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Pataki Calls Legislators Back to Revive Death Penalty Governor Pataki has a given us a lump of coal for Christmas. Please call your Assembly member and State Senator NOW |
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Time is extremely short. Telephone calls and faxes are needed NOW. Once again, to locate your state legislators, please visit http://www.lwvny.org/, click on Citizen Action Toolkit and scroll down to My Elected Officials, or call 518-455-4218 for Assembly member information and 518-455-2800 for State Senators. You can send an e-mail to your legislators directly through the QFC Web Site: New York State Assembly – New York State Senate We hope legislators considering legislation in the wake of the police office murders learn what Assembly Members considering the death penalty learned last winter: We can live without the death penalty. Where things stand now On April 12, less than a year after the State Appeals Court ruled that New York State's death penalty was unconstitutional, the New York State Assembly's Codes Committee defeated a bill to reinstate it. At present, those convicted of the worst offenses face life in prison without parole, not death row. The committee's vote reflected testimony presented at five separate hearings held by Assembly committees and a flood of letters and calls from death penalty opponents. The death penalty is not gone for good. The State Senate voted a new death penalty bill and concerned citizens must keep up their efforts to get out the facts about the death penalty. |
The facts are clear: The death penalty is not a deterrent, it is inherently flawed, and there are far better ways to support and honor our police than by bringing it back. Legislation thrown together in disregard of the facts dishonors us, our police, and our government. WHY WE DON'T NEED THE DEATH PENALTY • The number of violent crimes continues to fall since the death penalty was overturned. • In 2004, the year when New York State's death penalty was overturned, the state's crime rate continued to drop, with murder going down 2.9% and violent crimes 5.9%. See the statistics. • Most New Yorkers prefer life in prison without parole. By a margin of 46-42 percent, New Yorkers do not want to see the death penalty reinstituted. And by a nearly two-to-one margin (56-29 percent) they favor life without parole over the death penalty for first-degree murderers.” See the statistics. • Yet the the death penalty has not been abolished, and as the campaigns for governor and state legislator heat up, there is sure to be a push to reinstate it. Please let your legislators know the facts: New York does not want the death penalty! Additional Points for your contact with Legislators can be found here and at the web site for New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty. |