Friday, May 31, 2013

The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents

Updated 5/2026

The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom

 The death penalty has a foundation within justice and it spares more innocent lives.

 The majority populations of all countries, likely, support the death penalty for some crimes (1). Why? Justice.

 Anti-death penalty claims are either false or the pro-death penalty positions are stronger, as detailed, with sources.

With many of these, you might ask: How could media and academia not fact check nor vet, since 1993? 
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 FACT CHECKING/VETTING/RESEARCH FOR ALL SIDES

1) The Death Row "Exonerated"/"Innocent" Frauds 
 71-83% Error Rate in Death Row "Innocent" Claims, 
Well Known Since 1998

2) Do Ethics Matter? Academic Disaster: Law Professor Corinna Barrett Lain

related

b) Lethal Injection & Nitrogen Hypoxia: Controversies Resolved

3) What a mess - C-Span & The Death Penalty Information Center
Media Disaster
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2024/03/what-mess-c-span-death-penalty.html 

NOTE: Enter Media Disaster in the search box for many, many more

4) Richard Glossip: Little Credibility with His Supporters 

5) The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-death-penalty-do-innocents-matter.html


8) 30 Examples: How Death Penalty Abolitionists Value Murderers 
More Than Their Innocent Victims:
AKA - Full Rebuttal of Sir Richard Branson & His Death Penalty Comments
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2023/04/full-rebuttal-of-sir-richard-branson.html 

9) Sister Helen Prejean: Her Lies, Deceptions . . . and/or 
Astounding Willful Ignorance? - A Compilation

10) The Death Penalty: A Repudiation of Journalism, by Journalists?
The Society of Professional Journalists & The Sigma Delta Chi Award

NOTE: Enter Media Disaster in the search box for many, many more

11) Religion and The Death Penalty
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2022/03/religion-death-penalty.html 

12) Judicial Disaster: Their Anti-death Penalty Mess

13) Rebuttal: DEMETRIUS MINOR, National Director, Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2022/07/rebuttal-demetrius-minor-conservatives.html 

14) Some notes for the meeting with the prosecutor:
For Victim Survivors in Potential Death Penalty Cases
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2023/06/victim-survivors-in-potential-death.html 

15) Gary Graham: There Is No Fraud Anti-Death Penalty Folks 
Will Not Push: A Case Study

16) Media Disaster: Death Penalty & Journalists Murdering Journalism
A Pulitzer Prize Winner

NOTE: Enter Media Disaster in the search box for many, many more

19) Media Disaster: Cameron Todd Willingham: 
Media Colludes w/ the Anti-death Penalty Movement

NOTE: Enter Media Disaster in the search box for many, many more

20) MORAL FOUNDATIONS

 Immanuel Kant: "If an offender has committed murder, he must die. In this case, no possible substitute can satisfy justice. For there is no parallel between death and even the most miserable life, so that there is no equality of crime and retribution unless the perpetrator is judicially put to death.". "A society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody else's life is simply immoral."

 Pope Pius XII; "When it is a question of the execution of a man condemned to death it is then reserved to the public power to deprive the condemned of the benefit of life, in expiation of his fault, when already, by his fault, he has dispossessed himself of the right to live." 9/14/52

 John Murray: "Nothing shows the moral bankruptcy of a people or of a generation more than disregard for the sanctity of human life." "... it is this same atrophy of moral fiber that appears in the plea for the abolition of the death penalty." "It is the sanctity of life that validates the death penalty for the crime of murder. It is the sense of this sanctity that constrains the demand for the infliction of this penalty. The deeper our regard for life the firmer will be our hold upon the penal sanction which the violation of that sanctity merit." (Page 122 of Principles of Conduct).

C.S. Lewis' "Humanitarian Theory of Punishment", para 25 within 
The Death Penalty: Mercy, Expiation, Redemption & Salvation

 Plato: “Longer life is no boon to the sinner himself in such a case, and that his decease will bring a double blessing to his neighbors; it will be a lesson to them to keep themselves from wrong and will rid society of an evil man. These are the reasons for which a legislator is bound to ordain the chastisement of death for such desperate villainies, and for them alone”

 William A. Petit, Jr.: "Justice is the first virtue of social institutions," according to philosopher John Rawls. It transcends national borders, races and cultures. The death penalty is the appropriate societal response to the brutal and willful act of capital felony murder. Every murder destroys a portion of society. Those murdered can never grow and contribute to humankind; the realization of their potential will never be achieved. I support the death penalty not as a deterrent or for revenge or closure, but because it is just and because it prevents murderers from ever harming again. By intentionally, unlawfully taking the life of another, a murderer breaks a sacrosanct law of society and forfeits his own right to live. (In a home invasion, Dr. Petit was, severely injured, his wife Jennifer and their 11-year-old daughter Michaela were raped and murdered. Both daughters, Michaela and Hayley were burned, alive.)

