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Moratorium on executions is necessary for justice USA TODAY is to be commended for its fine editorial calling for a moratorium on executions. It has become clearer than ever that a moratorium is a necessity (''Case against death penalty grows with new exonerations, '' Our View, Capital punishment debate, Friday).However, the accompanying Opposing View supporting the death penalty suggests Illinois is the only state that has failed to follow the rules in capital sentencing (''Faulty convictions are rare'').In the 20 other states that have released people from death row, did the prosecutors, juries and judges really ''follow the rules'' when these innocent men and women were sentenced to death?
'' Actually, about 2,000 have been so released since 1973, by the extraordinary due process of the death penalty procedure. 5% of those sentenced to death since that time. Should we be comfortable with a criminal justice system that ''rarely' ' sentences innocent people to death?A death-penalty moratorium is a cease-fire in a struggle filled with emotion and political rhetoric. Kurt RosenbergAmerican Friends Service CommitteePhiladelphia, Pa. If we were truly concerned about putting innocents at risk by the errors of judgment and procedure within the criminal justice system, wouldn't we be speaking of getting rid of parole and probation, those criminal justice policies so rife with errors?There is no proof of an innocent person executed in the United States since 1900. If, as many death penalty supporters like to contend, the system is fair and just, it is incumbent on them to prove it. One can reasonably ask, is this moratorium effort more about protecting innocent life or about getting rid of the death penalty? The anti- death penalty movement has been quite upfront: This is about getting rid of the death penalty. All are concerned about injury to innocents. The author of the Opposing View -- Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation -- also cites evidence purportedly showing that innocent people are ''rarely'' sentenced to death. Motive behind moratoriumUSA TODAY states that ''85 people have been released from death row since 1973, either because of errors at trial or the discovery of exonerating evidence. Even in Philadelphia, a city that has sent more people to death row than 37 states, and is known to some as ''the capital of capital punishment,'' the City Council earlier this month overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions in Pennsylvania. Possibly, it is time to make educated discourse part of this discussion.
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Acceptance Essays
