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Time for Abolition Is NOW The death penalty in Kentucky: Time for Abolition is NOW By Allen Ault wonder that a 2012 study conducted on the of view on other matters. Marc Hyden of the wellbeing of homicide survivors found that national group Conservatives Concerned Unjust. Unfair. Costly. Dehumanizing. those who lived in a state where the ultimate about the Death Penalty shares information penalty was life without parole fared much in an accompanying article about the recent These concerns reflect the reality of the better than those with the death penalty?” he inaugural meeting of that organization in administration of the death penalty. As such, writes. northern Kentucky. they lead to the same inevitable conclusion: It is time to abolish capital punishment in The absence of change in Kentucky’s death “For pro-life conservatives who subscribe Kentucky. penalty law also means the state continues to the notion that the government shouldn’t to incur costs that exceed the resources that wrongly execute Americans and innocent It has been four years since an American would be required if life without parole were lives should be safeguarded, the death pen- Bar Association-sponsored assessment of the the maximum penalty possible. alty has become an untenable program. … use of the death penalty in Kentucky resulted Kentucky’s own track record is tainted by in a report that revealed serious problems re- An article elsewhere on these pages by mistakes. …The death penalty in Kentucky lated to fairness and accuracy. These included state Rep. David Floyd provides more detail. and elsewhere poses an undeniable hazard to an error rate of more than 60 percent, mean- “It’s counterintuitive, but taxpayers spend innocent life.” ing a majority of death sentences were over- far more on our system of capital punishment turned on appeal; caseloads far exceeding the than we would if the death penalty were not Finally, on a personal note, my opposition national average for public defenders han- an option. Every study undertaken in the to the death penalty developed as a result of dling capital cases; inadequate protections United States concludes that our death pen- my role in administering it five times. At the against death sentences for defendants with alty system is far more costly than a system in time, I was director of the Georgia Depart- mental disabilities; and no uniform standards which the maximum sentence is life without ment of Corrections, overseeing the execu- on eyewitness identifications. the possibility of parole.” tions in the maximum security prison where I had previously served as warden. These and other findings of the review by The additional costs accrue through ex- a team of Kentucky attorneys, former judges penditures by county jails and state prisons I oppose the death penalty for the reasons and law school professors were so numerous and the lengthy appeals process. “The vast articulated by my fellow writers and because and troubling that the report recommended majority of those who remain in prison un- I believe it is illogical for the state to teach suspending all executions until the issues der a death sentence just die in prison,” Rep. citizens not to kill by killing. I also am acutely were addressed. But that hasn’t happened. In Floyd writes. “We’re spending huge sums of aware of the heavy toll capital punishment fact, there have been no significant changes tax dollars on a system of death, but what we exacts from the individuals who have to carry in the death penalty law since the report was are getting is de facto life without parole.” out the sanction. As I have written before, issued. corrections officials are expected to commit These realities of families’ anguish and the most premeditated murder imaginable. That means the families of murder victims wasted public resources provide strong argu- must continue to live with uncertainty and ments for abolishing the death penalty – an Unjust. Unfair. Costly. Dehumanizing. the hardships inherent in our criminal justice action that 19 states and the District of Co- Kentucky must not wait any longer to join system. lumbia have taken through the years. Nebras- 19 other states and abolish the death penalty. As an accompanying article by Ben ka is the most recent, its legislature voting for Allen Ault recently retired as Dean of the Griffith points out, his brother’s murder led abolition in May 2015. College of Justice & Safety at Eastern Ken- to long decades of waiting for the system to Opposition to the death penalty also is a tucky University. During his career, he served work through appeals – forcing his family point of agreement among people with differ- as Director of Corrections for five Governors in to relive the horror of their loss. “Is it any ent, and often contradictory, political points three states. Death penalty not the answer for many victims’ family members and Murder Victim Families for Human Mark S., Marquette Law Review, Fall 2012. Rights (MVHR). There are thousands of us Vol. 96, Article 3.) This difference in our By Ben Griffith who are opposed to this revenge killing. And wellbeing has every connection to the differ- as the momentum to abolish the death penal- ence in how long the justice system takes to My brother Chris was murdered on Sep- ty continues to grow state by state, one com- find final resolution. Appeals to life without tember 9, 1986, at a state-owned shooting mon thread to each new victory for abolition parole are resolved in a couple of years on range in Salina County, Missouri. His mur- has been the presence of murder victim fami- average. Compared to the decades-long av- der was the fourth committed by Donald lies who are opposed to the death penalty. I erages of resolving death penalty appeals in Reese on that day; Reese knew none of his can assure the commonwealth that we will be death penalty states, survivors in life without victims. My brother was shot in the back present at any legislative judicial committee parole states are more able to find a way for- four times as he was fleeing 75 yards from the hearing where a serious consideration of abo- ward. This is a big reason why I fight for the gruesome scene. As he sat against the trunk lition is on the agenda. abolition of the death penalty in Kentucky. It of an oak tree losing his life, Reese put a bul- is healthier! let in his head. I am aware of some victim survivor fami- lies who feel differently than I do about the So maybe with some of the money our Given the steadfastness of the notion that death penalty. I can only give them my un- state saves by abolishing the death penalty, the death penalty gives closure to homicide derstanding that I, too, have wanted the mur- better victim services can be provided in the survivors, most people would understand the derer to die. It is my experience that most commonwealth. It is certainly my family’s anger I felt when my brother Tim called me survivors become somewhat ambivalent to experience that we would be better served if at my Frankfort home in the middle of the the death penalty – for or against. The long victim services were moved out of prosecu- night with the news of his murder. Most decades of waiting for the justice system to tors’ offices and kept independent because people would understand how I would have work through all the appeals only rekindles we feel that the system for victim survivors is loved to have seen Donald Reese die right our horror to be relived. often too closely managed in the prosecutor’s then and there. And certainly for my first interests and not in the interests of the long- Many of us become weary of that anger year of living with the knowledge of how term health of survivors. Chris died, I had some feelings that justice and wish for some resolution so we might es- may be served by another death. cape living in the past and get back into life. My family was literally discarded and We don’t want to keep hearing all the argu- shunned by the prosecutor’s office when my This reasoning is often the final argument ments for sparing a life or for taking a life. parents announced opposition to the death that death penalty proponents will advance Indeed, the thing uniting all survivor families sentence during Reese’s sentencing phase. It after the many good reasons have been es- is the strong feeling that the only thing that was a small victory for abolition when the tablished on why the death penalty system is would ever truly repair our hurt is the life and judge gave Donald Reese life without parole broken and should be abolished. breath of our loved one restored. for Chris’s murder. However, for the other murders, a death penalty was issued and Re- My job here is to help debunk the notion Is it any wonder that a 2012 study con- ese was executed on August 13, 1997. His that all homicide survivors want more death ducted on the wellbeing of homicide sur- death made me feel victimized yet again. and that it is the state’s job to sanction our re- vivors found that those who lived in a state venge. For you see, many of us “survivors” are where the ultimate penalty was life without Ben Griffith lives in Frankfort with his wife, unable to support the death penalty because parole fared much better than those in a Patricia.
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