 John Locke: "A criminal who, having renounced reason... hath, by the unjust violence and slaughter he hath committed upon one, declared war against all mankind, and therefore may be destroyed as a lion or tyger, one of those wild savage beasts with whom men can have no society nor security." And upon this is grounded the great law of Nature, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Second Treatise of Civil Government.

 Saint/Pope Pius V: "The just use of (executions), far from involving the crime of murder, is an act of paramount obedience to this (Fifth) Commandment which prohibits murder." "The Roman Catechism of the Council of Trent" (1566)

 Jean-Jacques Rousseau: "In killing the criminal, we destroy not so much a citizen as an enemy. The trial and judgments are proofs that he has broken the Social Contract, and so is no longer a member of the State." (The Social Contract)

many more, here:

600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
http://prodpquotes.info/ 

Also read
a) Guilty: The Collapse of Criminal Justice, by Judge Harold J. Rothwax, 1996
b) The Death of Punishment, Robert Blecker, 2014

FN

1) The media avoids these polls.

a) August 16, 2021      
86% Death Penalty Support, Depending Upon Crime Committed
New Evidence of Broad Support for Death Penalty | RealClearPolicy
Joseph M. Bessette & J. Andrew Sinclair, RealClearPolicy August 16, 2021 
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/2021/08/16/new_evidence_of_broad_support_for_death_penalty_790059.html#! 
 
These polls, above and below, reflect well known polls, for the last 15 years, showing much higher death penalty support than by the oft quoted, much less accurate Gallup, as even, Gallup shows (see Gallup's Mcveigh poll (below) vs their standard poll)

b)  Death Penalty Polling
 updated 3/2023
86% Death Penalty Support, Depending Upon Crime Committed 
95-99% Support From Victim Survivors in Death Penalty Cases

c) 86% Death Penalty Support: Highest Ever - April 2013
World Support Remains High
95% of Murder Victim's Family Members Support Death Penalty
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/11/86-death-penalty-support-highest-ever.html 
 
Research, w/sources, w/fact checking/vetting & critical thinking, as required of everyone in a public policy debate and which rebut all anti-death penalty claims and/or prove pro-death penalty positions overwhelm the corresponding anti-death penalty position.
 
The media/academic norm is to use anti-death penalty material, refuse to fact check or vet it and avoid all pro-death penalty research and experts or pretend that is the case.How will you know that is true? Read on.
 
a) The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
b) Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
(7 pro-death penalty experts are included)
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2022/01/students-death-penalty-research.html

600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
http://prodpquotes.info/ 

======
 
Partial CV
Posted by at

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Speeding Up Appeals: Florida

Speeding Up Appeals: Florida and 
The "Innocent"/"Exoneration" Frauds
update edits Feb, 2025

From: Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom

Re: Rebuttal to "On death penalty, wrongly accused are victims, too",  Leonard Pitts, Jr., In My Opinion, Miami Herald, 5/18/13

Pitts - Dead Wrong

Mr. Pitts is upset that Florida wants to have a responsible death penalty protocol, in an effort that may get appeals down to about 10 years on average, prior to execution, or a reasoned 4-6 years of state appeals and 4-6 years of federal appeals, or 40% more appeals time than in Virginia's death penalty cases.

As an example of how the death penalty should be handled, Pitts cites courageous pseudo-Saint George Ryan, a former governor who commuted the death sentences of all murderers on Illinois' death row.

Let's look at Mr. Pitts' shining example.

Gov. Ryan was a lying, felonious politician.

What courage? Ryan was held in total contempt by both political parties and by Illinois citizens. Ryan knew he had broken the law and was likely going to jail, which did occur, Ryan had already decided that he could not run for office, again.

What Ryan was filled with was contempt, not courage.

Ryan commuted all of those death sentences because Ryan's only remaining supporters were the murderers on death row and those who would do anything to make sure that all murderers lived.

No one doubts that there were problems with Illinois' death penalty system. There was also no doubt that the overwhelming majority of the death row cases were solid. Ryan promised he would review all cases individually and decide accordingly. Of course, that is not what he did.

Governors and murder victim's family members soundly criticized Ryan. Murderers and their supporters cheered, literally, as, certainly, did Mr. Pitts.

Ryan showed his disrespect for the innocent murder victims, their surviving loved ones,  the state - the prosecutors, the trial judge, the jurors, the appellate courts, Illinois citizens and justice.

Mr. Pitts' claim that there have been 24 "exonerated" from Florida's death row is false.

At least since 2002, it has been well known, throughout Florida, that the "exonerated" claims for Florida's death row was the largest of the nationwide frauds regarding the "exonerated" or "innocence" claims (1).

