Agenda - 10-19-1999 - Information

Browse Search

Resolution for a Moratorium on Executions Orange County, N.C. WHEREAS there is ample evidence that the death penalty is applied in a racist manner: * In 1987, in McCleskey a Kemp, the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged but refused to act on data demonstrating the continuing reality of racial bias. * In 1990, the U.S. General Accounting Office reported "a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in charg- ing, sentencing and imposition of the death penalty." * Nationwide, 82% of those put to death had been convicted of murdering a white person even though people of color are the victims in more than half of all homicides. * The U.S. Congress and the N.C. General Assembly have failed to pass the Racial Justice Act, which would allow prisoners to challenge their death sentences using standards normal in civil racial discrimination cases. * 76 % of all people executed by the State of North Carolina have been African American. * 60 °Io of death row in N.C. is composed of racial minorities, one of the highest percentages of any state death row population. WHEREAS death sentences are reserved for the poor: * About 90% of persons nationwide facing capital charges cannot afford their own attorney and the percentage is higher in N.C. * No state, including North Carolina, has met standards developed by the American Bar Association for appointment, performance and compensation of counsel for indigent prisoners. * The senior judicatory leaders of 31 N.C. faiths have recognized that "the application of the death penalty is clearly discriminatory.... Numerous studies have documented this fact. If a suspect is poor or a member of a minority group, the death penalty is much more likely to be imposed." (Statement) WHEREAS prisoner appeals have been severely curtailed, increasing the risk of imprisonment and execution of innocent people: * So far 79 people, including two North Carolinians, have been freed from death row after their innocence, in most cases, was proven by investigators outside the justice system, and their numbers continue to grow. * In a series of rulings since 1991, the Supreme Court has drastically restricted the rights of death row prisoners to appeal their convictions and death sentences in federal courts, even in cases where prisoners present compelling evidence of innocence. * In 1996, new legislation drastically limited federal court review of death penalty appeals, and gutted public funding of legal aid services for death row prisoners. * At least 23 persons were executed in the United States this century only to have their innocence proven after their deaths WHEREAS the American Bar Association has concluded that administration of the death penalty is "a haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal consistency" and has called for a moratorium on executions. Now, therefore, be it resolved that Orange County, N.C. calls on the North Carolina governor and our state legisla- tors, and the U.S. president and our legislators in Congress, to enact and adopt legislation imposing a moratorium on executions at least until this state and the nation implement policies and procedures which: * Ensure that death penalty cases are administered fairly and impartially, in accordance with basic due process, * Minimize the risk that innocent persons may be executed, and * Prevent the execution of mentally retarded persons and persons who were under the age of 18 at the time of their offenses. Be it further resolved that copies of this resolution shall be forwarded to the Governor and our state legislators and President Clinton and our legislators in Congress. ,~ For information contact: PFADP, 1571/2 E. Franklin St., Suite 3, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.919-933-7567.919-933-5611 (fax)