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News and Developments 2006: Life Without Parole

Poll Reveals Kentuckians Strongly Prefer Lengthy Prison Sentences Over Death Penalty

Posted: December 19, 2006
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New polling results released by the University of Kentucky Survey Center reveal that Kentuckians overwhelmingly choose alternatives over the death penalty as the most appropriate punishment for those convicted of aggravated murder. When asked to select the most appropriate sentencing option from choices currently available to Kentucky jurors serving in capital murder trials, 67% selected sentences other than the death penalty. The first choice among respondents was life without parole.

NEW VOICES: Life Without Parole Offers Prosecutors, Jurors, and Victims an Acceptable Alternative to the Death Penalty

Posted: November 14, 2006
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Prosecutors in Utah have stated that the sentencing option of life without parole has been very helpful in giving jurors and family members of victims a viable alternative to the death penalty.  Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom noted that life without parole is often a better option to present to jurors:  "It's a tool for juries as well as prosecutors and defense attorneys, too," Yocom said. "It's an alternative to avoid asking a jury of 12 people to make that decision," to impose the death penalty.

NEW VOICES: Former Death Row Warden Calls for Clemency on Eve of Execution

Posted: November 09, 2006
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The former warden of the Virginia prison that houses the state's death row inmates has called for clemency for a man about to be executed on November 9.  Page True was warden of the Sussex I State Prison and knew death row inmate John Schmitt for over 4 years.  "The crime was just terrible," True said, "but there's a lot worse inmates that I've dealt with in my 36 years in prison systems than Mr. Schmitt." 

NEW VOICES: Chief Judge of Federal Court Questions the Death Penalty

Posted: September 15, 2006
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Chief Judge William Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit recently spoke about the death penalty to a gathering at the Charleston School of Law in South Carolina.  He commented that decision-makers will have to evaluate whether the punishment is worth its increasing financial costs.  But he also noted how difficult it is for a politician to speak openly about this issue: "I think politically, you're not going to find a candidate running on 'Let's do away with the death penalty,' " Wilkins said.

EDITORIALS: "Society Should End this System...Put Murderers Away for Life"

Posted: August 01, 2006
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In a recent editorial, the Delaware News Journal concluded that the uncertainties and delays of the death penalty favor ending the system and replacing it with a sentence of life without parole. Such a system would better serve victims and their families, and bring swifter justice:

The latest argument over the death penalty centers on a seemingly simple question: Is the current method of execution cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution?

PUBLIC OPINION: Wisconsin Voters Favor Life Without Parole Over Death Penalty

Posted: July 19, 2006
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In a recent University of Wisconsin Badger Poll, more respondents favored a sentence of life without parole rather than the death penalty. Only 45% supported capital punishment, while 50% favored life sentences.

PUBLIC OPINION: New Gallup Poll Reveals Growing Number of Americans Favors Life Without Parole

Posted: June 01, 2006
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A May 2006 Gallup Poll examining American opinion about the death penalty found that when given a choice between the sentencing options of life without parole and the death penalty, only 47% of respondents chose capital punishment, the lowest percentage in two decades. Forty-eight percent favored life without parole for those convicted of murder. The poll also revealed that overall support for the death penalty remains low at 65%, down significantly from 1994 when 80% supported capital punishment.

NEW VOICES: Newspaper Changes Its Position-'Commonsense Finding is that Death Penalty Has Failed and Should be Abolished'

Posted: May 19, 2006
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An editorial in the Asbury Park Press, a newspaper that formerly supported capital punishment, called on New Jersey policymakers to abandon the state's costly death penalty and replace it with the "sure and swift" sentence of life without parole. Stating that New Jersey has wasted millions of dollars on the death penalty, but has not carried out an execution since it was reinstated in1982, the editorial noted:

Washington Supreme Court Closely Divided on Rationality of State's Death Penalty

Posted: April 03, 2006
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The Washington State Supreme Court recently came within one vote of effectively abolishing the state's death penalty when it ruled in the case of death row inmate Dayva Cross.  Cross is on death row for the murder of his wife and her two teenage daughters.  Attorneys for Cross had argued that their client should not be executed because killers who had committed worse crimes had been spared the death penalty.

OPINION POLLS: Majority of New Yorkers Reject the Death Penalty

Posted: March 24, 2006
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Most New Yorkers would choose a sentence of life without parole (LWOP) over the death penalty for those convicted of murder.  In a recent poll published in Newsday, 53% of N.Y. adults said LWOP is the better penalty, whereas only 38% chose the death penalty, with 9% uncertain.  New York's death penalty was found unconstitutional by the state's highest court in 2004.  The legislature elected not to modify the statute.(Source: Blum and Weprin Associates / Newsday - Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,457 New York adults, conducted from Feb. 26 to Mar.