Based upon two studies, from 2002 and 2011 (1) by a state agency, the Florida Commission on Capital Cases, the real number is from 4-5 actual innocents discovered on Florida's death row since 1973, or about an 80% error rate in the "exoneration" claims made by Pitts and other death penalty opponents, a percentage similar to the national error rate, by death penalty opponents, for such claims, based upon the, now, 142 "exonerated" from death row, with proof of innocence (2), whereby the reality is the numbers are 25-40 (2), based upon a number of reviews, inclusive of an admission by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) that their claims are not based upon either exoneration or innocent, as commonly and properly defined (2), as opposed to the bizarre definitions created by DPIC, in order to further this deception.

Basic, easy, fact checking confirms this.  Possibly, Pitts didn't get the memo. Really?

No one wants the actually innocent to be investigated, arrested, indicted, tried, convicted or sentenced.

Reality finds that innocents are more protected with the death penalty (3).

Virginia executes their murderers within 7.1 years, on average, and has executed 70% (or 110) of those murderers so sentenced since 1976.

Virginia has no claims of an innocent executed.

Obviously, Florida can, responsibly, have a similar protocol.

But, as Mr. Pitts wants to make sure that all murderers live . . . .

FN

1)  Florida: The 83% error rate in "exoneration" claims.

 This may represent one of the worst cases of media deception, as the Florida media has known of the real numbers since 2002, but refuses to use them, instead, pushing the well known deception of the 23/24 numbers. That is how bad it has become.

  1)  TRULY INNOCENT?: A Review of 23 Case Histories of Inmates Released from Florida‘s Death Row Since 1973, Commission on Capital Cases, The Florida Legislature, Roger R. Maas, Executive Director     May 13, 2011 
casehistory05-13-11 Report.pdf

NOTE: The 2002 study is no longer available. The 2011 study updated it. The Sentinel, as other media, particularly, in Florida, as Pitts, should have been aware of both the 2002 and 2011 studies, at the times of publication.

======
NOTE: FN 2 &3, below, are updated, here:

Read para 7, first

 The Death Row "Exonerated"/"Innocent" Frauds 
 71-83% Error Rate in Death Row "Innocent" Claims, 
Well Known Since 1998
======

2)  a) The 130 (now 142) death row "innocents" scam
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/03/04/fact-checking-issues-on-innocence-and-the-death-penalty.aspx

     b)  The "Innocent", the "Exonerated" and Death Row
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-innocent-exonerated-and-death-row_19.html

3) The Innocent Frauds: Standard Anti Death Penalty Strategy
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-innocent-frauds-standard-anti-death.html 


Research, w/sources, w/fact checking/vetting & critical thinking, as required of everyone in a public policy debate and which rebut all anti-death penalty claims.
 
The media/academic norm is to use anti-death penalty material, refuse to fact check or vet it and avoid all pro-death penalty research and experts. How will you know that is true? You haven't seen this material, prior.
 
a) The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
b) Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
(7 pro-death penalty experts are included)
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2022/01/students-death-penalty-research.html

600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
http://prodpquotes.info/ 

======
 
Partial CV
Posted by at

Monday, May 06, 2013

Duane Buck: Racism, Texas & The Death Penalty

Duane Buck: Given the death penalty because he's a black male?
Nope: He's a two time murderer, who tried to murder two more
Dudley Sharp
Rebuttal to Leonard Pitts'  "Texas case exposes racial bias in death penalty for Duane Buck", Miami Herald, 5/5/13,
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/05/3381274/leonard-pitts-texas-case-exposes.html

 NOTE: Quotes are from the denial of certiorari, US Supreme Court (1).

 Bold and/or CAPS my emphasis.
Duane Buck is a vile criminal who has spawned another round of worldwide anti death penalty hand wringing, based upon the fraud that Buck was sentenced to death because of racism, trial testimony that both blacks and males are more likely to  commit violent acts and to re offend - facts which are true (2), but which could not have been a factor in Buck's death sentence.

 Duane Buck was tried and sentenced to death because, with premeditation, he murdered his ex-girlfriend, Debra Gardner, in the middle of the street, as her daughter and son witnessed. In addition, he murdered Debra's new boyfriend, Kenneth Butler, and attempted to murder his own sister, Phyllis Taylor, who was shot point blank in the chest, but survived and attempted to also murder Butler's brother, Harold Ebnezer, who was fired upon, but escaped, unharmed -  two capital murders and two attempted capital murders.

 Buck, repeatedly,  laughed about the murders, which were pre meditated and occurred at the same time and location.

 The defense called two psychologists as experts, Walter Quijano and Patrick Lawrence, both of whom confirmed and restated that Buck had a lower probability of being a future danger,  testimony given to reduce Buck's chances of receiving a death sentence, which, in Texas, requires an additional finding that the murderer is a future danger - a consideration not, constitutionally, required, which adds additional burdens of proof on the prosecution and provides more benefits to the murderer, both at trial and on appeal, as seen here.

 The "future danger" requirement should be removed from Texas law.

