Wendell Berry has made the following statement against the death penalty and has authorized me to use it.
Here it is, word-for word:
[Not to be altered in any way without the approval of Wendell Berry]
“As I am made deeply uncomfortable by the taking of a human life before birth, I am also made deeply uncomfortable by the taking of a human life after birth. Obviously, it can be well argued that the world would be better off if certain people had never been born or if they had been killed in early youth by a fall from a tree. And I certainly can imagine circumstances in which I might kill another person. But I don’t believe that mere humans have the mental or moral capacity to decide rightfully, let alone infallibly, that another human should be killed. As I don’t condone the illegal killing of a human by a human, I cannot condone the legal killing of a human by a human. One killing is not rectified or atoned for by the addition of a second. An illegal killing is in no way made better by a legal killing. A society is not made saner or more morally secure by the deputation in it of legalized killers. Whereas many illegal killings are done in hot blood, legal killings are always done in cold blood and with a procedural deliberation that is horrifying. Hot-blooded killing is of course horrifying also, but to me it is more understandable. Probably we have no choice against illegal killing, which continues to happen against the wishes of nearly everybody. But it is possible, morally and rationally, to choose to withhold one’s approval from legal killing, and I so choose.”
[Not to be altered in any way without the approval of Wendell Berry].
--Wendell Berry
Port Royal, KY
January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Death Penalty is Costly, Risky, Unfair and Unnecessary
Death Penalty
Declare a Moratorium on Executions in Kentucky Pending a Determination Whether the Death Penalty is Fair, Effective and Necessary
The death penalty is too risky, too costly and too broke to fix. Capital punishment is unfair and out of step with modern thinking. No randomly selected jury in Kentucky would impose it.
The modern history of capital punishment in Kentucky is simple, unusual and cruel. Since 1962, there has been one execution, Harold McQueen (1997) and two state assisted suicides, Eddie Lee Harper (1999) and Marco Chapman (2008). And the prosecutor in the 1962 execution, the distinguished Kentucky Chief Justice William Palmore, 89, said of the death penalty in a 2007 interview:
I'm not so hot for it anymore," "I don't know that it accomplishes anything. [Courier Journal, March 12, 2007).
Kentucky jurors rarely impose the death penalty. Since only jurors who support the death penalty sit on the jury, this sentencing pattern provides a compelling, if not conclusive, indication that capital punishment is contrary to the evolving standard of decency in Kentucky and therefore cruel punishment as a matter or law.
United States Supreme Court Justice Stevens applied his independent judgment, based on his exposure to cases in which the death penalty was authorized, to conclude
… the death penalty represents the pointless and needless extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernable social or public purposes. A penalty with such negligible returns to the State [is] patently excessive and cruel and unusual punishment…. Baze v Rees, 2008.
Conclusion
The death penalty is costly, risky, unfair and unnecessary. In the last 46 years, three people have died on death row. Two requested execution. The last study of the death penalty in Kentucky made almost 40 years ago recommended it be abolished.
A moratorium should be declared to determine whether the death penalty is too broke to fix.
DV
January 7, 2009
Declare a Moratorium on Executions in Kentucky Pending a Determination Whether the Death Penalty is Fair, Effective and Necessary
The death penalty is too risky, too costly and too broke to fix. Capital punishment is unfair and out of step with modern thinking. No randomly selected jury in Kentucky would impose it.
The modern history of capital punishment in Kentucky is simple, unusual and cruel. Since 1962, there has been one execution, Harold McQueen (1997) and two state assisted suicides, Eddie Lee Harper (1999) and Marco Chapman (2008). And the prosecutor in the 1962 execution, the distinguished Kentucky Chief Justice William Palmore, 89, said of the death penalty in a 2007 interview:
I'm not so hot for it anymore," "I don't know that it accomplishes anything. [Courier Journal, March 12, 2007).
Kentucky jurors rarely impose the death penalty. Since only jurors who support the death penalty sit on the jury, this sentencing pattern provides a compelling, if not conclusive, indication that capital punishment is contrary to the evolving standard of decency in Kentucky and therefore cruel punishment as a matter or law.
United States Supreme Court Justice Stevens applied his independent judgment, based on his exposure to cases in which the death penalty was authorized, to conclude
… the death penalty represents the pointless and needless extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernable social or public purposes. A penalty with such negligible returns to the State [is] patently excessive and cruel and unusual punishment…. Baze v Rees, 2008.
Conclusion
The death penalty is costly, risky, unfair and unnecessary. In the last 46 years, three people have died on death row. Two requested execution. The last study of the death penalty in Kentucky made almost 40 years ago recommended it be abolished.
A moratorium should be declared to determine whether the death penalty is too broke to fix.
DV
January 7, 2009
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