Message from Gov O’Malley on tomorrow’s death penalty vote

Message from Gov O’Malley on tomorrow’s death penalty vote

Related: 20070611 Studies Death Penalty Discourages Crime

Tomorrow the Maryland State Senate is expected to vote on the death penalty

From the Desk of Governor O'Malley

March 2, 2009

Dear Friend,

Every so often, we have the chance to take action on an issue which touches the very soul of who we are as a people. Tomorrow, the Maryland State Senate is expected to vote on one such issue: legislation that would repeal our State's death penalty and replace it with life without parole.

The vote tomorrow is expected to be very, very close, and results may very well hinge on last-minute decisions by just a handful of senators.

Our democracy is only as strong as the active participation of those who hold the most important office in our State government: “citizen.” I hope that you will consider taking some time to contact your state senator to register your opinion about this defining moral issue. Maryland Citizens Against State Executions has set up a website through which you can email your state senator.

It is my firm belief that the death penalty is outdated, expensive, and utterly ineffective.

As the mayor of the City of Baltimore, I witnessed horrendous crimes that called out for justice. The death penalty was on the books -- and did absolutely nothing to prevent these awful crimes.

Last year, we came together as One Maryland to achieve the second largest reduction in homicides since 1985. The death penalty was on the books -- and did absolutely nothing to prevent these awful crimes or help us reduce violent crime by 40 percent.

And the death penalty has had nothing to do with our efforts to improve public safety in our communities. It's been done through innovative policing, expanded DNA fingerprinting, and local and state partnerships.

Recently the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment found that for every 8.7 Americans sent to death row, one innocent person is exonerated.

The Commission also found that the cost to taxpayers of pursuing a capital punishment conviction was three times as much as the cost of pursuing a non-death penalty homicide conviction. During these times of economic crisis, those are funds we could be investing in crime prevention or assisting victims' families.

Good people on both sides of the death penalty issue can disagree, but as we weigh the repeal in our hearts, for each and every one of us, the fundamental question is the same: what type of society do we want to be? A society guided by fear, retribution, and the false notion that two wrongs somehow make a right? Or a society guided by fundamental civil and human rights endowed by our Creator?

The death penalty is fundamentally and irreconcilably incompatible with the sort of Republic to which I believe all of us aspire.

It is my sincere hope that 2009 will be the year in which, finally, together as One Maryland we repeal capital punishment and replace it with life without parole.

Please contact your state senator and urge them to support the repeal of the death penalty in Maryland.

Sincerely,
Martin O'Malley
Governor

20090302 Message from Gov OMalley on tomorrows death penalty vote
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/