 From majority denial of certiorari:

 "The witness, Dr. Walter Quijano, testified that (Buck), if given a noncapital sentence, WOULD NOT PRESENT A DANGER TO SOCIETY." (1).

 Quijano responded affirmatively and truthfully, to the prosecutor's question, regarding that both blacks and males were more likely to be violent and re offend (2).

From majority denial of certiorari:

"And, on redirect, defense counsel mentioned race ONLY TO MITIGATE the effect on the jury of Dr. Quijano’s prior identification of race as an immutable  factor increasing a defendant’s likelihood of future dangerousness." (1).

 When the prosecution presented Buck's probability of future dangerousness, IT WAS NEVER IN THE CONTEXT OF BUCK'S RACE OR GENDER.

 From majority denial of certiorari:

 "Moreover, the prosecutor did not revisit the race-related testimony in closing or ask the jury to find future dangerousness based on Buck’s race." (1).

 THE PROSECUTOR DID NOT "ASK THE JURY TO FIND FUTURE DANGEROUSNESS BASED UPON BUCK'S RACE" OR GENDER.

 Repeatedly, defense counsel and the two defense experts made it clear that BUCK DID NOT FIT INTO THE CATEGORY OF BLACK MALES THAT WERE MORE LIKELY TO RE OFFEND AND THAT BUCK WAS AT A REDUCED RISK TO RE OFFEND.

 Never was it presented to the jury that because Buck was black and/or male, that he was more likely to re offend because of that. All of the evidence was to the contrary.
From the dissent, denial of certiorari:
"On direct examination, Quijano referred to RACE AS PART OF HIS OVERALL OPINION THAT BUCK WOULD POSE A LOW THREAT TO SOCIETY WERE HE IMPRISONED." (1).

 Even when true, should race/ethnicity/gender crime statistics be used in criminal cases? No.  It is best to stick with the individual case, itself, to not apply a statistical reality, when it may not apply to that specific defendant/murderer.

 There were six other death penalty cases, wherein  Dr. Quijano testified, that some minorities and males were more likely to be a future danger.

From the dissent, denial of certiorari:

 “In this case, first on direct examination by the defense, Dr. Quijano merely identified race as one statistical factor and pointed out that African-Americans were overrepresented in the criminal justice system; (Quijano) DID NOT STATE A CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP (BY RACE OR GENDER), NOR DID HE LINK THIS STATISTIC TO BUCK AS AN INDIVIDUAL."(1).  (parenthesis my words added)

 For obvious reasons, Buck was not given that opportunity and all state and federal courts have refused Buck any relief.

 The majority, here, correcting the dissent error, from denial of certiorari:

 "Although the dissent suggests that the District Court may have been misled by the State’s inaccurate statements, the District Court, in denying petitioner’s motion under Rule 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, was fully aware of what had occurred in all of these cases. It is for these reasons that I conclude that certiorari should be denied." (1).

 "In four of the six other cases, see, e.g.,Saldano v. Texas, 530 U. S. 1212 (2000), the prosecution called Dr. Quijano and elicited the objectionable testimony on direct examination." Other, meaning the six cases other than Buck's..

 With the cooperation of then Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, those 6 other cases received re sentencing trials,  within which there was no mention of any gender/race/ethnicity effect in violence and re offending.

 In those  6 re sentencing trials, all received the death penalty, again, a solid rebuttal to any claim that race/gender testimony, in any of the cases,  was a factor in the prior jury decisions to give death.

 Just as with Buck, it was the nature of the crimes and other non racial/gender factors which convinced 156 jurors in those 13 trials to, unanimously, award the death penalty.

Invoking racism, as with the Buck case, is just another example of how death penalty opponents will apply any deception, no matter how vile,  to achieve their ends.

 1) From the denial of certiorari

 DUANE EDWARD BUCK v. RICK THALER, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT, No. 11–6391. Decided November 7, 2011

 2)   Race, ethnicity and crime statistics.

For the White–Black comparisons, the Black level is 12.7 times greater than the White level for homicide, 15.6 times greater for robbery, 6.7 times greater for rape, and 4.5 times greater for aggravated assault.


 For the Hispanic- White comparison, the Hispanic level is 4.0 times greater than the White level for homicide, 3.8 times greater for robbery, 2.8 times greater for rape, and 2.3 times greater for aggravated assault.


 For the Hispanic–Black comparison, the Black level is 3.1 times greater than the Hispanic level for homicide, 4.1 times greater for robbery, 2.4 times greater for rape, and 1.9 times greater for aggravated assault.


