Halt executions for 3 years while an impartial study is conducted into the fairness of the application of the death penalty. No one will be released!

TALKING POINTS FOR A MORATORIUM

 

1. Halt executions for 3 years while an impartial study is conducted into the fairness of the application of the death penalty. No one will be released!

 

2. Al has the highest per capita d/r population and led the nation in the rate of new death sentences for a fifth straight year. I n 2008 Al sentenced more people to death than Georgia, M ississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Virginia and Ohio combined. With a population of only 4.5 million, Alabama’s 13 new death sentences in 2008 was greater than the 11 new death sentences imposed by Texas, which has a population of 23.5 million people.

 

3. Alabama has no statewide public defenders office and has inadequate compensation fees for court appointed attorneys. Poor initial representation by attorneys with minimal qualifications means loss of issues, no investigation etc. More than a dozen men on death row are now without an attorney and 70% on death row had lawyers who were only paid
$1,000 for preparation of trial.

 

4. Alabama is the only state that doesn’t provide attorneys for post-conviction appeals.

 

5. Jury override. A judge, with an eye to reelection can override the sentence recommendation of the jury for life or death. Almost one in 4 is on death row because of judicial override.

 

6. Alabama legislature has refused to enact laws enforcing the Supreme Courts prohibition of the execution of mentally retarded individuals. Psychiatric illness is not seen as a mitigating factor.

 

7. Death row is 50% white, 50% black. Alabama population is 71% white, 26% black. White victims account for 35% of murder victims, yet 80% of those on death row have been convicted of the murder of a white victim. Of the 48 executed in Alabama since 1986, 39 had been convicted of killing a white victim.

 

8. Less than 5% of the judges who preside over a capital case in Alabama are African American. 9. Since 1976, 88% of the people who have been executed were tried
and convicted by juries, which were significantly underrepresented by African Americans. 35% of the juries were all white, and 7 African Americans who were executed had an all white jury. In 2009 AL
ranked second in nation for number of executions.

 

10. Post conviction DNA testing is often denied in Alabama.

 

For further information please visit www.phadp.org : Esther Brown at 334 499 0003,