[CUADPUpdate] New Jersey to Consider Abolishing Death Penalty & This & That

[Abraham J. Bonowitz]

Greetings All,

Well friends, this is it.  If you are anywhere near Trenton, come 
this Thursday morning to be a part of history....  E-mail me for the 
details if you think you can make it, or see our blurb at www.NJADP.org

A brief TV news item is here under the title "New Jersey to Consider 
Abolishing Death Penalty": http://wfmz.com/view/?id=94212

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Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2007
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Death-penalty recommendations based on facts

I am the chief of police of West Orange, N.J. I was one of 13 members 
of the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission which recommended 
replacing the death penalty with life in prison without possibility of parole.

It was a recommendation based upon facts, careful study and much deliberation.

So I read with interest the March 2 commentary about the study by 
Sharon Hazard-Johnson.

I have great empathy for the writer, who lost her devoted parents to 
a horrific murder. She has every right to disagree with our 
recommendation. However, I feel compelled to reply to her assertions 
about how and why we arrived at our conclusion.

The makeup of the commission was both balanced and fair.

Sitting around me - a pro-death-penalty police chief - was a retired 
Supreme Court justice who had upheld capital punishment; two current 
county prosecutors, who had sought it; the father of a murder victim; 
a victims' advocate, and other dedicated citizens.

This was nothing if not a transparent examination by a credible and 
unbiased panel.

Pro-death-penalty advocates had every opportunity to express their 
views at several hearings, which were public and well-advertised.

Ms. Hazard-Johnson herself was the only witness to testify more than 
once. We considered her position so fully that she was cited in the 
commission's report.

I didn't go into the study thinking I would vote to end the death 
penalty, but with each hearing, it became clearer that New Jersey's 
death penalty isn't working and is actually doing far more harm than good.

I have no sympathy for killers. My sympathy is with the families of 
murder victims. It was those very family members who helped change my 
mind during the course of the hearings.

I had no idea how much families suffer, facing years of capital 
appeals and reversals. Even in states that carry out executions, the 
process takes years and reversals are many. And, in capital cases, 
there is more attention paid to the murderer and less to the victim.

I don't oppose the death penalty in theory. But I have learned that a 
fair, accurate and effective system doesn't exist.

It doesn't make sense to keep reaching for the impossible when the 
alternative of life in prison without parole both ensures public 
safety and puts victims' families first.

I stand by not only the commission's recommendation, but the open and 
fair process we used to reach it.

James P. Abbott
Chief of Police
West Orange Police Department
West Orange, N.J.


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Check out Spiderman III !

With thanks to Steve Dear for the heads up, it seems that Spiderman 
III incorporates themes of revenge versus forgiveness in the wake of 
two murders that weave throughout the storyline.   At one point a 
woman whose husband was murdered says some things that could be right 
out of a talk by one of the speakers from MVFR, MVFHR, or the Journey 
of Hope.  It's not often that a blockbuster seriously explores these 
issues.  And this movie had the largest debut in movie 
history.  Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are going to hear 
this message through this film. There's something to be done - point 
it out and talk about it with people you know who have seen the film....

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NEW BOOK!

My friend Sunny Jacobs' book is out and available only in the UK at 
this point.  The Guardian ran a piece on it last week....  It's long, 
but very moving....



Flower child on death row

In 1976, Sunny Jacobs and her children got caught up in a shootout in 
which two state troopers were killed. She and her boyfriend were 
blamed and sentenced to the electric chair. Here she describes life 
in solitary and a 16-year battle to prove her innocence

Read it here:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,2065977,00.html

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Yours in the Struggle,

--abe
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