 From


 REASSESSING TRENDS IN BLACK VIOLENT CRIME, 1980.2008: SORTING OUT THE "HISPANIC EFFECT" IN UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS ARRESTS, NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMIZATION SURVEY OFFENDER ESTIMATES, AND U.S. PRISONER COUNTS, DARRELL STEFFENSMEIER, BEN FELDMEYER, CASEY T. HARRIS, JEFFERY T. ULMER, Criminology, Volume 49, Issue 1, Article first published online: 24 FEB 2011


 with more:
RACE & THE DEATH PENALTY: A REBUTTAL TO THE RACISM CLAIMS
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/07/rebuttal-death-penalty-racism-claims.html

 ======

Victim's Voices - These are the murder victims
http://www.murdervictims.com/Voices/voices.html
Posted by at

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Murder at the Supreme Court

Subject: Tim O'Brien and Martin Clancy: standard anti death penalty nonsense

re: VIDEO  --  C-SPAN, Book TV, AFTER WORDS: Martin Clancy and Tim O'Brien, "Murder at the Supreme Court: Lethal Crimes and Landmark Cases", hosted by Kimberly Tignor, National Bar Association

From: Dudley Sharp, a pro death penalty expert

The nonsense is so thick, this could be any anti death penalty presentation.

1) Clancy calls murderers facing execution the victim, a classic anti death penalty reversal of morality.

2) Clancy calls the Francis case one of "double jeopardy" because Francis was subject to executions twice. It was an 8th amendment case, not one of "double jeopardy", a very different thing. It appears he has no clue what legal double jeopardy means.

3) Murder Rates

 O'Brien talks about death penalty states, which  have higher murder rates than do those without the death penalty.

He needs to look at Michigan, the exception that reveals the rule, which is that murder rates are not how you measure deterrence, as is, easily, seen, by looking at cities and countries that do or do not have the death penalty, worldwide (1), or by looking at different cities, towns and neighborhoods, within any given US state, wherin we can find widely varying crime and murder rates, whether or not in a state with the death penalty.

4) Deterrence 

Mr. O'Brien thinks the deterrent effect of the death penalty is undecided.

The findings that the death penalty deters some are overwhelming (2). That is not surprising, as all prospects of a negative outcome deter some. It is a truism.

The findings that the death penalty deters none do not exist (2). In fact, I have yet to find anyone that would make such a claim. It is impossible to defend or to prove.

Therefore, the question is not "Does death penalty deter?" It does. The only relevant question is "How much does it deters and does it deter more than life without parole?

The first question will never be answered to anyone's satisfaction. The anecdotal evidence is overwhelming that the death penalty is an enhanced deterrent over LWOP (2).

5) AN INNOCENT EXECUTED

Clancy thinks that it is established that Carlos DeLuna was innocent executed? Not remotely.

Mr. Clancy did you fact check the Columbia U report?  I know of no one that has. It is required, in all case and, particularly, with the primary author. The prosecutor in the case has already found enough problems (3), that no person who respects fact checking would even speculate that the Columbia U review confirmed an innocent executed.

It appears that Clancy presumed he got a full account. Don't presume.

Innocent frauds of the anti death penalty movement have become so common (3), that extreme caution and thorough fact checking should always be the rule.

You would think journalists would have some clue as to how important that is. It appears that if a claim supports the anti death penalty cause, they just accepted it - common.

6) Innocents at risk

 O'Brien says there is no remedy for an innocent executed. True.

O'Brien forgot to mention that there is no remedy for innocents who die in prison, either, which likely occurs with higher probability than with an innocent executed (3).

About 5000 die/year within US custody. On average, we have executed about 36/yr. since1976.

In addition, innocents are better protected with the death penalty than with life without parole (3).

7)  O'Brien says only the poor are sentenced to die and that folks are "sentenced to die, not for the worst crime, but for the worst lawyers". One is a standard anti death penalty claim, the other a standard saying, respectively, neither of which is true (4).

8) O'Brien says that jurors are, now, less likely to give a death sentence. Again, likely some anti death penalty source told him this and he failed to fact check it.

The significant drop in death sentences is due to a dramatic drop in murders, which because of similarly dramatic drops in murders and rapes, means that capital murders have dropped even further, likely, in the 60-80% range.

The United States has had double digit executions, annually, from 1984 - 2011 (5). Murders are, now, at a 43 year low (6). Murder rates are, now, at a 48 year low (6). Not surprisingly, death sentences are at a 37 year low (5).

9) O'Brien finds the death penalty arbitrary and capricious.

Based upon the facts, I don't know how anyone could view the death penalty as anything but the least arbitrary and capricious sanction (7).

10) O'Brien says that the poor and those with little to no education are more likely to receive the death penalty.

The poor are most likely to commit murder and, therefore, are much more likely to receive it and those on death row have a median education of the 12th grade.

Did they not consider those realities?

11) O'Brien says that the race of the victim is a real problem in death penalty cases. Hardly. It just so happens that whites are, overwhelmingly, the victims in capital murders (8) . Does he know that white murderers are twice as likely to be executed as are black murderers (8)?

Probably never even considered it.

