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Death Penalty, NYC Style


When Governor George Pataki capitalized on widespread public fear of violent crime in his successful campaign against Mario Cuomo in 1994 by pledging to bring back the death penalty in New York, his tactic was far from unique. Many candidates for public office have used their opponents' opposition to capital punishment to suggest that they are "soft on crime".

The use of the death penalty as a campaign issue resurfaced in the 2005 Democratic primary for Manhattan district attorney, but this time with a different twist.

Facing his first real election challenge in decades, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau attacked his opponent, former judge and prosecutor Leslie Crocker Snyder, for her support for capital punishment. In a television ad, Morgenthau's campaign highlighted a passage from Snyder's autobiography where she said that she would have been willing to give one defendant a lethal injection herself. The ad declared that Snyder was "wrong on the death penalty, wrong for Manhattan."

It is a testament both to Morgenthau's position as a long-time, well-respected incumbent and to the liberalism of Manhattan voters that such a tactic could be successful. But if we are to believe Snyder's protestations, her support for the death penalty was less than unequivocal. During the campaign she repeatedly said that she would seek the death penalty only for the most heinous crimes, and only then where there is strong corroborating evidence such as DNA.

The prominence of the death penalty debate in the Manhattan district attorney race is even stranger because New York state does not currently have a functioning death penalty, although the law allowing prosecutors to seek death sentences is still on the books.

No Real Death Penalty In New York

In 2004 the Court of Appeals, New York's highest court, declared the state's death penalty statute unconstitutional in the case of People v. LaValle.(in pdf format). The law required the jury in a capital case to choose either a sentence of death or of life without the possibility of parole. Either choice had to be unanimous. The law also required the judge to instruct the jury that if it could not agree on either choice, the judge would sentence the defendant to life with parole eligibility after twenty to twenty-five years. This "deadlock instruction," said the court, violates the state constitution. Citing studies showing that a crucial consideration for juries in a capital case is whether the defendant will eventually be released from prison, the court concluded that the instruction created "the unacceptable risk that it may result in a coercive, and thus arbitrary and unreliable, sentence."

The court left it to the legislature to enact a new "deadlock instruction." The State Senate passed a new version of the law in March, 2005. After holding extensive hearings (in pdf format) , however, the State Assembly failed to vote the new law out of committee. While some supporters of capital punishment suggest that the legislature is likely to revisit the issue in 2006, an election year, for now New York's capital punishment law is itself effectively dead.

It is still possible, of course, for the legislature to reinstate the death penalty in 2006. However, it is unlikely that there will be a massive groundswell of the kind that propelled Governor Pataki to victory more than ten years ago. Though a majority of voters in New York State continue to support the death penalty in principle, when given a choice between the death penalty and life without parole, those same voters prefer life without parole by a margin of 53 - 38 percent. In New York City, the City Council passed a resolution in 2002 calling for a moratorium on executions in the state.

Why The Decline In Support For The Death Penalty

The decline in support for the death penalty can be attributed in part to the increasing number of death row prisoners across the country that have been exonerated and released, as well as misgivings about racial and class disparities in the application of the death penalty. But another reason for the decline in support is surely the precipitous drop in violent crime that occurred throughout the 1990s and continues today. The number of murders in New York City peaked in 1990, when 2,245 murders were reported. The decline in the years since has been dramatic. In 2004, just 572 murders were committed citywide, a drop 75 percent from 1990, and a drop of 63 percent from 1994, the year Governor Pataki rode a wave of fear into the governor's office. Thus far in 2005, the incidence of murder in New York City has declined an additional six percent. Occasionally, an individual crime still results in calls for the death penalty, such as the case of Ronell Wilson, who is accused of killing two undercover NYPD detectives in Staten Island in 2003 and is currently facing trial in federal court, where the death penalty is still available. But violent crime is no longer at the forefront of voters' minds.

Moreover, in the ten years between the revival of the death penalty and the LaValle decision, prosecutors rarely sought death sentences. In that period there were 864 cases statewide where the death penalty was available, and only 19 times did prosecutors go to trial seeking the death penalty. Only seven of those trials resulted in death sentences, and just two men remain on death row. None have been executed, and the possibility of an execution in the near future is slim.

The decision to seek the death penalty has been even rarer in New York City. Only two of the seven death sentences handed down since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1995 came out of the five boroughs. Darrell Harris was convicted of killing three people in a Brooklyn social club in 1996. John Taylor was convicted for his part in the infamous "Wendy's massacre" in Queens in 2000.

Bronx district attorney Robert Johnson has refused to seek the death penalty for any case. Morgenthau has been outspoken in his opposition to capital punishment, and went so far as to testify in front of the state Assembly in December, 2004 that the legislature should not revive the state's death penalty law.

Whatever the cause, it seems clear that Morgenthau was able to tap into a strong sentiment among New Yorkers who believe it is possible, and even preferable, to control crime and keep the city safe without capital punishment.

David Dean, a student at New York University School of Law, worked as a policy analyst in the Mayor's Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator. 

Rockefeller Drug Law Reform?


