Public is turning away from death penalty

January 13, 2008

In order to have a meaningful debate about the death penalty we must first look at accurate facts. In his Jan. 6 column, Paul Carpenter stated that 3,200 people are sentenced to death each year, though, to his credit, Carpenter later acknowledged this error.

In 2007, 110 people were sentenced to death, the lowest annual total since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. Executions are also steadily decreasing. The 42 executions in 2007 were the lowest total in 13 years. Why? Because the public is increasingly uncomfortable with the death penalty. The system has been proven to be flawed, and 126 innocent people have been released since the court reinstated capital punishment.

In Lehigh County, Dennis Counterman spent 11 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. In the past, Carpenter has railed against the abuse that occurred in that case, in which prosecutors withheld evidence. The Counterman case is one of multiple examples of why the power of a death sentence cannot be trusted to government. The death penalty is flawed public policy.

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