12) O'Brien says that if the victim is white and the perpetrator poor a death sentence is more likely than not.

Absurd to the point of the ridiculous or delusional.
 
Of 700,000 murders since 1973, 8300 have been sent to death row. The overwhelming "more likely than not" is a sentence less than death, 98.8% of the time.
 
13) Both Clancy and O'Brien complain about how long the appeals process is, but, somehow,  failed to mention Virginia, which executes within 7.1 years of sentencing and has executed 72% of those so sentenced, 108 murderers (9).

It appears that both Clancy and O'Brien just decided to accept a bunch of anti death penalty claims, with no fact checking and no critical thinking.

These guys were/are reporters?!

Just terrible.

======

1) "DEATH PENALTY DETERRENCE CLARIFIED"

 DETERRENCE, THE DEATH PENALTY & MURDER RATES

"Death Penalty, Deterrence & Murder Rates: Let's be clear"

2)  OF COURSE THE DEATH PENALTY DETERS: A review of the debate

LIFE: MUCH PREFERRED OVER EXECUTION
99.7% of murderers tell us "Give me life, not execution"
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/11/life-much-preferred-over-execution.html

3) The DeLuna case is reviewed within two links, herein:

The Innocent Frauds: Standard Anti Death Penalty Strategy

4) Is there Class Disparity with Executions?

NOTE: Note, either subjectively or objectively, the crimes for which murderers are sent to death row are truly horrific and are the worst of crimes.  There are some examples of very poor lawyering in some death penalty cases but, overwhelmingly, we are looking at good defense counsel with horrendous clients, the opposite of O'Brien's nonsense.

5)  Capital Punishment, 2010 - Statistical Tables, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Tracy Snell, Dec 2011, see Figure 1, page 1 and Table 8, page 12,

6) United States Crime Data, from FBI UCR
    http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

The Disaster Center is a convenient and reliable source for crime data, which uses FBI UCR data

Texas
year          murders       rapes         robberies
1991         2652            9266          47900
2011         1126             7439          28395
dif             1526             18 27         19505
less            58%              20%             41%

US
year           murders       rapes        robberies
1991          24,700        106,590     687, 730
2011          14,612           83,425      354,396
dif              10,088          23,165       333,334
less              41%                22%             48%

Source: Disaster Center
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/    data taken from FBI UCR

7) THE DEATH PENALTY: NEITHER ARBITRARY NOR CAPRICIOUS

8) RACE & THE DEATH PENALTY: A REBUTTAL TO THE RACISM CLAIMS

9)  Saving Costs with The Death Penalty
Posted by at

Friday, April 19, 2013

IS EXECUTION CLOSURE? Of course.

IS EXECUTION CLOSURE? Of course
Dudley Sharp, independent researcher, death penalty expert, former opponent, 832-439-2113, CV at bottom

 Closure and support of the death penalty are very different things. 100% of capital murder survivors can support the death penalty, with 0% finding that do not get emotional/psychological closure from it, as reality, closely, reflects.

I know many survivors in murder cases.  0% find emotional/psychological closure, with any sanction.

No one expects that type of closure. Why would they? Their loved ones were unjustly murdered and the murderer is justly sanctioned.

For those who have lost loved ones to murder, the execution or other death of the murderer(s) brings three types of closure.
1) Sparing Innocents. The trauma of losing a loved one to murder is horrific. Survivors do not want anyone else to face that. The closure of execution is that it is the only sanction which guarantees that the murderer cannot murder or, otherwise, harm, again. It is a call for mercy. Living murderers do harm and murder, again. Executed ones do not. Obvious. 
Survivors want there to be no chance of more innocents being murdered or otherwise harmed. Execution is the only guarantee. 
Those opposing execution are willing to chance more innocents harmed. They are willing not to close that future harm.
2) Justice. The survivors find that execution is the most just sanction and when the execution takes place, justice has been served, a claim confirmed by the jury, which imposed the sanction. Such is the same for all survivors or victims in any cases where the survivors and victims  approve of the sanction, whether execution or other.
3) Chapter. All survivors/victims are different and have different paths that they must follow. For many, it is going through various stages, which can be described as chapters in a book, chapters which differ as they go through their lives. The execution/sanction is the closing of the legal chapter.

Emotional/psychological closure

The confusion with "closure" is when some imply that execution or other sanctions can bring psychological and/or emotional closure to the devastation suffered by the murder victim's loved ones.

 I know of no victim survivor who believes that execution or other sanction could bring that type of closure. How could it? No punishment can, nor is that the intention or expectation.

 No one, other than the clueless, would expect that type of closure.Their loved ones were unjustly murdered, often with torture, and the murderer is justly sanctioned.

