Longtime death penalty opponent optimistic about change
4/1/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn. NOTE: This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #189. A UMNS Report By Tom McAnally*
By Tom McAnally*
Harmon Wray, a longtime advocate for eliminating capital
punishment in the United States, is more hopeful than he has been for
many years.
He gives several reasons for his optimism:
· The moratorium movement and a growing realization among citizens that the system is not infallible. ·
The work and influence of Sister Helen Prejean, who wrote the book,
Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the
United States, on which the 1995 movie "Dead Man Walking" was based. · Additional sentencing options for jurors, including life without parole statutes. ·
Growing recognition that a disproportionate number of death row inmates
are poor, non-white, mentally ill or brain damaged, and charged with
killing white people. · A growing number of family members of victims who are speaking out against the death penalty.
While
Catholics are visibly working to stamp out capital punishment, Wray
says other church groups are not as aggressive. "Positive resolutions
have been passed by the United Methodist Church and other denominations,
but that doesn't mean much without action, " Wray said. "Church leaders
are afraid to confront the powers."
Until last year, Wray was
director of a United Methodist Office of Restorative Justice, based at
Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, Tenn. The office was closed in a
cost-cutting move by the church's Board of Global Ministries. He is the
author of Restorative Justice: Moving Beyond Punishment, a popular study
book produced for the 2002 annual United Methodist Women mission
studies.
The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was one of many events,
along with the terrorist attacks of 2001, that have prompted many to
jump on the death penalty bandwagon, Wray said. "I understand the
feelings of family members of victims and the concern for public safety,
but (bomber) Timothy McVeigh was possessed with a spirit of revenge,
just as are the people who put him to death."
The reason many
people support capital punishment is simple, Wray said. "They want
revenge. People with this view are not evil people. They are concerned
about the victims of crime and public safety." He expressed concern that
many people, particularly jurors, support capital punishment out of a
sense of loyalty to the victim. "There is a false sense that some
capital punishment brings closure."
Wray also seeks to discount
the idea that if criminals don't get the death penalty they'll get out
of prison in three or four years. "A recent study of jurors showed that
they think that if they hadn't given the death penalty, the individual
would have gotten out in five or six years, even when the state law
guaranteed life in prison without parole. People convicted of
first-degree murder aren't getting out early anymore."
He is
heartened by public opinion surveys that show support for the death
penalty has dipped slightly in recent years. He said one reason may be
that other options are available.
"If given more than one option,
people change their opinion," he explained. "If asked only if they are
for or against, the majority would say yes. Asked if they would execute
juveniles, many would not say yes. More would likely be against
executing mentally retarded individuals.
"Asked about
alternative sentencing, such as requiring a convicted murderer to serve
25 years before a parole hearing, many would change their minds," he
continued. "Even more would be against the death penalty if the
convicted person was required to work and provide money to the families
of victims."
# # #
* McAnally, retired director of United Methodist News Service, resides in Nashville, Tenn.
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