Md. senate to vote on death penalty bill
This week the Maryland State Senate is expected to vote on a bill that will limit the application of the death penalty in the state of Maryland.
If passed by the Senate and subsequently passed by the Maryland House of Delegates, the bill will limit capital punishment strictly to murder cases with DNA or videotape evidence or a voluntary confession.
These restrictions fall short of Governor Martin O'Malley's intended goal to fully repeal the death penalty in the state of Maryland.
On Feb. 18, O'Malley went before the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee to testify in favor of the bill.
The bill died in the Judicial Proceedings Committee; however, this week the Senate resurrected the bill for review.
A similar bill has gone before the State Senate many times in the past 10 years, most recently in 2007 when it failed by one vote to advance from committee to the full State Senate.
The current bill is contentious, given that a majority of Marylanders still support the death penalty.
A poll released in January by Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies found that 53 percent of registered voters favor the death penalty in Maryland and that 41 percent oppose it.
However, 65 percent of those polled also said life in prison without the possibility of parole is an acceptable alternative to the death penalty as a punishment for murder.
The current bill has been given added impetus by O'Malley's sponsorship and the findings of a recent report by the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment.
The commission was charged by the state legislature to analyze the notable racial, juridical and socio-economic disparities in application of the death penalty, the high costs associated with execution and the possibility of the execution of innocents.
The report's executive summary states, "The Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment (MCCP) has reviewed testimony from experts and members of the public, relevant Maryland laws and court cases, as well as statistics and studies relevant to the topic of capital punishment in Maryland.
If passed by the Senate and subsequently passed by the Maryland House of Delegates, the bill will limit capital punishment strictly to murder cases with DNA or videotape evidence or a voluntary confession.
These restrictions fall short of Governor Martin O'Malley's intended goal to fully repeal the death penalty in the state of Maryland.
On Feb. 18, O'Malley went before the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee to testify in favor of the bill.
The bill died in the Judicial Proceedings Committee; however, this week the Senate resurrected the bill for review.
A similar bill has gone before the State Senate many times in the past 10 years, most recently in 2007 when it failed by one vote to advance from committee to the full State Senate.
The current bill is contentious, given that a majority of Marylanders still support the death penalty.
A poll released in January by Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies found that 53 percent of registered voters favor the death penalty in Maryland and that 41 percent oppose it.
However, 65 percent of those polled also said life in prison without the possibility of parole is an acceptable alternative to the death penalty as a punishment for murder.
The current bill has been given added impetus by O'Malley's sponsorship and the findings of a recent report by the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment.
The commission was charged by the state legislature to analyze the notable racial, juridical and socio-economic disparities in application of the death penalty, the high costs associated with execution and the possibility of the execution of innocents.
The report's executive summary states, "The Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment (MCCP) has reviewed testimony from experts and members of the public, relevant Maryland laws and court cases, as well as statistics and studies relevant to the topic of capital punishment in Maryland.
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Kristie
posted 3/09/09 @ 6:11 PM EST
As a surviving family member of a victim of a violent crime, I do not support the death penalty. There is nothing more abhorrent to me than to think that the state will kill in the name of our loved one, who was murdered. (Continued…)
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