 The concept of emotional "closure" via execution is, often, a fantasy perpetrated by anti-death penalty folks, just so they can denounce it, with a talking point, as in: "Those supporting capital punishment claim that closure is a major reason to support the death penalty - but there is no closure."
Does anyone believe that rape victims have "all-of-a-sudden" emotional/psychological closure because their rapist is justly sanctioned? Of course not. It's absurd and lacks all empathy.
All violent crime victims and survivors of those murdered travel different paths in healing with some, tragically, finding little and, others, rising, powerfully, like a phoenix from the ashes and everything in between.
Do any survivors, ever, leave behind all emotional, psychological trauma from such violence? I don't know but doubt it and think it would be, exceedingly, rare.
Do we think that any sanction would magically, "all-of-a-sudden" erase all emotional, psychological harm from rapes and murders? Of course not.
There is no balancing of the scales, here. There is no comparing the unjust taking of an innocent life by a guilty murderer and the just taking of that murderer's life.

 Some cases.

 Murder victim "Mary Bounds' daughter, Jena Watson, who watched the execution, said Berry's action deprived the family of a mother, a grandmother and a friend, and that pain will never go away."

 "We feel that we have received justice," she said Wednesday after the execution. "There's never an end to the hurt from a violent crime. There can never fully be closure. You have to learn to do the best you can. Tonight brings finality to a lot of emotional issues."

 Ina Prechtl, who lost her daughter Felecia Prechtl. to a rape /murder said, after watching Karl Chamberlain executed: "One question I ask myself every day, why does it take so long for justice to be served?" It took 17 years for the execution (both the above from "Texas executes 1st inmate since injection lull", 6/11/2008, MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press Writer, HUNTSVILLE, Texas).

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NOTE: The unjust, cruel delays are, in large part, the fault of irresponsible judges, who should be condemned. Virginia, since 1976, has executed 113 murderers, within 7 years of full appeals, on average. How? Responsible management.
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Dr. Willam Petit, Jr., whose wife Jennifer, daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, suffered through torture, being burned alive and murdered, in a home invasion, stated: "It’s helpful that justice has been served with an appropriate verdict (the death penalty). I don’t think there’s ever closure. I think whoever came up with that concept is an imbecile. . . . many of you know it who have lost a parent or a child or a friend, there’s never closure. There’s a hole… it’s a hole with jagged edges and over time the edges may smooth out a little bit, but the hole in your heart and the hole in your soul is still there. So there’s never closure." Dr. Petit was nearly beaten to death in the same attack.
"Suffering has no redemptive value", By SHMULEY BOTEACH The (Bergen) Record, November 18, 2010 
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"(Kidnap/rape/murder victim) Cheryl Payton's sister, Susan Payton, said, "On this (execution) day, we're uncertain that you could define today as closure. It is like a chapter in a book that you just read the next chapter and you hope that the next chapter might be better" ("Victim’s Family Reacts To Execution", by Steve Alexander, WKRG, Mobile News, Alabama, May 27, 2010).
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 "There may not be closure today. I think there is peace," said Judge Brendon Sheehan said, after the execution of his father's murderer. ("Judge Says 'No Closure' After Execution of Father's Killer" By Bill Sheil, Fox 8 I-Team Reporter, Cleveland, Ohio, February 18, 2011)
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"(daughter Pam Gay Carter's) theory about the death penalty is there are some crimes that are so reprehensible that that is the ultimate option, because it is not about revenge. It is about keeping another person safe. I want to make sure that this does not happen to anybody else, that nobody has to go through what I and my family has had to go through,” “The main thing it would have done for me, I think, is so I could say, ‘Mom (Gay Carter), he’s not going to hurt anybody else,’ because that’s what this is about, not letting him hurt someone else.” (Daughter of Oklahoma death row inmate’s victim gives exclusive first television interview to KFOR, by: Joleen Chaney/KFOR Posted: Oct 27, 2021)
 
Gay Carter was an Ok corrections kitchen worker, stabbed 16 times, with a shank, by John Grant, incarcerated for multiple armed robberies, at the time of Gay's murder.
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 “Right now, it's a feeling more of relief . . . there's a little more closure for the whole family. I wanted that closure.”  Mary Ann McEntee, mother of Holly Washa, a rape/torture/murder victim, upon hearing of her daughter's murderer's execution.

 "She said thousands of dollars in tax money was wasted in the past 19 years to house, feed and clothe Brown."

 "Over the next 36 hours, Washa was tortured and raped in a Seattle motel"  "Brown was arrested four days later in California, after a brutal rape and knife attack on a 33-year-old woman in a hotel there. That victim lived to call 911."  ("Relief found in killer's execution", John Ferak, (Omaha) WORLD-HERALD, September 15, 2010, 6:14 am)
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Wendy Cadwalader's daughter, 20 year old Carrie Martin, was murdered in 2004. Her murderer, serving life, died, in prison, January 2020.

