FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
 |
| HUMAN RIGHTS Twenty years ago when Marie Deans realized her mother-in-law had been murdered, she let out a deep cry. Today when her work as a death penalty abolitionist takes her to the death house for an execution, she lets out the same deep cry. Devastated by the loss of her mother-in-law and upset with the people who assumed she, as a murder victim's relative, would want the murderer condemned to death, Deans became a death penalty abolitionist. She has worked tirelessly since then, but has watched the use of the death penalty grow and Americans become unconcerned or helpless as state-sanctioned killing becomes more systematic. Deans, in Calgary last week for an Amnesty International convention, is still passionate about her work because she views the battle over capital punishment as a fight for her country. In her South Carolina accent, she says softly, "Every time I walk out of the death house, I wonder about the soul of my nation." The year Deans lost her mother-in-law, 1976, was a critical time for the death penalty in the States. The Supreme Court struck down the death penalty legislation that year, claiming it was arbitrary. The decision was supposed to put a final end to capital punishment. Instead, it was a new beginning. The state governments took exception to the Supreme Court's decision. More interested in showing their annoyance at the federal government than considering the consequences of the death penalty, individual states began revamping their capital punishment laws. "By the mid-'80s, it had reached the point in the courts where the general law was being twisted to kill people. The Supreme Court, when making its decision to permit the execution of juveniles, quoted public opinion in the newspapers as justification for its decision," she explains. Today, the shift in public policy started by the reinstatement of the death penalty has a momentum apparent in the numbers. There are almost 4,000 inmates on death row, and 100 executions are expected in 1998. "There are 800 trials a year and 400 people go on death row, but there are only 10 to 15 capital punishment litigation specialists," Deans adds. "There are enough lawyers, but they lack the support needed to mount an effective defence." As one of those litigation specialists, Deans has been intimidated and abused for her work. She believes her status as a family member of a murder victim is her best defence. "When you attack the death penalty, people always throw the serial killer at you to force you to argue for the murderer. The argument is not about the people being killed in the death house, it's about the people doing the killing." Talking to Deans about the death penalty, you quickly understand that the people doing the killing are not just the corrections officers in the death house. The death penalty requires an entire society that not only condones but also demands capital punishment. She believes the most important argument against capital punishment is the effect it has on a society. "Violence is violence, death is death, murder is murder, and that really stands out more than anywhere else in the death house. (The death penalty) has corrupted our courts, our politics and our ability to deal with our homicide rate. We have nothing in place to reduce our homicide rate because we have the death penalty." Deans feels the death penalty has created a paralysis in the US justice system, and prevents alternatives from even being discussed. Annual polls show more than two-thirds of Americans agree there is no need for the death penalty if there are alternatives in place, but politicians refuse to dismantle the system. Even with these frustrations and a belief that her soul has been tainted from working within such a system, Marie Deans keeps going. "I am not a witness. I am a participant in this ritual. I walk these men to the room in the death house. What gets me through it is focusing on the man. I am going to be a human being who loves this person, and when they get strapped into the chair they know there is someone who knows them as a human being." US Homicide rate 1976: 9.8/100,000 1997: 9.6/100,000 Inmates on death row 1988: 1,800 1997: 3,100 Executions 1988: 13 1997: 74 Canada's homicide rate 1976: 3.2/100,000 1997: 1.9/100,000 |
| |