Time to let go of the death penalty
Public hearings have apparently persuaded some key state lawmakers that the current moratorium on New York's death penalty statute should be made permanent. The New York Times reported last week that legislation designed to fix flaws in the law may never come up for a vote in the state Assembly.
That's encouraging for two reasons. The death penalty law enacted in March 1995 has been a costly failure. The Times reports that an estimated $175 million has been spent on death penalty cases, with no executions resulting.
It's also encouraging that the Assembly has been holding this series of public hearings to hear testimony on the subject. Powerful leaders of the Codes and Judiciary committees, and a number of their colleagues who once voted for the death penalty, have been persuaded that a sentence of life without parole could be the preferred alternative.
The status of the state's death penalty was opened when the Court of Appeals ruled last year a sentencing provision was unconstitutional. Gov. George Pataki and the Republican-majority Senate are ready to attempt a remedy. It's up to the Democrat-controlled Assembly to represent the current public view, which has been determined by public opinion polls to have shifted against the death penalty.
Speaker Sheldon Silver, who is among those sensing a shift in public opinion, can block the law from reaching the floor of the Assembly. Republicans will call this an obstructionist move, out of line with the current reform movement.
But at least the decision by Silver and his Democratic caucus will be made after committees have held public hearings to gather information and hear emotional testimony, rather than at someone's whim.