 Wendy: “I honestly now feel closure. I cannot explain the feeling that took over my body. It’s like a relief. It’s done. I don’t have to worry about more appeals or seeing him again in court,” Cadwalader said. “I feel awful saying this because he has a family, too. In all honesty, his family were just as much victims as we were. My heart goes out to them. But, for me, it’s a relief.”  

 While she feels closure, Cadwalader knows (the murderer's) death won’t ever end the despair she feels over the loss of her beloved daughter. “It’s not bringing Carrie back by no means." 

 Visiting Carrie's grave, “I told her she could rest in peace now."

 ("Woman Finds Closure in Death Of Man Who Killed Her Daughter", Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice, Januart 3, 2020, https://www.citizensvoice.com/news/woman-finds-closure-in-death-of-man-who-killed-her-daughter-1.2578619 )

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600+ pro death penalty quotes from murder victim's families &
3300+ from some of the greatest thinkers in history
http://prodpquotes.info/ 
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Additional research,w/sources, w/fact checking/vetting & critical thinking, as required of everyone.  
 
The Death Penalty: Justice & Saving More Innocents
and
Students, Academics & Journalists: Death Penalty Research
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Partial CV
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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Sister Helen Prejean: A Critical Review

Sister Helen Prejean: A Critical Review
Dudley Sharp

The parents of rape/torture/murder victim Loretta Bourque, a "Dead Man Walking" Case

" . . .makes you realize the Dead Man Walking truly belongs on the shelf in the library in the Fiction category."

"Being devout Catholics, 'the norm' would be to look to the church for support and healing. Again, this need for spiritual stability was stolen by Sister Prejean." (1)

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 Case Detective Michael Vernado, in the rape/torture/murder of Faith Hathaway, a Dead Man Walking Case

"I wouldn't have had as much trouble with (Prejean's) views if she would have told the truth . . ." " . . . (Sr. Prejean) based her book on what was in I guess a defense file and what (rapist/murderer) Robert Willie telling her." (1)

 " . . . she's trying to mislead people in the book. And that's something that she's going have to work out with herself." "(Sr. Prejean's) certainly not after giving anybody spiritual advice to try to save their soul." (1)

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 DEATH OF TRUTH: (1)

 Book Review: "Sister Prejean's Lack of Credibility: Review of "The Death of Innocents", by Thomas M. McKenna (New Oxford Review, 12/05). www.newoxfordreview.org/reviews.jsp?did=1205-mckenna

 "The book is moreover riddled with factual errors and misrepresentations."

 "Williams had confessed to repeatedly stabbing his victim, Sonya Knippers."

 "This DNA test was performed by an independent lab in Dallas, which concluded that there was a one in nearly four billion chance that the blood could have been someone's other than Williams's."

" . . . despite repeated claims that (Prejean) cares about crime victims, implies that the victim's husband was a more likely suspect but was overlooked because the authorities wanted to convict a black man."

" . . . a Federal District Court . . . stated that 'the evidence against Williams was overwhelming.' " "The same court also did "not find any evidence of racial bias specific to this case."

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Does Truth Matter? Sr. Prejean, The Church & U of Notre Dame https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2022/09/does-truth-matter-sr-prejean-church-and.html 
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 Prejean finds that THERE IS NO GREATER SUFFERING , MENTALLY, THAN BEING A GUILTY MURDERER ON DEATH ROW (2)

 Did she consider the mental suffering of a parent who lost their innocent daughter to a rape/murder or, possibly, the mental (and physical) suffering of that girl, as she was being raped and murdered?

Of course the sister considered it and she made her choice - the murderer.
 ======

 MUCH MORE FOUND IN FOOTNOTE 1

(1) "Sister Helen Prejean & the death penalty: A Critical Review"
https://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2026/06/sister-helen-prejean-death-penalty.html

 (2) Prejean: Death penalty is torture, TimesLeader.com online, October 1, 2012,
www.timesleaderonline.com/page/content.detail/id/541638/Prejean--Death-penalty-is-torture.html?nav=5010

Also see
Sr. Helen Prejean: "Botched" Nun
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2014/09/sr-helen-prejean-rebutted-again.html

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 Rebuttals to common anti death penalty deceptions, used by Sr. Prejean and others.

 The Innocents Frauds: Standard Anti Death Penalty Strategy
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-innocent-frauds-standard-anti-death.html

 The Death Penalty: Mercy, Expiation, Redemption & Salvation
Is Execution Closure? Of Course
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/04/is-execution-closure-of-course.html

 95% of Murder Victim's Family Members Support Death Penalty
US Death Penalty Support at 80%: World Support Remains High
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/04/us-death-penalty-support-at-80-world.html

 Killing Equals Killing: The Amoral Confusion of Death Penalty Opponents
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-catechism-death-penalty.html

 "Moral/ethical Death Penalty Support: Modern Catholic Scholars"
http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/DP.html#F.Christianity

 Catholic and other Christian References: Support for the Death Penalty,

 much more, upon request

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