New York has a perfect record on the death penalty, one it should maintain in the years ahead.
The number is zero.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court declared capital punishment to be constitutional in 1976 and in the 11 years since New York adopted its own statute, no one has been executed.
DNA testing has uncovered a sordid truth innocent people are on death row. Since 1973, 123 people condemned to death have been exonerated. Just last month, a Florida man awaiting execution was freed after an appeals court ordered his acquittal.
The disparities in death sentences are disturbing. In interracial murders, the black defendant has been executed 209 times, the white defendant 42 times.
More and more, the public favors life imprisonment without parole over the death penalty.
New York's zero is the right number.
- The Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester
Documents recently released by the Pentagon name some detainees at Guantanamo Bay, but add little to their stories.
And without more than just names scattered throughout 5,000 pages of hearing testimony records, a stain grows on America's reputation.
There are about 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and nothing in this flurry of pages offers proof that they are - or aren't - held for legitimate reasons.
Instead, what emerges is an occasional glimpse of life in the detention center, or an allegation of abuse, or a look at the difficulties of offering any defense. America cannot simply assert a right to indefinite incarceration without charges without inviting the same from tyrants the world over.
Four years of incarceration and interrogation ought to be enough to separate the chaff from the wheat.
Charge them or send them home.
- The Buffalo News
Since the U.S. Supreme Court declared capital punishment to be constitutional in 1976 and in the 11 years since New York adopted its own statute, no one has been executed.
DNA testing has uncovered a sordid truth innocent people are on death row. Since 1973, 123 people condemned to death have been exonerated. Just last month, a Florida man awaiting execution was freed after an appeals court ordered his acquittal.
The disparities in death sentences are disturbing. In interracial murders, the black defendant has been executed 209 times, the white defendant 42 times.
More and more, the public favors life imprisonment without parole over the death penalty.
New York's zero is the right number.
- The Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester
Documents recently released by the Pentagon name some detainees at Guantanamo Bay, but add little to their stories.
And without more than just names scattered throughout 5,000 pages of hearing testimony records, a stain grows on America's reputation.
There are about 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and nothing in this flurry of pages offers proof that they are - or aren't - held for legitimate reasons.
Instead, what emerges is an occasional glimpse of life in the detention center, or an allegation of abuse, or a look at the difficulties of offering any defense. America cannot simply assert a right to indefinite incarceration without charges without inviting the same from tyrants the world over.
Four years of incarceration and interrogation ought to be enough to separate the chaff from the wheat.
Charge them or send them home.
- The Buffalo News
The Citizens' Say
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