People of Faith Against the Death Penalty applauds the New York State Assembly in its decision today to refuse to reinstate the death penalty.
"The problems that New York found with its death penalty system are even worse here in North Carolina," said Stephen Dear, executive director of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty. "We need to suspend executions and study how broken our system is and how we can make it less unjust and less likely to condemn innocent people."
New York is the first state to dismantle the death penalty since the United States reinstated capital punishment in the mid-1970s. The New York State Assembly Codes Committee voted 11-7 Tuesday, April 12, in Albany against a measure to reauthorize the state's death penalty, which was declared unconstitutional last June.
The state's move away from the death penalty is one more landmark in a national trend. This year legislation to repeal the death penalty has progressed in New Mexico and Connecticut, the Supreme Court has banned juvenile executions, New Jersey and Illinois remain under moratoriums, and several states, including North Carolina, are actively considering moratorium legislation.
The New York Assembly's decision demonstrates how the political landscape across the country has changed with regard to the death penalty. New York was the most recent state to reinstate the death penalty in 1995 and is now the first to decide that its experiment with death has failed.
Life without parole is the maximum sentence for those convicted of the most heinous crimes in New York.
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This press release provided by: People of Faith Against the Death Penalty in Carrboro, NC.