A Pennsylvania Supreme Court-appointed committee last week recommended a moratorium on executions until the state can ensure the death penalty is administered fairly.
The report follows a national trend of additional scrutiny concerning death-penalty cases amid arguments that minorities are far more likely to receive capital punishment.
The hot-button issue is even explored in a movie released last month, The Life of David Gale.
One leading death-penalty opponent believes the committee’s report begs for at least a thorough review.
"There is a distinct difference between a moratorium on the executions and abolition of the death penalty," said Jeff Garis, executive director of Pennsylvania Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty. "This committee is not arguing the death penalty should be abolished, it is saying we need to look at it."
After four years of research, the Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System released its 550-page report, 40 of which pertained to capital punishment. (The report also studied the judicial system’s handling of sexual assault victims, as well as other issues pertaining to racial and gender bias.)
"The moratorium is based on very extreme racial bias in the imposition of death sentences in Pennsylvania, and also concerns about inadequate funding and training for defense counsel appointed to capital cases," said Garis, a former Mennonite minister.
As a result, the committee is calling for a suspension of all executions within the state until these issues are resolved.
But it is difficult to find agreement on the issue, even among local legislators.
State Rep. Robert C. Donatucci (D-185th Dist.) said he supports capital punishment, and doesn’t believe the report raises any red flags.
"They didn’t come out and say anything really critical that we should put a halt to the death penalty. I think everything should remain status quo right now," he said.
State Rep. Harold James (D-186th Dist.), however, applauded the report’s findings in a statement.
"A death-penalty moratorium is just one step that needs to be taken in an effort to make the justice system fair," stated James, who has introduced legislation to address racial profiling and other issues of equality.
"Justice usually means ‘just us not being treated fairly,’" the legislator added.
The capital punishment debate is somewhat academic in Pennsylvania, where only three death-row inmates — including infamous "House of Horrors" murderer Gary Heidnik — have been executed since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1976. Former radio reporter Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, has remained on death row for 21 years while attracting international media attention.
Still, opponents of capital punishment insist the margin for error and bias is too high.
Nearly 70 percent of the 242 inmates on Pennsylvania’s death row are minorities. Almost 90 percent of those sentenced to death from Philadelphia are African-American, Garis said.
He added that concerns about the potential for error cross racial lines. "For every 7.5 people executed, you have someone on death row who is found innocent and released."
According to a poll of 509 registered voters conducted by Madonna Yost Opinion Research, 72 percent of Pennsylvanians support a moratorium on executions to study issues of fairness.
A moratorium is the halfway point where abolitionists and non-abolitionists can see eye-to-eye, Garis insisted.
But prosecutors who put inmates on death row might not be willing to go that far.
District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham’s office referred questions on the proposed moratorium to the National District Attorneys Association. The association’s official statement echoed the findings contained within a press release from the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.
"The Pennsylvania Supreme Court should throw this report in the trash and start over," stated Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Sacramento, Calif.-based foundation.
The CJLF, which supports the rights of crime victims, called the Pennsylvania Supreme Court committee’s report "biased" and "the product of a preconceived anti-death-penalty agenda."
The foundation contended the report begins with an inflammatory but misleading statistic that minorities make up 68 percent of Pennsylvania’s death row, but only 11 percent of the general population.
"Comparison with the general population is irrelevant, because law-abiding people don’t belong on death row. The starting point should be to compare death row with the racial composition of the population of murderers," Scheidegger argued.
FBI statistics for the years 1976-1999 show that of the 13,860 homicides for which the race of the perpetrator is known, 8,746 of the offenders were minorities.
The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation also noted the studies cited in the report were conducted by well-known opponents of capital punishment. "Clearly, this committee was not even trying to be evenhanded," the director stated.
Last week, Gov. Ed Rendell — who was Philadelphia’s district attorney before becoming mayor — said he would not impose a moratorium on the death penalty because he didn’t see enough evidence to support it, according to Garis.
Rendell did state, however, that he would abide by whatever the Supreme Court decides.
"I agree with the governor, keep everything on track," Donatucci said. "Basically, I’m going to go with that right now. If there is a problem, they should correct it. It’s going to have to be examined, but to put a moratorium on it — no way at this point."
James maintains the death penalty is tainted by racial bias, and must be reviewed.
"I have been trying to bring attention to prejudice in the justice system, but the Republican leadership failed to move any of the legislation," he stated.
In the near future, the state Supreme Court will have two committees review the recommendations of the Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System. One of those committees is headed by U.S. District Judge Midge Rendell, the other by Philadelphia city solicitor Nelson Diaz, a former judge.
Garis calls Judge Rendell’s position on the committee a "conflict of interest" for the governor.
Whatever the findings, Garis believes national sentiment is on his side.
"Public-opinion polls have been pretty consistent in showing that a third of the public categorically opposes the death penalty," he said.
Garis contends there is no public-safety risk to ending the death penalty in Pennsylvania because defendants convicted of first-degree murder who do not receive capital punishment are sentenced to life in prison without parole.
"Either way, they’re not walking out of prison gates," Garis said.
The director believes opponents of the death penalty are gaining momentum, and expects a moratorium to be imposed within a year.
"You really send a mixed message when you say it’s wrong to take somebody’s life, but we’re going to take somebody’s life to prove that," he said. "There’s a kind of hypocrisy to that."
