Prisons

This issue comes up in my line of work quite often and it raises some important questions regarding both individual and community accountability. I don't feel that rap artists are to blame on this one. In my view they are just pointing out the realities of the situation and artistically reflecting that a real threat to individual life exists if one decides to come forward with information. I say, don't kill the messengers. In my mind a more important question comes up: how can our government practically implement ways to ensure safety and security if one decides to come forward with information?

To Snitch, or Not To Snitch

NAM, Commentary, Earl Ofari Hutchinson , Posted: Aug 09, 2007

Editor’s Note: Black on black murder rates are off the charts, capped by the recent killing of three students in New Jersey, but there are few witnesses willing to testify. The lack of witnesses helps increase the spiral of violence in poor black neighborhoods, notes NAM editor Earl Ofari Hutchinson. Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book, The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans and Hispanics (Middle Passage Press and Hispanic Economics New York), published in English and Spanish, will be out in October.

A few days after veteran black reporter and editor Chauncey Bailey was gunned down on the streets of Oakland, Calif., Oakland City Councilmember Desley Brooks made a heartfelt and impassioned plea for anyone who knew anything about a killing in the city to come forth. She wasn’t talking about the murder of Bailey. A 19-year-old reportedly confessed to that. She was talking about the more than half-dozen killings that occurred in the days immediately after the Bailey killing. The victims were black and the assailants almost certainly were also black.

This just in from Campaign to End the Death Penalty:

Groups Opposed to Executions Applaud Ruling on Lethal Injection

Activists agree that the procedure is broken but disagree that the
execution process can be fixed.

Oakland, CA, December 15, 2006:

Anti-death penalty activists spoke out Friday in response to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel stating that the State of
California's lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional.

The lethal injection process amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, according to Crystal Bybee, the California Coordinator of the Campaign
to End the Death Penalty. "We have been saying that lethal injection is cruel and unusual," said Bybee. "The hearings that Judge Fogel conducted showed the serious issues involved and the possibility of prisoners being conscious during the painful procedure. But the bigger picture is that no matter what the mix of chemicals, all executions are cruel and unusual. Judge Fogel is right that the lethal injection process is broken, but is wrong in thinking that it can be fixed."

Individuals who have witnessed executions attest to the fact that these executions are not simple, painless procedures. Barbara Becnel, advocate for Stanley Tookie Williams, witnessed Williams' execution on December 13, 2005. The execution, which Becnel calls "torture-murder," took 35 minutes. The State has admitted that it was botched. "I know the truth, I know what I saw," said Becnel after hearing Judge Fogel's decision. "I saw Stanley Tookie Williams tortured to death. The anniversary of the execution was marked by a reenactment in Berkeley, CA just this week. Becnel added, "What they did to Stanley Tookie

When are we going to abolish the death penalty already?

Death Sentences Decline, and Experts Offer Reasons

By NEIL A. LEWIS, NYT

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 — The number of death sentences in the United States has dropped to its lowest level in decades, according to recent studies, including one released Thursday that predicts the trend will continue because of publicity about cases in which people are wrongly accused of crimes.

The Death Penalty Information Center, a group based in Washington, reported that the number of death sentences, which had remained at about 300 a year in the 1990s, began to drop steadily in 1999 and has declined almost 60 percent since then.

At the Justice Department, the Bureau of Statistics reported last week that there were 128 death sentences in 2005, down from 138 the year before. While the department study does not include an estimate for 2006, the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes the death penalty and tracks cases closely, says the number for this year will be about 114.

Defense lawyers, prosecutors, and groups that study the application of the death penalty all say there are several reasons for the trend. Among them are increased publicity about cases other than murder in which DNA testing resulted in freeing people who had wrongly been convicted of crimes, producing skepticism about the reliability of verdicts; recent Supreme Court decisions requiring that juries be told when life in prison without possibility of parole is an option, and improved legal representation for capital defendants, including a sharp increase in using specialists to develop arguments for mitigation.