THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: OPINION
SOURCE: BY PAT BANE
LENGTH: 75 lines
The death penalty is not a solution to violence. It is a premeditated act of violence carried out on behalf of us all. Since reinstatement of the death penalty in the U.S. in 1976, executions in Virginia have been steadily increasing. Today, the state ranks behind only Texas and Florida in the number of its citizens executed. Historically, it was the first colony to perform an execution and has killed more people, including women and children, than any other state.
A 1995 Hart Research poll showed that police chiefs across the country do not believe that the death penalty is effective in reducing violent crime. It is irreversible when errors are discovered, is more costly than life sentencing, and simply does not accomplish what society expects it will. Still, legislators in Virginia and 37 other states try to appear tough on crime by supporting capital punishment. More and more, we hear that the death penalty provides closure to families of murder victims. There has even been legislation passed allowing victims' families to witness executions.
From Sept. 21 to Oct. 6, members of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation (MVFR), this national organization of families who have lost a loved one to homicide or state execution, came from across the U.S., Canada and Ireland to join members in Virginia to advocate alternatives to the death penalty. They spoke of personal losses and reasons for rejecting the death penalty to over 25,000 people at 225 events during a 16-day public education tour called the Journey of Hope.
When a family loses a loved one to murder, it has two major issues to deal with. One is a crime. The other is a death and the grief that accompanies such loss. The first contacts a family has after a murder are with law enforcement officers and prosecutors. It is not the police agencies' or district attorney's job to assist families in dealing with grief. So, in shock and through these legal contacts, family members usually become focused on the crime. By seeking an execution at this time of crisis, society implies to victim's families that they will feel better when the offender is killed.
Nancy Gowen, a Richmond woman whose mother was murdered, told audiences that the subsequent execution only added to the horror. Families who oppose the death penalty, rather than being comforted, are further traumatized by an execution being carried out in their names. Those who expect an execution to bring release from unresolved rage and emptiness often complain that the execution was too easy, that the murdered did not suffer enough. Many feel cheated when the execution does not provide the anticipated relief.
Are we really so lacking in sensitivity and compassion that we believe killing heals? Do we truly think those who have lost a child, parent, spouse, sibling or other family member will find solace in the death of another human being? The all too tragic truth is that nothing - no number of retaliatory deaths - can ever restore the lives lost. Society can provide support and grief therapy to families of murder victims. Churches and social-service agencies can offer hope by reaching out to grieving families enabling them to heal. MVFR families have found that dealing with their grief rather than seeking retaliation has enabled them to go on living.
Politicians who offer victims' families only another death and the gruesome specter of watching someone die must provide real solutions. Communities should no longer accept ineffective and expensive policies that fail to make our streets safe. Our representatives must be held accountable to provide programs that prevent crime. Their current emphasis on execution brutalizes us all while accomplishing nothing.
As they traveled around Virginia, local MVFR members met with state legislators to discuss alternatives to the death penalty. They cited the 1996 Virginia Quality of Life poll showing that support of the death penalty in Virginia drops from 83% to just 40% when an alternative is offered. The poll also shows that 74% of Virginians oppose the 21-day rule that prohibits state courts from hearing new evidence, even evidence of innocence, more than 21 days after a trial. Victims' families asked that this rule be waived in capital cases. Death penalty proponents concerned with fairness support this action. It's time for our legislators to listen and respond to the will of those they represent. MEMO: Pat Bane of Atlantic, Va., is executive director of Murder
Victims' Families for Reconciliation. by CNB