Senators, delegates: Not a peep
Since posting this solicitation Thursday, I have not heard a peep from any member of the House of Delegates or Maryland Senate -- not one.
I wonder how many members of the Maryland Senate, including its president, have taken time to read the Civiletti Commission report on the death penalty in Maryland.
Can I have a show of hands please? If you're a Maryland senator and you've read the report, send me an e-mail at dan.rodricks@baltsun.com
Please, be honest.
If you're a member of the House of Delegates and you've read it, same thing: dan.rodricks@baltsun.com, and the be-honest part, too.
I'm betting that maybe 10 percent of all of you have taken time to read it.
Prove me wrong. Maybe it's at least 15 percent.
With its lame compromise on Maryland's death penalty repeal legislation, the Senate thinks it has come up with a more limited statute that will reduce the risk of the state executing an innocent person. The new proposal would allow capital punishment in cases where there is DNA evidence, as if that were the answer. Read the Civiletti Commission findings on DNA in criminal cases (pages 82-94). DNA is not foolproof; it's subject to contamination or error.
To those who claim the commission was stacked: Here's a list of the men and women who served on it; they represented both sides of the issue.
Comments
Mr Rodricks' piece makes the assumption that one cannot have read the commission report and remain supportive of capital punishment. I question this assumption. I am one of many readers of this report who found it to be unpersuasive and flawed by selective use of statistics. Mr Rodricks' view-- if one had taken the time to read the commission report , one would vote against capital punishment-- suggests that one is not permitted by Mr Rodrick to hold a different view.
Posted by: bev | March 5, 2009 10:02 AM
How many responses did you get from our leaders? Since they voted for the Commission you'd think they'd commit to study the findings.
Now I know it is a rather long document & not an easy read while eating a crabcake & drinking a beer during lunch in Annapolis. MD Case did a quick summary which can be gotten through before the food even arrives:
http://www.mdcase.org/MDCommissiononCapitalPunishment
Posted by: John Clark | March 5, 2009 10:38 AM