After 32 years of struggle against the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws, New York public officials are claiming that these laws finally have been reformed. Earlier this year, and then again this month, Governor George Pataki and the state legislature enacted changes to the law that, in theory, would affect about 1,000 prisoners. Yes, this seems to pale besides the 16,000 people locked up under the laws – a staggering 93 percent of them black and Latino. But it sounded like a good start.

As a person who spent a dozen years in prison for a first-time non-violent drug offense -- and was released early only because I was granted clemency -- I have made it a mission of my life to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws, which mandated a harsh sentence for me, as it has for thousands of other New Yorkers.

Since 1973 when the Rockefeller Laws were enacted, we have witnessed a badly created law that incarcerated many drug offenders from the inner city neighborhoods of New York. This in turn, created smart upstate rural politicians, who saw the Rockefeller Drug Laws as a tool to help make the business of imprisonment a major industry in their districts – creating a disincentive in the legislature to reform these laws.

Under these laws, people convicted of drug offenses face the same penalties as those convicted of murder, and harsher penalties than those convicted of rape.

As I wrote on Gotham Gazette earlier this year, through constant political pressure we managed to get the point across to New York politicians. When the pressure mounted to the point of affecting their political careers, politicians reacted. Finally, early in 2005 a revision was made that affected 446 prisoners sentenced under the A-1 felony statute. A huge applause was heard. Politicians felt the pressure easing. Individuals who had called for reform began backing off. After all those years of fighting finally a change had occurred.

Now early this month, Governor George Pataki and the state legislature proudly announced another change that would affect about 540 prisoners sentenced under A-2 felonies. From a cursory glance at those who were not familiar with the history of the struggle, it seemed as though the problem was fixed.

However, if we take a good look at the history of the first change most of the 446 A-1 felons eligible for relief are still in prison. According to the Department of Correction as of July, 2005, only 86 were set free.

I sat in the courtroom with a middle-aged mother who had been arrested in 1999 with a few ounces of cocaine. Though it was a first offense, she was sentenced to 17-to-life. She was a drug mule, according to the facts of the record. But the Queens district attorney's office twisted and manipulated the facts to make her look like she was a kingpin who had abused her young daughter because the child was present in the room with a package of cocaine.

That daughter, now a traumatized teen, has been placed in a foster home. She had lost her mother and her childhood. She was in the courtroom praying for her mother along with two nuns with whom she now lives. The judge and Queens District Attorney Dick Brown agreed to reduce her mother's sentence to nine years-to-life--leaving her to serve an additional five years. The daughter left the courtroom in tears.

 

"These reforms are just symbolic if they're not implemented," Bill Gibney, lawyer with the Legal Aid Society, has said. "The vast majority of people eligible to petition for early release are still behind bars. The Governor and Legislature shouldn't pat themselves on the back until they've ensured that these reforms are duly acted upon. Without granting freedom along with reform, the reform remains the same political rhetoric we have heard for years.

Anthony Papa is author of 15 To Life: How I Painted My Way To Freedom 

 

 

Mayoral Issue Grid: Crime



Mayoral Issue Grid

CRIME

-Anti-Terror Plan?
-Other Crime Priorities?
-More police?

Crime is down in New York City; the murder rate is the lowest since 1963. Yet the challenge of keeping New Yorkers safe remains a critical issue.

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, terrorism became the number one priority for the New York Police Department. The recent subway bombings in Madrid and London have also raised concerns about the safety of the city's transportation system.

In the last four years, the size of police force has been reduced by about 3,800 officers to 34,824, but overtime expenses cost the city more than $200 million a year.

Fernando Ferrer

Fernando Ferrer has outlined a plan to try to make the transportation system safer from terrorism. Ferrer wants to integrate transit employees into security planning. He promises to put more security cameras in subways and stations, set up an Advisory Council for Best Security Practices, and build better coalitions with officials in Washington DC.

"Random bag searches aren't enough on their own," said Ferrer. "We need agencies to coordinate with each other, instead of developing their own plans and policies."

As part of his crime plan, Ferrer proposes hiring 1,900 new police officers. He would hire 1,000 local officers and add 900 more from the federally funded Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. Ferrer also points toward his efforts to help create the Civilian Complaint Review Board while in the New York City Council.

(Read Ferrer's security plan)

Michael Bloomberg

In response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Michael Bloomberg launched Operation Impact, the New York Police Department's anti-terrorism unit that devotes more than 1,000 officers to the protection of the city.

"We can't rest - not for a minute - nor can we stop in our intelligence, counter-terrorism, and response capabilities," said Bloomberg.

In addition, Bloomberg points to the overall decrease in crime in the city. Crime is down 20 percent citywide. The city's murder rate is the lowest since 1963.

Bloomberg has also focused efforts on reducing "quality of life" crimes. He has created special task forces to deal with noise, graffiti, and minor crimes.

Crime has decreased even as Bloomberg has reduced the size of the police force. In 2001, there were 38,630 full time cops working for the New York Police Department. Today, that number has dropped to 34,824.

(Read Bloomberg's crime platform)

RELATED ARTICLES:
Operation Atlas
Ray Kelly on Security
Terrorism and Anti-Terrorism in NYC
Domestic Violence
Police Misconduct

 



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