves closer to justice. For there is no way to enforce a death penalty fairly, and the reality of our death penalty practise in Pennsylvania is that we have freed more exonerated people from death row than we have executed. 

     With New Jersey's decision, perhaps politicians here and around the country will gain the political courage to follow suit.  

     -Joe DeRaymond