New York’s death penalty remains in abeyance, having been found unconstitutional by the state’s high court. A recent N.Y. Newsday editorial called on lawmakers to carefully examine the fundamental problems with the death penalty before considering any reinstatement legislation. The editorial noted:


On the steps of New York City Hall on Thursday, a coalition of death penalty opponents - prominently including City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and former gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo - called for a “legislative moratorium” before the state tries to repair the capital punishment law struck down by the Court of Appeals.

As a result of that decision in June, New York now has no valid death penalty. That’s fine. The penalty is arbitrary, racist and ineffectual in deterring crime. It’s also prone to fatal error. In 2000, Illinois instituted a moratorium on the death penalty that it had re-enacted in 1977, because courts had gone on to free 13 people wrongly sentenced to die.

… [I]t’s all the more important that legislators listen to New Yorkers for a Sensible Criminal Justice Policy and spend ample time studying and thinking before re-enacting. (Newsday, October 9, 2004) (emphasis added).

See Editorials.