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from F L O R I DI A N S FOR A L T E R N A T I V E S TO THE DEATH PENALTY (FADP)
12 April 2005
CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz: 800-973-6548 / 561-371-5204
NEW YORK LAWMAKERS VOTE TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY
High Cost is a Factor: New York becomes the first state to dismantle
the
death penalty in the current death penalty era
In an 11-7 vote, The New York State Assembly Codes Committee rejected
a
measure to re-authorize the state's death penalty, which was declared
unconstitutional last June. This makes New York the first state to
dismantle the death penalty since new death penalty laws were upheld
by the
US Supreme Court in 1976.
"One of the issues that struck New York lawmakers the hardest was the
realization that the death penalty is a complete waste of tax
dollars,"
said Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the
Death
Penalty and a member of the board of directors of the National
Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty. "It is only a matter of time before
Florida's
political leaders will be forced to confront the high costs of
maintaining
our death penalty system."
In just ten years, the State of New York spent more than $200 million
setting up a system and putting just a handful of people on death
row. None were executed. The State of Florida has spent more than
$1
billion on its death penalty system since 1973, for a net result of
60
executions. Florida could save a minimum of $51 million annually by
depending on life without parole in all capital cases, and the
savings
could be redirected to services for victims families and better
efforts to
prevent violent crime.
The New York Assembly's decision demonstrates how the political
landscape
across the country has changed with regard to the death penalty. New
York
was the most recent state to reinstate the death penalty in 1995 and
has
now become the first to decide that its experiment with death has
failed.
"New York's move away from the death penalty is one more landmark in
a
national trend," said Bonowitz. "This year legislation to repeal
the
death penalty has progressed in New Mexico and Connecticut, the
Supreme
Court has banned juvenile executions, New Jersey and Illinois remain
under
moratoriums, and several states are actively considering moratorium
legislation."
See the report on hearings conducted The New York State Assembly
Codes
Committee:
Learn more about the high cost of the death penalty in
Florida:
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FADP Director Abe Bonowitz is available for interviews at
800-973-6548
ON THE WEB: www.FADP.org
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SENT BY:
Abraham J. Bonowitz
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP)
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty works for
restorative
justice in the form of effective alternatives to the death penalty.
It
does so by
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